Shamir Bryant, 17, is one of the more than 100 members of the  Chester Children’s Chorus. As he said recently on KYW, the CCC is "way more" than a choir; "it's an outlet for us." Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the CCC is also a testament to the vision and dedication of its founder and artistic director, John Alston H’15.

Alston joined Swarthmore’s faculty in 1990. But in 2017, he gave up his tenured position to focus full time on the chorus—fundraising, conducting, writing, and serving as a role model for the students.

“Often the news about Chester is not good, and what we want is the opportunity to show folks that our children are beautiful, too; that when they are given the right combination of love and respect and high expectations, that they can do beautiful things just like all of the other children that are doing wonderful things in the United States,” said Alston.

The young singers are hard at work for their upcoming winter concerts on Friday and Saturday, which are free and open to the public on campus.

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