A decade after the first Honors Elementary Musicianship Mentorship Association (HEMMA) highlighted its very first students, the Girl Scouts’ Gold Award project shined on at a May 23 recital in Newtown High School’s auditorium.

The organization provides free musical mentorship by high school volunteers, costing parents of elementary school students merely the price of instruction books with a wide variety of instruments available to be explored. The mentors utilize designated classrooms in NHS after school hours.

While opening the event, Newtown Public Schools Director of Visual and Performing Arts Michelle Hiscavich had a surprise for the mentors, students, and their families.

She read a statement, also released to The Newtown Bee, by Gabriel Winter Clark, who founded the association for their Gold Award as an NHS student ten years ago.

Ten Years Of Mentorship

In the address, Clark wrote their inspiration to start HEMMA came from their desire to give back to their community for the opportunities they personally had in music, “a matter of joy” allowing them to fall in love more as they got older.

They wrote they wanted to build something to allow any child in the district to have the same experience, and cited formative musical opportunities in high school and the diligence of their classmates in these programs as another source of inspiration.

“I watched my peers practice with dedication and support each other in pursuing excellence, all with unrelenting kindness and a belief we could create something beautiful together,” Clark wrote, adding they knew students who intended to become teachers and were pursuing service hours.

Clark said in the first year they hoped for around 20 students to sign up, but were delighted to receive over 100, matched with mentors who provided lessons to every single student with interest.

“At that point, the amount of interest and support we had for the program made one thing clearer than ever: This was a community that wanted music,” Clark wrote.

Emotional Reflections

According to the 2022-2023 HEMMA President Grace Lynch, Clark’s words were “quite emotional” to experience on the day of the recital.

The recent graduate said it was beautiful to learn what the founder believed the program to be, because she shared those same views, and knew she “achieved those goals that I believe so heavy in.”

“It was just a great feeling to help it come back to life after COVID, and that it’s going to continue after many years,” she added.

Lynch served as leader for the landmark year; a special honor for the recent graduate who started with HEMMA as a freshman. In the beginning of her high school career, a previous club president visited her choir class to pitch the club to prospective members.

“I immediately got excited and jumped on the wagon,” said Lynch, who began her journey providing the standard 30-minute lessons for two elementary school students.

“This year some of them had five or six — they were that enthusiastic about it,” said Lynch regarding some of the mentors who added more students to their roster.

The club, advised by NHS educator Chris Carley, boasted 25 mentors and provided tutelage for 70 elementary schoolers — the highest number since before the pandemic, according to Lynch.

In addition to normal lesson instruction, HEMMA also offers beginner’s music theory classes that serve a class full of students at once, including lessons on recorder and foundational musical concepts.

“It hadn’t been offered since before COVID, so we’re bringing it back,” said Lynch about the popular program, which hosted two sections of ten students this year.

Lynch said she hopes the young students take away that music is a way to express themselves.

“You don’t need to be the best at music to find joy in it,” she said, adding participation in the arts encourages important character traits including leadership qualities and working as a team.

Passing The Torch

At this year’s recital following Clark’s comments, students dressed for the event ascended the high school stage with their mentors to show off one or two songs from their study during the year.

Lynch said the event is her favorite of the program, as she watched kids with stage fright “face their fears.”

Family members applauded the young musicians as they took their turn in the spotlight during the event. Students who appeared nervous upon entering the stage smiled widely as they pronounced their final notes.

“Even if they don’t continue it forever, it’s just a great thing to bring into their lives,” the longtime HEMMA mentor stated, reflecting on the HEMMA students’ involvement in music. “The kids in Newtown are amazing … I’ve been enjoying watching them grow.”

In her own cumulative venture and sentimental send-off to the club, Lynch created an all-inclusive binder for future HEMMA leaders as she passes the torch.

This binder is her senior capstone project, and includes a yearly time line with all important dates, curriculum for basic music theory lessons, sample sheet music for all instruments, forms and how to fill them out, and descriptions of board positions.

“Starting HEMMA was not easy but it was worth it,” Clark wrote in their address, continuing “... it ended up building a program that has continued to serve hundreds of students in this district for ten years.”

“I am filled with pride whenever I hear about the people making HEMMA last,” said Clark, addressing the students, the mentors, and the leaders in their statement. “Please know you are holding up something beautiful, and good, and worth all of the work you put into it: making music.”

Opportunities to sign up for the HEMMA program for the 2023-2024 school year will be made available to the families of elementary school in the fall.

Reporter Noelle Veillette can be reached at noelle@thebee.com.