Mentoring? Or something else....

I know people have been throwing around the idea of bringing back mentoring a lot lately (especially because of recent CHorus council speeches, etc), but I don't know how effective that will be. We all know how hard Deirdre Spatola tried to make the program work, but personally as a freshman, I didn't get any chances to connect with my mentor because A. I was a little scared of her and B. the phrase "mentor" was almost insulting. It made me feel very inferior to the upperclassmen, and I knew that they had more experience than me in High School and in Chorus, but if we were to start a "mentoring" type thing, maybe we could call it something different. I also think that instead of a senior-freshman pairing, it could be more like Mixed Chorus getting to know Concert Chorale and vice versa, so all those planned pasta parties and bonding events next year should center around that idea, rather than the superior senior "teaching" a naive freshman.

I agree with Aoife. Though my mentoring experience seems to have been better than hers, if only a handful of people are having good experiences with it then it definitely needs some tweaking. I think that if we are to keep the mentoring program, I should be based on a Concert Chorale to Mixed Chorus relationship rather than a freshman and upperclassman relationship like Aoife said because, really, we just don’t see each other enough to really learn anything. I’ve been in both choruses and I don’t see communication issues necessarily between upperclassman and underclassman but there is little to no communication between the two choruses. When I was in Concert Chorale last year I remember thinking that the people in Mixed Chorus were these amazing singers who were light-years ahead of me didn’t even know I existed, or that all of Concert Chorale existed for that matter. This year, I thought everything between the choruses was all hunky-dory until I made my speech to Concert Chorale. When someone said that she felt like the sophomores in Mixed Chorus didn’t seem like they cared about them I was pretty confused to be honest. I never knew that anyone had felt that way and I felt kind of embarrassed when she said that because even though I personally didn’t reach out to the freshman in Concert Chorale, I always figured that someone else did, and I never took the initiative or the responsibility to be a leader and make an effort. There obviously is a lack of communication coming from both sides because I know that as a freshman, I wasn’t too comfortable talking to the other chorus, but as a sophomore, I still didn’t really know how I fit. That’s probably where a lot of the problems in the mentoring program come from. Even though the “mentor” is supposed to be older and wiser, it’s not the easiest thing going up to a complete stranger and forcing a friendship that might not be reciprocated. Maybe instead of it being one-on-one, people would be more comfortable if it was two-on-two that way you’re not going it alone and you can make even more friends. Also, if there are two Mixed Chorus members paired with two Concert Chorale members, then you also have a buddy in your own chorus who you can get to know over the year instead of seeing one person whose name you might not even remember 0-4 times throughout the entire school year. Plus, for mentos whose mentors are seniors, they will still have someone who they’ll actually be able to get to know for a few years. I know that I’m just spitting out ideas here, but something needs to get this program moving because I think it is still a really good idea, but it needs some working on.

P.s. Congrats, Aoife, on being chorus rep!!