'More than just a choir:' Shallaway celebrates 25 years

They're in Iraq, helping children who grew up under ISIS. They're in San Francisco, leading teams building self-driving vehicles. They're renowned Canadian musicians and radio hosts.

As the Shallaway Youth Choir celebrates its 25th anniversary, many of itsalumni are world leaders and world changers, living all over the globe and working to make it a better place.

They credit their successto their experience in the choir.

"I thinkShallawaydid change the path of my life," said Erica Lilly, a family physician in Ottawa who sang withShallawayfor eight years.

"Itgave me a drive toachievehigh levels, but in a way that you brought everybody with you. So it wasn't individual achievement, it was group achievement."

Susan Knight, now the chancellor of Memorial University, started the choir as a culture response to the cod moratorium, to create a new generation of Newfoundland and Labradorians who had pride in their province and the belief they could create change in their home and in the world.

"Community is at the centre of it," said Knight.

"And it's in the music, too. Because every song is a slice of real life, and we always make sure they understand what it's about."

'More than a choir'

But it isn't just about the music.

"Shallawayis much more than a choir, it's also a leadership hub," said Ryan McDonald, a master's student in music at the University of Toronto and a memberofShallawayfor nine years.

"One thing we're constantly talking about is leadership, and how we can be leaders and mentors for one another, how we're able to share ourexperience with the younger choristers."

Choristers sing songs fromNewfoundland and Labrador and learn about the cultural history of the province, and they sing songs from around the world, and travel around the world to perform and compete.

In 2015, the Shallaway Youth Choir wasrecognized as theChildren's Choir of the World at the 2015LlangollenMusical Festivalin Wales.

"Singing in this choir, kids really believe that they can do anything andthey have huge capacity," saidKellie Walsh, the choir's artistic director.

"Then they graduate and they go to university and they live that [idea of] 'Of course I can make things better, I can make change in my community.'"

To meet some of Shallawayincredible alumni like Tim Baker of Hey Rosetta! and to find out why they never sing "chickenissimo," check out CBC'sspecial onShallaway's25th anniversary.

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