A Revere High School (RHS) choir teacher connects students through her student mentorship program allowing high school and middle school students to learn from each other.
Every year high school choir students work hard to mentor middle school students through the choir mentorship program. The program provides students with opportunities to make new friends and improve their skills while helping to build the program.
Sierra Pabon is the RHS Choral Director, while also teaching choir classes at the middle school. She started the mentorship program three years ago and is making sure that it thrives.
“We are attempting to grow our program by recruiting new people and retaining the people that we have. In efforts to retain who we have, we’re creating this mentorship program to create better relationships between middle school and high school students,” Pabon said.
The program encourages a healthy culture around choir, creating a positive environment for students. In addition to that, it has many benefits for both middle and high school students.
“For the middle schoolers, it’s nice for them to have familiar faces to see at concerts, and the events that we share together. It’s also a nice opportunity for our high schoolers to present themselves well and to serve as models and to communicate with somebody that’s unfamiliar,” Pabon said.
Pabon has received positive feedback on the program from her students. Students have been able to find comfort in knowing that they have peers that they can rely on.
“I have heard great feedback from middle schoolers that have grown up into high school, that have said, ‘I’m so grateful for this, because there were faces and people that I knew going into high school that I knew I could count on, and that were there for me to support me’,” she said.
Having a mentor helps upcoming choir students transition from middle to high school. According to Pabon, students are full of excitement when it comes to the mentorships.
“From the high school end they are so excited to find out who their mentees are, and from the middle school end, they are so excited to find out who their high school mentors are,” Pabon said.
Michael Wiley teaches choir at Revere Middle School (RMS), he helped start the mentorship program with Pabon and continues to help it thrive from the middle school. The program allows high schoolers to serve as positive role models, showing the ropes to younger students.
“The high schoolers will be paired with a middle schooler and basically they’re just there to help mentor the younger kids into seeing what being a high school choir student is all about,” Wiley said.
The choir mentorship program builds lasting relationships and a positive culture around the Revere choir community. As the program continues to grow and develop students across all grades, improving their skills as they learn from each other.