Uniting Voices Chicago inspires and uplifts students through music
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a special Black History Month concert featuring 2,500 Chicago students taking turns on stage.
They're lifting their voices and supporting each other. It's held each year by Uniting Voices Chicago.
Twenty-five hundred Chicago Public School students fill the seats at Chicago Symphony Center.
They come from different grades and different schools, some as young as eight, using music to connect and to a sometimes shared history.
"They really walk away more than anything feeling like they are part of a community," said Lonnie Norwood, Director and Conductor of Africana Studies of Uniting Voices Chicago.
Uniting Voice Chicago, formerly Chicago Children's Choir, organized this concert with a focus on African music and culture -- a curriculum they've focused on this Black History Month and in the school year leading up.
"When I first started, I was introverted, and I was always a smart kid, but I wasn't nearly as educated on the impact of music and culture."
It engages students like senior Christian Hampton, who, after six years with the choir, plans to study music education in college.
"I really want to eventually be able to come back to this organization and teach...I just can't get enough of this organization. It's so good," Hampton said.
There are a few parents and teachers scattered in the crowd.
The students instead fill most of the seats taking turns supporting each other during their time on the stage.
Hundreds more students learned this curriculum even if they couldn't be at this event.
Uniting Voices has its registration open if you want your student to participate this semester.