Starting our day at 7:25 in the morning can be rough. A few members of the EHHS YAMs tried to bring a little more joy to our morning before spring break. Yellowjacket Ambassadors of Music (YAMs) is an after school organization that is a rendition of the Tri-M Music Honor Society that was introduced in the 2024-2025 school year. This allows for EHHS musically gifted students to broaden their musical knowledge and skills, while also giving back to the community through their talents. Mr. Steven Wolf holds a meeting after school every Thursday from 2-3 pm.
There are currently 8 students enrolled in this organization. While the opportunity to join this year has come to an end, Mr. Wolf and the students involved are working to improve it for any interested student that wants to participate in the upcoming year. Visit https://easthavenmusic.org/yams/ for more information about our YAMs honor society.
Like other honors societies, there are requirements that need to be met to join YAMs. Students must be enrolled in a school music ensemble and/or class for at least one semester of the current school year. They need to have maintained for the previous semester at least an A average grade or equivalent in music, with at least a B average grade or equivalent in other academic subjects. Members must complete a service project and/or activities, which can include any actions undertaken by the student that are done with or on behalf of others without any direct financial or material compensation to the individual performing the service.Members should be people of character who demonstrates respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship. They should exemplify the EHPS Vision of the Graduate. Since this has recently been introduced there could be changes made to the requirements and any other information about the organization in the upcoming year.
YAMs focuses on expanding opportunities for students interested in music who want to get better at it. EHHS music classes as well as Marching Band only get so high in difficulty, so YAMs acts as an expansion to our schools’ available extracurriculars. Mr. Wolf and the students a part of YAMs hope to improve the YAMs organization in the years to come by formalizing their application process, getting it registered with the national music honor society Tri-M, and introducing mentoring with middle school and elementary school students. Our YAMs members will be able to take part in, and teach JMMS and elementary school students.
While there has been an overwhelming amount of positive feedback for Mr. Wolf and his students, some of the students involved explain the commitment that being apart of YAMs requires. Elijah explains how there is a low amount of members, which results in less popularity and noticeability of the honor society. Ayvah explains how it is draining for her sometimes because of the commitment of YAMs, especially when she is busy with other things going on, she also explains how you have to find a ride, and have the time to stay after school. While these things do present difficulties for the students, the rewarding feeling they get from being able to do what they love outweighs the negatives. YAMs gives EHHS students the ability to not only broaden their musical talents, but introduces them to challenges and experiences they may have never come across if not for this organization.