Ten years of the Lower School’s United Voices Dream Choir.
 
The United Voices Dream Choir was born out of a desire to create an opportunity for students and adults at Lower School to lift their voices together in song. “For years, I had watched our 4th graders perform as a chorus,” says choir founder and Lower School teacher Amie Wallace. “At some point, I imagined kids and adults singing together. When I presented the idea of the choir, there was excitement and much support.” That was the 2013/14 school year—making this year the 10th anniversary of the Dream Choir at the Lower School.

The Choir is made up of committed students in grades preK–4, teachers, and staff who practice to perform at the Lower School’s annual MLK Assembly. Students give up time from their recess periods to rehearse during the two weeks leading up to the assembly. Once a low-key part of the MLK Assembly, the choir is now a central feature that musically supports the message of each year’s programming. “Songs are carefully chosen to support the themes and messages shared in each year’s assembly,” says Wallace. “Students learn the meaning behind each song, as we ponder the lyrics and how they apply to the theme.”
 
A decade in, the choir is as popular as ever. More than 100 students and family members added their voices to the group this year. “The Dream Choir is important to and for our community, as there is nothing else like it at Sidwell Friends, where children and adults come together in performance and celebration,” says Wallace. “We recognize the power of song in bringing people together. In those times of lifted voices, we are temporarily removed from the struggles of our world and bonded together in moments of joy and peace.”