The A Capella choir’s annual Valentine’s Day concert was held Feb. 25 and featured vocal participation from ENC alumni in a fundraiser for Friends of South Shore’s Homeless.
The ENC Alumni Choir joined the A Cappella choir to perform a variety of folk, classical, and modern love songs. The Alumni Choir sings with the A Capella Choir on various occasions including Homecoming, the A Capella Christmas concert, the Valentine’s Day concert, and the spring concert.
The concert, held at South Shore Baptist Church in Hingham, was introduced and led by Director of Alumni Relations Rebecca Shaw, ENC’s Music Department Chair Kevin Smith, Choir Director Timothy Shetler, and former Executive Director for Friends of the Homeless Herb Newell.
Besides beautiful music, the night was full of nostalgia and school pride.
“[The concert is a way for] A Capella alumni and ENC alumni involved in what’s going on on campus, to get to know some students, and to rebuild connections that people might have lost in the past,” said ENC alum David Restrick.
He continued, “I think it’s actually a really great thing because it’s connecting us with some of the things that we loved about ENC when we were students, and it’s also a way of helping to give back to the ENC community; and also kind of helping to really show ENC students what ENC has meant to other people in the past, which I don’t think ENC students always get an opportunity to see. For me, as someone who works here at ENC, it’s an opportunity for me to get involved with students and things like that, so I love it in that way.”
The Alumni Choir was created a few years ago by the Music Department in hopes of keeping alumni involved with the Music Department and the A Capella Choir. The Alumni Choir was initially invited back to perform solo, and sing with the A Capella Choir. After a sequence of trial and error with coordinating the Alumni Choir, Kevin Smith revived the choir and helped it thrive again with help of alum Stephanie Mcilwain.
This event brought part of the present ENC community together with part of the old community. Not only was it a night of unity and people feeling grateful towards their alma mater, but it was a night of talented singers using their voices for an amazing cause. This event showcased the love and abilities that ENC students are capable of producing while they are attending the college and even after they have graduated.