Under new leadership, Tri-M Music Honor Society is experiencing a new revival as a result of newfound enthusiasm for the organization.

In past years, Tri-M Music Honor Society has faded into the shadows of other popular clubs in the school.

Choir director Jay Althouse believes new leadership is good for the club.

“Strong leadership…is driven to continually make improvements,” said Althouse. “[the new] leadership…thinks beyond themselves and thinks about the school, community and beyond.”

All of this change within the Music Honor Society stems from the dedication of students like junior Jordan Pflieger.

Pflieger resides in the secretary position of Tri-M. Her responsibilities are to “take notes for the meetings and…help carry out those ideas,” in Pflieger’s own words. Her responsibility also goes into the ability to keep everyone in a Tri-M meeting on task and create structure within the meetings.

Pflieger represents the mission of Tri-M, which is to foster the ability for a student to grow with the group. Tri-M brings Pflieger, “the confidence to bring music into the community. It has definitely made [Pflieger] more confident as opposed to freshman year because [she] can talk to leaders and members alike and carry conversation…”.

Other students, like senior Ethan Horn, have been involved in Tri-M as a general member and council member, serving as treasurer this year.

Horn sings in the choir and has always been a key player in the music department, requirements for the type of student involved in Tri-M.

“We (Tri-M) are basically showcasing what the music department is all about. We are representatives of our school’s music department,” said Horn, “I mean, we are seen by the school board by what we try to accomplish. We kind of give the community a sense of our involvement, through showing them what Susquehannock can really do.”

Tri-M has changed their mission statement for the 2018-2019 school year, adapted to new meeting procedures, and added interest into the group by creating shirts, themes for meetings and a more inclusive atmosphere.

“[Tri-M] could just be people that play music or sing. No, we want to give the impression that we want to incorporate everyone into the program. We want to make that difference,” said Horn. “High School is about experience in anything you have an interest with.”

Horn believes in the Tri-M standard of creating an outlet for music students, but also be inclusive to everyone in the school environment by creating events for the general school population.

Tri-M hosted the event “Downtown Sounds,” in which students from the select ensembles of the music department performed for a day along the streets of downtown Shrewsbury.

It was a massive hit, bringing in almost $320.00 in donations for the student-led organization.

The annual event is going to be one of many this year, according to Althouse.
“All indications is that these events will continue this year due to the leadership of the Tri-M officers and the excitement and energy they will bring to the rest of the Tri-M membership,” said Althouse.

The shift within the organization is noticeable not only to students, but the adult leaders as well.

“So far, I notice that the officers have really brought their creative energy to the table. They are thinking outside the box, and they are excited to share their ideas,” Althouse said. “They are focusing on examining how the organization runs/does things and how it can change to make those processes better.”

Tri-M allows scholarly music students within Susquehannock to have experiences in leading, develop their own ideas, serve the community and foster creativity within their processes.