CATEGORY: Just for Fun, Students
Isabella Senzamici • Sep 21, 2026
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At Achievement First Linden Middle, students are learning what can happen when individual voices come together.
Knightly Voices, the school’s choir for students in grades five through eight, began in October 2025, marking the start of its founding year. El-Jagat, then an eighth-grade history teacher, brought the idea to AF Linden Middle after seeing an opportunity to introduce students to the joy and discipline of singing together. El-Jagat has more than 20 years of experience as a choir director, musician, singer, and performer, much of it developed during more than two decades living and working as a musician in Germany. There, El-Jagat directed choirs for young people and adults, including women’s and gospel choirs.
Shanifa Morris, an eighth-grade ELA teacher, singer, and artist, joined El-Jagat in launching the group and now serves as its co-director. An educator for more than 12 years, Morris brings both her instructional experience and her passion for music to the choir, helping students strengthen their voices while building confidence and community.
“I thought, this could be something that Achievement First could also experience,” El-Jagat said. “Having a choir.”
The program began with auditions designed to make the experience feel official and give students an early introduction to the skills involved in choral singing. El-Jagat and Morris listened for pitch and rhythm, but they also paid attention to how students expressed themselves and approached something new.
Students soon began rehearsing once a week and eventually moved to twice-weekly practices. Their first performance came during a poetry slam organized as part of Morris’s eighth-grade ELA poetry unit, creating a natural connection between artistic expression in the classroom and on the stage.
Since then, Knightly Voices has performed an original arrangement of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” “Stand Up” from the film Harriet, and songs in both English and Spanish. Each selection gives students the chance to stretch their abilities while building a repertoire that reflects their identities, interests, and experiences.
But the students are learning far more than songs. Rehearsals include music theory, sight-reading, breathing techniques, vocal exercises, scales, stage presence, and emotional expression. Some students arrived with previous musical experience, while others were learning these skills for the first time. El-Jagat and Morris meet them where they are, helping each student begin to see themselves as a musician.
That growth became especially clear when the choir reached one of its most meaningful milestones: singing in harmony.
During an improvisation exercise, El-Jagat assigned different notes to each vocal section. Morris helped students lock into their parts as they worked to stay on pitch, keep time, and listen closely to the voices around them. Eventually, the notes came together.
“It was truly a magical moment,” Morris said. “The students were able to hold their notes and listen to each other while keeping their timing. Multiple things were happening at once.”
That moment captured what makes choir, and arts education more broadly, so valuable for students. Creating music together requires focus, persistence, courage, and trust. Every singer must take responsibility for their own part while remaining attentive to the entire group. Students learn that their individual voices matter, but they also discover how much more those voices can accomplish together.
El-Jagat has seen that transformation in students like Adyan, the choir’s only male member during its founding year. Eager to try new things, Adyan volunteered to sing a part in “Stand Up” that had originally been written for a female voice. His enthusiasm also encouraged other students to participate. At the choir’s final rehearsal of the year, he became emotional as he shared that Knightly Voices had made the school year one of the best of his life.
Morris has watched similar growth in Giovanna, who entered her audition feeling shy and hesitant. Over time, she became a confident soloist and one of the choir’s strongest members, someone the directors could trust to lead and hold an entire vocal section.
These transformations are possible because Knightly Voices gives students a place to belong. Middle school students are navigating big emotions, growing independence, and an evolving sense of who they are. Choir offers them a supportive space to express themselves, form meaningful relationships, take creative risks, and experience the pride that comes from sustained effort.
“To sing together is not only an art,” El-Jagat said. “It requires focus, teamwork, and trust.”
Now entering its second year in 2026–27, Knightly Voices continues to give students at AF Linden Middle a place to grow together. Morris and El-Jagat hope it will reach more students and perhaps, one day, expand across the Achievement First network. For now, they are building something powerful, one rehearsal, one performance, and one harmony at a time.
