Beaufort High choir heading to Inauguration festival

Students of the Beaufort High School Voices choir group will receive a once in a lifetime opportunity as they make their way to Washington, D.C.

The group of 33 students are participating in the Presidential Inaugural Heritage Festival, which will take place Saturday. The festival only happens every four years when a new president is sworn in.

Choir director Jordan Plair showcased her students’ talents Wednesday by having them warm-up their vocal chords and practice the three songs they will perform at the festival. 

The three songs the choir students will perform radiate a theme of freedom, acceptance and love. The song, “I Believe” by Mark Miller contains lyrics from the words scratched on the walls of a cellar in Cologne, Germany by a Jew hiding from Nazi persecution. The song “Esto Les Digo” is one Plair chose to perform because she sang it herself in college and has been working with her students for four years in order to sing it at the festival.

The students will also perform a spiritual song, “Freedom Train,” which is an upbeat and energized song with the lyrics, “Bound for glory where peace and justice reign. One day we shall overcome–can’t go back to where we started from.” As a student, Plair went on the first trip with Beaufort High School and wanted to continue the opportunity for her students once she became the choir director. The 2017 trip marks Beaufort High School’s third trip to the festival to perform, and one that will surely be memorable. Students will be able to attend the presidential inauguration ceremony and tour the Smithsonian museums, Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.  

For more on the story, visit Beaufort Today online and to see some video of the choir practicing for Saturday’s performance, visit Beaufort Today on Facebook here.