Samuel Craven, Steve Call, BYU School of Music
The crowning achievement of my ORCA mentorship project was to have it submitted to the BYU School of Music library, where it is now both physically and digitally accessible for anyone to use. This project has been valuable to me in many ways, and I especially appreciate the chance it has given me to work with Dr. Call in a capacity that I would not otherwise have had. Despite some minor problems, I was able to finish the project on time and to my mentor’s and my own high standards. Overall, I consider this opportunity to have been extremely valuable to my undergraduate experience at BYU, and I look forward to benefiting from the jumpstart to my academic experience that the ORCA program has given me.
As a result of the opportunity awarded to me by the ORCA program, I was able to submit the compilation to the BYU Music Library Archives, where it will be used for reference and pedagogical purposes. As an effort in conservation it has served to make valuable materials that otherwise would have been lost available to anyone.
I appreciated the chance to work with my mentor under a different set of circumstances than I normally would have; where ordinarily I might have only been able to interact with Dr. Call within the scope of a music lesson, this project enabled me to learn from him in the highly engaging context of student-mentor collaboration. It was very worthwhile to get the chance to assist Dr. Call in a research opportunity that he might not otherwise have had the resources to undertake.
To improve the experience, I should have followed the schedule initially laid out more closely. While the project was finished on time, there were some delays that resulted in a disproportionate amount of work being done near the end of the allotted time. I had to take care to avoid letting this negatively impact the quality of my work on the project, but ultimately, I was able to finish the project on time and to standards that I am proud of. If I were to do the project again, I would take more care to have a focused discussion every week with Dr. Call about the progression of the project to keep everything on schedule.
My mentoring experience added immensely to the value of my semester and year as a whole; it rounded out the many positive experiences I had with an academic achievement worthy of pride. It enabled me to more involved in the BYU School of Music that will aid me as I consider pursuing further education in music. Through this project I was able to gain a significant depth of knowledge on tuba playing and pedagogy that has already in the last 9 months served me well in successive musical and academic endeavors. My participation in this mentoring program will undoubtedly remain one of the top highlights of my freshman year at BYU.
The donor who funded my ORCA project ought to know what a difference they made to my first year of undergraduate education; hopefully this final report successfully illustrates what a positive and valuable experience it has been. I have no doubt that anyone who completes a project through the ORCA program would have the same experience I did, and I look forward to the ORCA program continuing to benefit other students and scholars in the future.