Giulia's Fourth Day - Hibbard Elementary and the High School Internship Workshop

Our guest blogger and volunteer from Italy, Giulia Molteni, reflects on her 4th day with the YOURS Project:

09/11/2012  

Today I came in contact with the other side of the YOURS Project: The program at Hibbard Elementary School. 

This week is going to be really interesting: I'll join the YOURS Project High School Internship Workshop, an intensive training course for high school students. The students participating in the internship have all been involved with the YOURS Project at either Monroe or Hibbard elementary. This important experience will help them become student leaders within the YOURS Project, teaching them how to share their skills with the younger student body.  

Sylvia Carlson, the Nucleo Director at Hibbard, explained to me that it's the first time that a program of this kind is becoming a part of YOURS. Some of these high school students have previous experiences as teachers, but they have never been involved in an official teaching program such as this. In fact, the YOURS Project interns will be asked to take part in the program as full teachers, receiving training and experience instructing sectionals, teaching private lessons, assisting ensemble directors, and rehearsing and performing with the orchestra.  

This experience is going to be really challenging not only for them but also for the teaching staff, consisting of energetic and dedicated individuals: Andrea Grinberg (Cello Coach and Strings Instructor for the Beginning Orchestra), Brett Benteler (Double Bass Coach, Low Strings Instructor, and intermediate orchestra conductor) Javier Saume-Mazzei (Percussion Teacher) and Ben Bolter (Strings Instructor and Conductor of the Advanced Orchestra).  

Today I was really happy and grateful to have joined a group of people so collaborative and united by the same goals and the same enthusiasm. In one room, there were people of different ages, coming from different cultural backgrounds, different countries, but all of them speaking a common and universal language: MUSIC.Thinking about the competitive world in which we live, I'd like to share with you all a personal thought: when you're part of a group, sometimes it doesn't matter if you're the best. The most important thing is to be someone who contributes to the group as a whole, and who is happy being part of something bigger than oneself. 

Giulia Molteni