North Chicago, IL is a racially diverse, family-oriented community in Lake County. Our public schools serve families that are: 60% Hispanic-Latino, 30% African American, and 91% low income. North Chicago youth thrive in creativity, community, and the arts. North Chicago sings! Please help us send 15 amazing musicians to National Choir!

Over the past two years, enthusiasm grew around The National Choir experience at The Organization of American Kodály Educators' (OAKE) annual music conference. We’ve sent two singers for two years in a row. Now, these two sixth graders are inspiring 13 additional singers to attend the conference in 2026! District 187 generously covers the $300 registration fee for each singer. When our students stay at the Palmer House Chicago, they can fully participate in the conference and the Chicago experience alongside their peers from around the country. For 2026, Bravo Waukegan has awarded a $3,000 scholarship which will nearly cover three hotel rooms for the full conference. We have a total of 15 singers so we hope to raise an additional $5,800 - $10, 000 to house all of our singers for the conference. We plan to have most singers share rooms with parent chaperones while other families may need to have their own room to care for younger siblings.

The OAKE National Choir and Conference is March 3-7, 2026 at Palmer House Chicago culminating in a public, free matinee performance on Saturday, March 8th at Orchestra Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Chicago, IL.

OAKE proclaims, "The Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE) has a mission to support music education of the highest quality, promote universal music literacy and lifelong music making, and preserve the musical heritage of the people of the United States through education, artistic performance, advocacy, and research.

The OAKE National Conference occurs annually, bringing together music educators over several days to refresh their teaching approach and classroom strategies, and to find inspiration including the performance of student singers selected for the National Choirs. The audition-based OAKE National Choirs are each led by a renowned conductor. Accepted singers learn and memorize programmed music with their own teachers before arriving to the conference city where they participate in several days learning together as musicians, culminating in a final performance." (oake.org)

BUDGET DETAILS:

Hotel reservations at Palmer House (conference hotel) will be $222 per night (fee + taxes) + $50 for parking = $275 x 4 nights = $1,100 per room or family.

This fall, we rehearsed weekly with our 4th -8th singers - working on tone, solfege, harmony, intonation, and memorization. Three music teachers will attend this amazing music education conference - attending professional development for our own teaching practice while we also support our youth from North Chicago. We are all so proud of all 27 students who prepared for many weeks and submitted hard-earned audition recordings. We are especially thrilled for our 15 accepted singers! Our 15 singers will need support to stay at the conference hotel (Palmer House) with their families for four nights - participating in rehearsals, concerts, and community music making with creative young folks and teachers from around the nation. This year, community folk dancing on Thursday evening with Grammy nominated Sones de Mexico promises to be a truly meaningful experience for children and families!

Our singers are bursting with excitement for this opportunity and have already demonstrated great effort towards achieving their musical dreams. Thank you for your love and support for North Chicago Singers!!

Erin Flynn, D187 elementary music teacher

Sophia Diaz, D187 late elementary music teacher

Cori Patterson, D187 middle school choir teacher