Once a year, Tri-M Music Honors Society members gather to clean and organize the music wing (with a homemade lunch provided, of course!). Normally this is done over the summer, but with excessive maintenance and construction last summer, they opted for the chilly season instead.

January 20 is the National Tri-M Day of Service, but because of scheduling and availability, our music department decided to hold our service day the next day, January 21.

“It was a great day to unite efforts with Tri-M chapters around the country to help our schools and communities through service projects, and a nice opportunity to tidy up the music wing,” commented senior Nick Palombo.

Twelve Tri-M students ranging from freshmen to seniors, along with all three of Beaver Area’s music directors, worked diligently from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to help with a variety of tasks in the music department. They filed copious amounts of sheet music, painted sets for the upcoming musical, cleaned ensemble rooms, tightened every single music stand in the music wing, and more.

“Tri-M worked really hard on many different projects cleaning up the music wing. We painted sets, reorganized music, and many other projects. It was a great experience for all of us to work together as a team,” said Tri-m senior Sarah Mateer.

Students were also able to use this opportunity, among a multitude of others throughout the school year, to gain service hours. These hours go toward the 12 members must have by the end of the year, a new and easy requirement implemented this year for Tri-M members.

Mrs. Susan Metelsky, Beaver Area’s choir director, was not only pleased by the work done by the students, but by the willingness they had to “come in on a day off of school” to help the department’s cleaning efforts.

Sophomore Becca Mizer offered her insightful reflection: “I had a lot of fun helping out for the Tri-M Service Day! It was really nice to have been able to give back to the music program and teachers as a way of saying thank-you for all of the hard work they do every day.”