The ECHO, March 2024

6 FEATURES echhsechoonline.com
Graham Jones/The ECHO
Young Leaders in Music Club forges bond
between East and Phillips students
By Juman Alyousif & Suna Erdim
Staff Writers
The Young Leaders in Music Club’s
mentorship program recently returned
from its post-COVID hiatus. This
program provides East students with
knowledge in music the chance to
mentor middle schoolers in their
instruments.
The music mentorship program
between East and Phillips Middle
School has long existed as a way to
bridge the two music departments and
By Avery Tortora
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Criminal Investigation and
Forensic Science Club (CIFS)
inspire continued engagement in the
arts. Originally, high school students
carpooled from East to Phillips, but the
program was transferred to a remote
setting during the 2020-2021 school
year. It became inactive for the two
years succeeding the pandemic, due
to transportation and social distancing
concerns.
In the fall of this year, the former
band and orchestra director at Phillips,
Ann Daaleman, worked to revive the
program by contacting the district
transportation department to arrange
middle school students to be taken
to East by bus every Tuesday after
school. She worked with the support of
Ryan Ellefsen, the band and orchestra
director at East, and senior Matilda
Foureman, the president of the Young
Leaders in Music Club.
“It just felt natural, and I feel
like I have a legacy to prevail,”
said Foureman, a bass player, about
continuing the program.
Foureman’s older sister had led the
mentorship program in its previous
years, which instilled in her a lasting
enthusiasm for its benefits. All the
while, she’s embraced the fact that the
version of the program she’s leading
now has its differences from the older
structure.
“I like how it’s changed,” Foureman
said. “I remember back before COVID
it was very stressful, and I saw former
leaders having to figure out car rides….
Having it here at East is really nice. It’s
just easier and I think it allows middle
school students to see what they have
to look forward to and feel more
comfortable around East.”
For middle school mentees and
high school mentors alike, being
able to learn and teach an array of
skills on their instruments has been
an enlightening and educational
experience.
Seventh grader Polk Greer, who
plays baritone and alto saxophone,
appreciates the strong and
conversational bond that he’s forged
with his mentor William Weis, due to
their relative closeness in age.
“[With] my instructor and private
teacher, we’re like 10 years apart,
and my [mentor]’s four or five years
older than me, so I think that definitely
makes a big difference,” Greer said.
Maslan Bushnell, a sixth grader at
Phillips who recently switched from
flute to saxophone, similarly values
the relationship she’s established with
her mentors, Rithika Bandaru and
George Wang.
“We’re friends,” Bushnell said. “I
always become very good friends with
people [when] one-on-one practicing.”
Bushnell hopes to audition into jazz
band in high school. According to her,
the opportunity to learn from students
who participate in smaller ensembles,
and have had a number of years with
their instruments.
“I think it’s really cool to learn
Club Spotlight: CIFS & Be Loud! Sophie
According to YouGov, over half
of the American population says
they “enjoy” true crime, and with the
already abundant presence of true
crime media, more and more people
indulge in suspenseful and chilling
true crime cases every day.
The Criminal Investigation and
Forensics Science Club at East aims
to teach students about not just
forensics and criminal science, but
also criminal psychology, the criminal
justice system, DNA data testing, and,
of course, famous true crime cases.
Co-president Gulinky Lu
highlighted how these days,
documentaries and news do a great
job depicting and retelling the cases,
but says a lot of the “behind-thescenes
things” can be boring, like
the technical and scientific side of
analyzing a crime scene.
The club has made learning about
criminal investigation and forensics
interactive by hosting guest speakers
in the field and throwing an annual
“murder mystery” themed party
where students can act as detectives
and solve their own mysteries.
Although true crime can be a
grim subject, Lu expressed how the
club aims to keep things “relatively
exciting” while still informing
students on everything true crime
related.
To join, you can reach out to gklu@
students.chccs.k12.nc.us or awang1@
students.chccs.k12.nc.us.
Be Loud! Sophie Club
When East student Sophie Steiner
passed away from cancer in August
Left to Right: CIFS Club and Be Loud! Sophie Club
of 2013, the Be Loud! Sophie
Foundation, and affiliated Be Loud!
Sophie Club at East was formed to
“speak out and have a voice for people
like Sophie,” according to senior copresident
Laura Aycock.
The club’s other co-president, senior
Simone Kornbluth, also highlighted
how the teen-care facilities in hospitals
can be a tricky situation.
“Adults need less supervision,
and the kids are kind of content with
anything, so Steiner felt like the teens
didn’t have as much to do and it could
get lonely at times.”
The club’s main event is the
showcase they host twice a year,
where they invite local bands and a
cappella groups to perform at the Cat’s
Cradle in Carrboro, to raise money for
from the high school kids because
they’re so much more experienced and
they’re people who have done their
instruments forever,” Bushnell said.
Meanwhile, East senior and
violin mentor Brooke Harrison said
mentoring middle school students has
transformed the way she thinks about
her own technique.
“It’s made me more aware of
my mannerisms,” Harrison said.
“Teaching someone else has made me
more aware of what I need to improve
on myself. When I see someone doing
something wrong, I realize that I do the
same thing and need to correct myself.
It reminds me of the lessons I had in
middle school.”
Desta Fisseha, senior and trombone
player, talked about her experience as a
mentee when she was in middle school
and how that inspired her to become
a mentor herself once she reached
high school.
“I was a student at the mentorship
program in middle school and I loved
having the high schoolers help me out
into becoming a better player. We did
these things called castles where it was
like playing tests and the vendor actor
would have you play a little passage
from your book,” Fisseha said.
The skills and teaching experience
gained from the mentoring process are
vital to ensure success reaching higher
education and self-improvement.
“I was kind of slacking off about
it, but then my friend and I got into
competition with it,” Fisseha said.
“We kept fighting for the first chair.
The best way to do that was to go to
mentorship after school, because the
high schoolers can sign off on your
pass offs. I loved being there every
Tuesday. I just couldn't wait until I got
to high school and I got to help kids
out like that.”
Avery Tortora/The ECHO
the teen cancer wing at UNC Hospital.
“It's crazy to see how much our
little club at East can bring so many
people together for a good cause, like
the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation,”
Kornbluth said.
To join, you can reach out to
laaycock@students.chccs.k12.nc.us
or spkornbluth@students.chccs.k12.
nc.us.