Local choir wins national honor

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A Fort Wayne youth choir that has performed the national anthem at the opening ceremonies of Lucas Oil Stadium and Parkview Field has received a national honor.

Unity Performing Arts Foundation's Voices of Unity Youth Choir has been named one of the top 50 arts and humanities-based programs in the country serving youth beyond school hours.

The recognition was announced as part of the 2009 Coming Up Taller Awards, bestowed by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The choir was selected from among 420 nominations submitted from 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and a U.S. Air Force base in Korea.

In June, 15 of the 50 semifinalists will receive $10,000 and will be invited to attend the Coming Up Taller Leadership Enhancement Conference. The conference will be August 5-7 in Washington, D.C.

 "We are truly honored to be one of the organizations in this country selected as a quality institution for youth," said UPAF founder and CEO Marshall White. "UPAF's standard, "Excellence and Nothing Less", has proven to our students to be the right standard to adapt their lives to."

UPAF is a multi-faceted performing arts organization intended to develop the character and artistic skills of young people 7 to 19. The youth choir is just one of its programs.

In the last three years, its leaders say 100 percent of UPAF seniors have graduated high school and that 87 percent have gone on to college.