HBCU-Love

Former Carroll High student to perform at Kennedy Center

Monique Williams, daughter of Mark & Arnetta Williams and a junior English major at Grambling State University, was chosen to represent Grambling to sing with the 2nd Annual 105 Voices of History Choir (the nation's first Historically Black Colleges and Universities National Concert Choir) at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts on August 30, 2009. Radio and talk show host Tom Joyner will serve as the host for the evening. The choir was a White House initiative designed to showcase the talents of African-American composers and the nation's HBCUs. It is comprised of 105 musically talented students representing the 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. They will perform songs composed/arranged by Norfolk State Choir Director Dr. Carl Haywood, Undine Smith Moore, jazz legend Duke Ellington, classical composers W.A. Mozart, Joseph Haydn, John Rutter, and a host of others.
Williams is a 2007 graduate of Carroll High School where she was salutatorian & received several music awards, including superior ratings for solo/group performances in the Louisiana High School Music Rally. She attributes much of her musical success to God, her family, church family (Parkview Drive Church of Christ), Melinda Gorman (choir director at J.S. Clark Magnet Elementary School), the late Sally Phillips (choir director at Lee Jr. High), Roosevelt Pine (choir director at Carroll High School), and Marcus Rhodes & Edryn Coleman (former choir directors at Grambling State University).
To learn more about the choir visit the website at www.hbcuchoirs-105voh.org.