Twenty seventh- and eighth-grade members of the Lehighton Area Middle School Music Express will be traveling with their director, Laura Welkey, to Washington, D.C., from April 3 to April 5 to take part in the 25 Year Celebration of America Sings! festivals, founded by composer and show choir director, John Jacobson.

Approximately 1,500 participants from across the country will meet on the National Mall for a mass music and choreography rehearsal, community service, and finale concert.Guest artists from around the country will perform for participants. During the finale, inspiring motivational speakers encourage the participants to keep singing and to find ways to use their skills to serve others.Lehighton students will additionally be a part of the America Sings! Spirit of America Choir, which is a unique opportunity for participants to rehearse intensively with Jacobson in preparation for a performance of two songs in the America Sings! Friday evening opening rehearsal and program.Singers from all 50 states have attended America Sings! events and have completed community service projects to help charities in the cities where the events are held as well as in their hometowns.The Lehighton school will donate boxes of goods collected for the Capital Area food banks, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, programs for children who are sick, hospitalized or in child care centers. They will also be making sandwiches for the homeless, and will be helping to create "kits for kids" to give to the D.C. area's Afterschool Playtime Project.The singers will learn that they have the power to make a difference singing and serving. It's an artistic growing experience.