For Secretary - Jennifer Brush
Hello, my name is Jennifer Brush and I am a junior music education major with an emphasis in clarinet at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. I am pursuing the position of Secretary for CMENC and wish to offer some personal information as to why I am an excellent candidate for consideration. Although this is my third year as an active member of MENC, my experience with musical organizations has not been limited to this time frame. First and foremost, throughout my entire high school career I was a member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, in which I had the honor of serving as Vice President. At the present time, I continue to cultivate the passion for music which was present in me early on, participating in my university’s Symphony Band, Wind Ensemble, and chamber group. I also have a years’ experience in the New York Youth Orchestra. Outside of the classroom, I teach private music lessons to elementary clarinet and piano students. This allows my musical interests to stretch beyond academia which I greatly enjoy. In addition, I take pride in my endeavors outside of the realm of music as they further me as an individual. As such, I am honored to say that I will serve as part of the community service committee for Delta Epsilon Iota Academic Honor Society, to which I recently was inducted. Furthermore, I find that it is important to cultivate my extracurricular interests as I continue to play tennis, cook, practice yoga, run, and travel.
As secretary I will bring all that my personality and experiences have to offer to the organization, which to me means infusing CMENC and its members with a sense of leadership that begins with me. In doing so, I will hopefully facilitate membership and support which CMENC deserves. When I say that leadership begins on a personal level I mean to show that I will do what is necessary in order to strengthen the backbone of this organization which I believe holds great potential for maintaining and sparking the interest of musically- inclined individuals. The knowledge I have gained which permits me to envision such a proposal comes from past experience. As Vice President of Tri-M Honor Society I learned how to organize, run and perform in various benefits, including one for AIDS, which is something that I can utilize to my advantage as a leader. In fact, I think that generating interest in creating events would be highly beneficial for universities, particularly those with musical schools that clearly have the basis of student interest. A benefit performance in specific, could help CMENC gain additional recognition and increase the number of its supporters. Each participating CMENC school in NJ could create a local benefit in which a soloist, performing group, etc.., would perform for the public and the donations would be given to a local charity or even a national organization. This is of course just one idea. Another fundraiser in which CMENC universities could participate in is a music drive. By selling old CDs, musical instruments, music books, various musical collections, etc..., to the public, CMENC could raise money. The proceeds from this fundraiser could be donated to local school music programs. Another approach would be to collect these materials and donate them to schools in need of these materials. Finally, I would like to see the continuation of the free music lessons to young students during March’s Music in the Schools Month. As secretary, I will bring any immediate concerns, fundraising, or other ideas to the board meetings for discussion, for I believe that there is much work yet to be done and I am more than willing to lend a hand. Let us all work together to make CMENC an outstanding organization!