LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Students in the Forest Heights STEM Academy Choir used their voices to help put an end to violence. Each semester the choir hosts a benefit concert. They choose an issue to take up and then they find an organization supporting that issue, so they can donate the money. 

For the spring semester benefit concert, the students decided to tackle the issue of gun violence. They performed songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water, which demonstrated the need for everyone to work together to make a change. 

“The world has become crazy. We have drills for if someone comes into our school to shoot. That’s not okay,” 8th grade choir student Makaylah Harmon said. 

The choir decided they wanted to donate their concert money to L.O.V.E, or Let Our Violence End, which partners with KARK’s Victory Over Violence campaign. 

“It feels really good, especially knowing that I’m doing it just by using my voice,” 8th grade choir student Chloee Buchanan said. 

“In my family one of my cousins was killed from gun violence, so it makes me feel good that I’m trying to put an end to it,” 6th grade choir student Joi Geter said. 

L.O.V.E volunteer Karen Spears fought back tears as she accepted the $250 check. 

“That’s a lot of money for children to be raising for a cause as important as Victory over Violence is, Spears said. “To hear their heart, even through singing, you were hearing their heart, you knew how important this was to them.” 

Under the direction of Jonathan Doram, the oaring Eagles choir, made up of 6th, 7th and 8th grade students lived up to its vision to be compassionate, critical musicians who use music to transform themselves and the world.