What made you decide to become a company manager?
“I enjoy leading and helping out others, and I can do that super easily as a company manager by commanding people on what to do and assisting with anyone who desires my aid and who has inquiries. I also felt as though there were things I could do better than in leadership last year. I really enjoy the choir program, at least at the JV level, so I wanted to go deeper into the belly of the beast and see what’s really going on.”
What struggles have you faced so far this year?
“There’s lots of compromising that has to be done since I am not the sole leader of the choir, so not everything always goes as smoothly as I’d hoped. Also, there’s always going to be some troublemaking freshmen, so wrangling them is a struggle sometimes.”
How does being a company manager affect your enjoyment of choir?
“As CM, I actually have power and the ability to control what happens rather than just sitting back and doing what I’m told. This makes choir both satisfying and frustrating at times. I also get to communicate with our director directly and form a deeper relationship with him.”
Have you had to yell at anyone yet?
“I have not had to yell at anyone, yet. I have had to yell at the whole choir multiple times because they are very talkative and don’t like to listen often. There are a few troublemakers; however, that are making my hair turn grey.”
Tell me the difference between a JV and a varsity company manager.
“While JV is still intensive at times, it is far less demanding than if I led one of the varsities. We have significantly fewer rehearsals that all of the students have to be reminded about, we have fewer songs to remind the students about for costumes and possible prop problems, and we also don’t have any overnight events/parties that I would have to set up.”
What values do you find that you have to have in order to be a good leader?
“You have to be responsible, available for questions constantly, commanding, loud, confident, open, hardworking and many other qualities. However, you do not need to have all of those features as long as your other company manager has them, so that you two can divide and conquer. In my case, my fellow company manager and I work quite well together.”
Describe your choir experience up to this point.
“Besides the basic day-to-day stuff that every kid in choir goes through, I do most of the background work. While Makayla (fellow CM) does the public service announcements in class, I do the setup of the parties, the creation of the merch store, the creation of our Wednesday shirts, the choosing and ordering of our comp pajama pants, the putting together of the locker magnets and posters, and the answering of millions of questions from the annoying freshmen who pester me all the time.”
