On Tuesday, October 24th, Sandburg’s Performing Arts Center (PAC) was filled with over 70 audience members standing and supporting their loved ones at the Sandburg choir program’s first concert of the year. This annual event is a special time to show community support across the music program.

Sandburg’s Choir Concert is an event in which the District 135 junior high school choirs get together to perform their songs and receive advice from Sandburg choir students. This fall concert is an opportunity for the younger generation of choir students to understand Sandburg’s music work, strategy, and community. 

One of the main messages that the Sandburg choir program delivered to the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders from Jerling Jr. High School, Century Jr. High School, and Orland Jr. High School was that Sandburg’s choir program has no room for hate.

Carl Sandburg’s very own choir director, Ms. Denofrio, explains how the music program is “less about singing than it is about finding your own humanity, understanding that what you have gone through in your life can translate into art, [and] how to be vulnerable and be courageous in spite of any fear that you have.”

Choir students, then, work at their own character as well as their music. Ms. Denofrio has worked hard throughout her time at Sandburg to make the choir program more inclusive and a safer place to share art and talent. 

The students were given approximately 45 minutes for question and answer time with Chorale and Belcanto, two of Sandburg’s advanced choirs, and they asked a plethora of questions about what it takes to be a choir student.

When asked about the difference between middle school choir and high school choir, middle school student Olivia Bates noted, “they take it way more seriously than we were taught to,” about the difference between middle school and high school choir.

Additionally, middle schooler Madeline Carrier expressed that “it makes me feel a part of something I am talented at and a way others can express themselves.” 

Freshman choir president Molly Ann Judge spoke about her growth as a person and as a singer through the choir program. Judge wants her fellow students to understand that being in choir takes tremendous time and dedication. She also says that choir “helps me find a purpose and a community aspect, which has people doing what I like.”

Judge shares these opinions with senior Chorale member, Grace Pierson, who said “being with other people who also have that passion and being able to bond and share in that passion is truly the best feeling ever.” She added that Sandburg’s choir program is “an incredibly safe place to be in.”

Pierson also stated that “it’s not a toxic environment, it’s a supportive, loving environment.” This loving and supportive environment is visible at every concert, with all of the members of choir seated in the audience, cheering on their fellow classmates, alongside family and friends.

The choir program at Carl Sandburg High School is a unique and caring community. There is a focus on love and support for each other, passion and dedication to the art, and becoming a better person as well as a performer.