HONORS
in the Community
Story and photos by Stephanie Schupska
Muse UGA
The music mentorship program started with four students who occasionally taught guitar to elementary students—and stayed small for several years. This fall, with the help of Honors Program sponsorship, it has grown to about 40 volunteers who teach middle schoolers the fun of learning to play an instrument.
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t’s Tuesday evening, and John Morris hops out of his car and grabs the guitar in his trunk. He tosses a T-shirt to Jessica Thompson—the shirts are hot off the presses, an easy way to mark the Honors students as Muse UGA volunteers. They’re joined by a few more UGA students, and together they file into Burney-Harris-Lyons (BHL) Middle School. Two days a week, Muse UGA volunteers work on the basics of guitar, piano, and ukulele with middle schoolers through after-school programs at BHL and Clarke Middle.
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UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2019
The service organization got its start when four students partnered with the student organization Whatever It Takes, which is also sponsored by the Honors Program, and occasionally taught guitar to elementary-aged children at the East Athens and Rocksprings community centers. In 2017, UGA alumni Brendan Abernathy and Nolan Ayers took over and moved the group into Clarke Middle School. This past summer, Muse UGA gained Honors sponsorship. The organization now has about 40 volunteers and
