THE ECHO

By Miryam Starr // Managing Editor

Recently, the performing arts program at Avon High School has experienced major leadership changes. Last year both the band director, Mr. Harloff, and the orchestra director, Mr. Westman, retired, stepped away from their roles as directors. For band and orchestra students that have been at the school for any longer than a year, this has caused changes to their lives and routines.

The performing arts program in Avon is a large part of school culture. A lot of money, time, and effort are put into ensuring that the students become the best musicians that they can be. A change of directors is a big change alone, especially when it comes to something that so many students are invested in. At Avon we haven’t just had one change of director, we had two, at the exact same time. Obviously, this has had an effect on many students, so it begs the question, how are they adjusting?

Many students had been working with the same director since their freshmen year or even before. In many cases, three years or more had been spent with one director. Whether the change ended up being for the better or for the worse, initial reactions were generally on the worried side.

Lily Hwang, a junior symphony violinist, has been in the performing arts program in Avon for six years. She explains her initial mixed reactions to finding out that Mr. Westman would be leaving.

“I was obviously sad and disappointed that I wouldn’t get all four years with Mr. Westman, and I was nervous about how the transition between leadership would affect my experience,” Hwang said.

Jade Price, a junior symphony violist, has also been in the Avon performing arts program for six years. She shares her initial reaction and gives some insight into her thoughts on the potential dynamic shift.

“I’m not going to lie, it kind of hurt. I knew I was going to miss the Westman old man stories. On top of that, we had a really good balance between Powell and Westman. Powell was the dude that actually made us get work done. We would do reps and he would talk about our intonation. When Westman got up there, we did long runs. He would stop, make a joke, make another joke, make us do a run, and say it was Powell’s problem to fix it later. I was sad to know that I was probably going to lose that aspect of orchestra,” Price said.

Haven Hughes, also a junior, is a clarinet in the Avon band. She did marching band for three years and is currently part of the Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra, shares a slightly more optimistic outlook on the situation.

“I knew Mr. Harloff’s retirement was nearing becoming a reality, but it was crazy to think it was actually happening after all this time. I was excited for a new era of band though!” Hughes said.

Now, a couple of months into the school year, students have had time to step back and see what has come of the changes. In each case, the students’ thoughts on the situation shifted as they settled into the differences.

“I’m not completely opposed to it. I think it can definitely bring new ideas, but I want to make sure that what was established with Westman will continue,” Hwang said.

Price further explains that she hasn’t really noticed much drastic difference after some experience with the dynamic shift that she had initially been worried about.

“I haven’t really noticed any big changes. It’s just been Mr. Powell taking a more active role with the leadership team and stuff like that. Really, it’s just kind of stayed the same; everything’s been going pretty well. I’m not mad at it, Mr. Grifa is really nice,” Price said.

Hughes elaborates on the shifts that she has noticed on the band side of the program.

“This change in leadership has brought new rules and groups into play, yet the foundation of the band program hasn’t wavered! The impact of this change hasn’t really had any major effect on my life. It feels different not having Harloff there, but in a good way because now we have Mr. Abbey stepping up,” Hughes said.

Obviously for many, changes like this are uncomfortable and can be difficult to deal with, but when given grace and time they can work out for the better. All three of these students shared memories and stories of their time with their previous directors, but memories with new directors were shared as well.

“Change is obviously hard and not ideal, but it is inevitable and sometimes leads to awesome new opportunities,” Hughes explained, “You wouldn’t grow or find improvement if things stayed the same.”