One of the most memorable moments of SWAN’s Rising Stars Summer Music Camp was watching our students take the stage at Long’s Park alongside the professional musicians of Las Guaracheras.
For weeks, the students prepared through choir rehearsals, semi-private instrument lessons, and full ensemble practices. They worked diligently to learn their individual parts, listen to one another, and perform as a unified ensemble.
As part of that preparation, the students learned and performed the song in Spanish. Because many SWAN students come from Hispanic families, singing in Spanish offered a meaningful opportunity for some to connect their musical experience with their language or cultural heritage. For others, it was an opportunity to engage with a language and culture that may have been less familiar. Together, the students learned how music can honor identity, build understanding, and connect people across cultures.
Their hard work culminated in the opportunity to join Las Guaracheras for a performance of Para la guerra, nada before an audience of approximately 2,000 people.
What made the experience especially meaningful was that our students did more than learn and perform the song. They wrote original verses and created artwork to accompany their words. Through music and art, they expressed their creativity, experiences, and hopes while sharing the stage with professional musicians.
Performing before such a large community audience was an extraordinary opportunity for our students. Family members and friends were there to encourage them, and the students experienced the excitement and responsibility of contributing to a professional performance.
The impact of the collaboration went both ways.
Afterward, Las Guaracheras shared how much the students had meant to them. They described the children as “wonderful and incredibly special” and said the experience gave them “a truly beautiful memory that we’ll always treasure in our hearts.”
We are deeply grateful to Las Guaracheras for welcoming our students, encouraging their creativity, and helping create a moment they will remember for years to come.
For our students, this was more than a performance. It was an opportunity to stand on a professional stage, communicate in another language, share their own words and artwork, and discover that their voices matter.
At SWAN, we are helping children find their voices, one note, one relationship, and one brave step at a time.