On Friday Jan. 27, before sunrise, thirty-six High Five Choir members met at New Trier to board a Peoria-bound coach bus that wouldn’t return until 6 pm that night.

The students all woke up extra early for this excursion to perform at the Illinois Music Educators Conference (IMEC) to show music teachers from all across the state what High Five Choir does.

High Five Choir was founded here at New Trier twelve years ago, as an activity where students and staff could volunteer during their lunch periods. Two years later. it  became a course option for students.

Currently, High Five has 72 students enrolled in it.

This was the third year that High Five performed at the IMEC. They have also been invited in 2009 and 2014. Susan Vaughn, director of High Five Choir, expressed how important it was to continue presenting the work done in High Five Choir because the methods they use in the choir are ever evolving.

“We are really getting away from an us-and-them model. This is a blended choir of students of all abilities,” said Vaughn. High Five Choir started with a buddy system where a student from the special education program would be paired with someone from the general education program. After realizing the divide it brought upon the students, they changed the system to make it a more united choir for all students.

The choir offers students who aren’t very verbal or don’t like singing the ability to participate in the choir by playing instruments, signing to certain songs, incorporating dances, or even using iPad programs.

Junior Adam Weber is a member of the choir that takes up these other opportunities to participate in performances by playing the tambourine, percussions, and other instruments. Weber said, “I don’t like singing too much. I get to play in the ensemble.”

At the IMEC, Vaughan and New Trier Speech Pathologist Vicki Murphy gave a presentation about the choir. “I felt compelled to share High Five’s  model and message with [her] colleagues so that they can create this opportunity their students, their school, and their community,” said Vaughan.

Murphy and Vaughan are not the only ones who feel the need to share how amazing the choir is.

Students continually tell people how great of an experience it is.

Junior Sophia McGowan joined the choir this year.  “I have many friends who were in the High Five Choir last year, who never stopped talking about it and how much fun it is, so they inspired me to join,” said McGowan. Now that’s she’s in the choir, High Five has made her day “1000 percent better.”

Senior Therese Cooney has been in the choir for three years, and High Five has made its mark in her life. “It’s probably been the best experience I’ve had at New Trier, being in High Five, and I can’t imagine high school without it,” said Cooney.

High Five created an environment where all people are accepted and everyone feels united.

“No matter who you are, High Five is a place where you can express yourself and learn about music, as well as create amazing friendships,” said Cooney.

Vaughan wants High Five Choir  to not just be a choir model in Illinois, but all across the country. She has hopes of getting their music video to “Can’t Stop The Feeling” by Justin Timberlake to go viral, and one day get the choir all the way to The Ellen Degeneres Show, so the entire country can see the unity and work being done. Vaughan believes the choir does more than just unify general and special education students, but it unifies all students.

“We are not only talking about students of various abilities, but about embracing students of color and sexual identity and ethnicity and religious affiliation. We welcome and embrace and accept our truly diverse population of students that make up High Five,” said Vaughan.