Put about 120 primary school children from St. John on a stage to sing together, and what do you see? Some are concentrating, some are rapturous, and some are squirming. Their faces touch your heart and make you wish for a better future for our youngsters.
Helping children find their voices and join with others is a major goal of the St. John All Island Children’s Choir, now in its tenth year. On Wednesday, March 19, at 5:30 p.m., the children in grades K-2 will perform at the Julius E. Sprauve School auditorium, and all are welcome to attend for free. The half-hour concert will also be live-streamed.
Click here to watch the concert on YouTube.
“Singing together raises the children’s self-esteem and nurtures a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves,” said choir director Kristen Carmichael-Bowers. She seeks to strengthen community spirit by teaching songs in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole.
19 at 5:30 p.m. (Photo courtesy Sing St. John)
The concert day is the time when all the children from all three schools on St. John — the Julius E. Sprauve School, the Gifft Hill School, the St. John Christian Academy, as well as home-schoolers — come together for a day of activities, games, and rehearsal.
Wrangling 120 children is not easy, Carmichael-Bowers says. She depends on more than 30 educators and volunteers (and pizza) to keep the production on track. Community members who wish to volunteer can contact her at 340-227-4920 or send an email to info@singstjohn.org.
The St. John All-Island Children’s Choir is one of four programs presented by Sing St. John, which is supported solely by community donations and grants.
“Sing St. John is sustained by the generosity of our community members and businesses, as well as by grants from the Virgin Islands Lottery and MidAtlantic Arts,” said Carmichael-Bowers. “This project is jointly supported by a grant from the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC, a federal agency.”
