When I started high school, I was really excited to join the choir. I assumed it would just be a chance to sing and to unwind at the end of the day, but in reality it gave me so much more than that, it gave me a family.

Often throughout your time in high school, teachers will come and go. You’ll have them for one year and then never see them again. This isn’t the case for Miss Mellema. Miss Mellema has the unique chance to form a connection with students throughout their entire high school careers.

Miss Mellema is a teacher at the Senior High School, who teaches choir and piano class, as well as helps to direct the musical. She’s engaged to another teacher at our school, Mr. Arnold, and hopes to have her wedding in her backyard. She’s been working at the Senior High for a while now, and she has a lot to say about her experiences.

Miss Mellema has worked at several schools within the district, including the Junior and Senior high schools. Once she moved up to the Senior High School, she found a home.

“This is it,” said Miss Mellema when discussing her job at the high school, “this is what I was meant to do and this feels like home. This is where I want to stay”.

One big thing Miss Mellema loves about teaching music is the way it connects people, and forms a sense of community.

When asked what she wants students to take away from choir, she said “The last few years we had so much fun…I want kids to take away a sense of community through music”.

Miss Mellema expressed that “many students consider choir a family” and that “that’s why we stick with it”. 

Miss Mellema’s message to all singers is to stick with choir, even when it’s hard, because, through choir, you’ll form bonds that will last a lifetime.