What is going on at the opening concert?

Elkie Meyers: “The concert that we are putting on for the social justice summit circles around important issues, we address racial issues, LGTBQ+ issues, and we start our songs with the problems. As the concert progresses we go into solutions. We [sing] about staying strong, making changes within ourselves, and we end with ‘Man In The Mirror,’ which is a really uplifting piece that represents the changes that we as a choir are planning to make after doing this research… ”

Grace Gould: “And that we as individuals should all be making.”

Elkie Meyers: “With this, even though we are just singers, and this is just choir, thats not all were doing. Each choir has a specific piece that they were asked to research. For me, I know it was the bombing of Hiroshima and Matthew Shepard.”

“We had to put together a project on it. We could write an essay, poem or create an art project- something that demonstrates that we learned something from this music. I also think that everyone can learn something from the music we are performing. They all have really strong messages and they are all really beautiful and powerful.”

“We also got a chance to sing ‘All of Us,’ which is by Matthew Shepard and about LGTBQ+ rights with Centennial choirs, and we performed it, that is about 60 voices. The power and emotion that every single person brought to that piece was really beautiful and powerful, and I think that made the audience feel something- which I think is the point of music.”

What does social justice mean to you?

Grace Gould: “Social justice to me means just being able to be yourself and not feel lesser than another group of people. I don’t feel like one group of people should be stereotyped to have less power than another group. I feel like that is a power mirage that our society displays and I think as soon as we realize that it’s not something that has to be in place we can out it.”

Sonja Tollefson: “I think social justice is being able to be yourself, and not being afraid of what others will think of you, or how they  may treat you because of how you act or what you look like.”