United Show Choir had its first performance at HHS's Winter vocal music concert on Dec. 4th in the school auditorium.
HHS Creates the Second Unified Show Choir in the Country.
The impact of having a unified show choir at HHS is reflected by the excitement and love shown by everyone involved in the group.
“I think the biggest impact, and I’ve known this from the get-go before we even started, was honestly not going to be our special education kids,” HHS Choir Director Christian Yost said. “It’s going to be everyone else that gets to come work with them and everyone who gets to see the choir because their hearts are opened to these kids that often get overlooked, that they are able to be seen and able to be understood just a little bit more.”
At the heart of the unified show choir are kids with disabilities. Having a unified show choir allows them to shine their light and show people who they are.
“They each have their own personalities. They’re just like us. They all have things that make them, them. And they’re wearing way more than their disabilities. And so we have the students who are starting to see that we’ve had the audience at the concert start to see that. So that’s I think that’s been the biggest impact so far,” HHS accompanist Mindee Rowan said.
United Show Choir has been an opportunity for special needs students to do something different. The special needs students and their buddies have learned a lot from one another.
“The kids are very, very excited. It’s been nice on both sides. The special ed kids are very excited to be involved and included in their regular school day. There’s a large part about those kids with disabilities being included in the regular society and it’s a beautiful thing to see, Rowan said. It’s nice for the show choir kids to get to learn and see the personalities and the life that the other students experience and be able to be a part of that.
Members of the unified show choir take pride in the programs at HHS that include everyone in the school.
“I think it shows how much we care about our programs and how we want to include everyone in our school,” junior Kinlee Bruce said.
Unified Show Choir has been a very moving experience for members who have watched the students in the group with disabilities grow.
“I’ve seen how they grow. Their personalities are so fun! And if you get to know them, and then you get into that room it’s just a whole different environment. I love it. I’m shocked every time and how much it means to me and how special it is that we can do something like that and lift those kids up,” Rowan said.
Working with special needs kids was a new experience for many of the regular students, dubbed buddies. They have grown more comfortable interacting with those who have disabilities because of United Show Choir. This is a life skill they would likely not have without this experience.
“I think they feel a lot better now than they did the first time they walked in the room. A lot of those kids have never worked with anyone with disabilities. You don’t really know how to act like and if you’ve never worked with disabilities, it’s totally understandable,” Yost said. “But then you understand they’re just regular kids that go to high school and some of them are punks. Sometimes some of them have bad days, but we all are like that.”
The special needs students in Unlimited Show Choir have grown so much since the start of their journey.
“So Natalia, she started (choir) like three years ago. She didn’t say a single word. She would go like days in my class without ever saying anything. And she has grown so much that last week, she auditioned for a solo by herself and sang for the entire class,” Yost said. “And so it’s stuff like that where I think these kids are finding a safe space to do music, but also you know, they’re they’re growing in their abilities, and they’re stretching and getting confidence and who they are. And so I think that that is a really wonderful thing.”
Inspiration for this group came from a school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that created the first 1 to 1 unified show choir. Yost wanted to create a program built around togetherness, not just opportunity.
“There’s a lot of schools that have special education choirs and unified choirs across the state, but it’s not so much unified but special education choir. But then I saw this program at Sioux Falls that they have truly unified where it’s 1 to 1,” Yost said. “And then they also go to one show choir competition, and they perform at their home show choir competitions. And I was like, how cool is that? We have a bunch of kids who love to sing and dance and it doesn’t matter their ability level they just love to sing and dance and get on stage. And so I thought that creating an opportunity for them would be a really cool thing.”
After hearing about the first unified show choir Rowen and Yost jumped into action to be the second. The program was set up in less than a year. This was due to the complete support from administration as well as previously established programs in the school involving special needs students, such as unified bowling, the 21 and above program, and special needs classes.
“We’re the first ones in Nebraska to do anything like (a unified show choir), so that’s pretty cool that we get to be on the map for innovation. And so I think for the school, it’s a wonderful thing, but I also think just for the students in general, to see that we’re good humans, too,” Rowan said. “High schoolers can kind of be viewed as rotten, especially, you know, from people around town, and like all those rotten high schoolers, they’re no good, but to see high schoolers actually doing something that’s really wonderful for the community, I love.”
The relationships that are being built through Unlimited Show Choir have gone beyond the time spent together during the show choir rehearsals for many of the participating students. United Show Chior is making an impact by having opportunities for inclusion.
“My favorite part is seeing the friendships that are starting to be built between kids who are not in the same classes together. And you only see each other in the hallways,” Yost said. “Ashton (a buddy) went to the unified bowling meet and saw Christian (a student with a disability) bowl and stuff like that’s my dream. It’s bigger than music. It’s bigger than dancing or anything like that. It’s to build relationships of inclusion.”
