
Leah Williams
Kiera Price, senior Speech and language pathology major from Alexandria, LA and Miss SU Gospel Choir, singing a solo with the SU Gospel Choir at Convocation on Founder’s Day, March 7, 2018. (Leah Williams/DIGEST)
“After 5 long years of trying to get robes, it feels like a big storm has passed over,” said Kenneth Christoff, a freshman Mass Communications major form Gonzales, LA and current member of the SU Gospel Choir.
On Tuesday March 6th, the Southern University Gospel Choir received robes and Choir director, Mr. Ernest Bowman and members could not be happier.
According to Bowman the robes will put an end to some of the challenges the choir has faced in the past. “This means a lot. Uniforms have always been a big problem due to finances and an individual’s interpretation of a particular uniform. With the robes, members won’t have to be burdened with acquiring a particular uniform.”
Bowman is not the only one who feels this way. According to President of the SU Gospel Choir, Christian Slaughter, and a junior Psychology Major with a minor in Biology from Zachary LA, “Now we won’t have to worry about picking uniforms for the choir anymore.”
The robes cost a total of $19,840 according to Bowman
“I absolutely love the robes,” said Christoff, “I personally don’t have rhythm but now I can shout, stump my feet, move and dance and people won’t even notice my lack of rhythm.”
Although the complete set of robes was received in time for the choir to perform at this past Convocation, it was a close call because that same morning, 30 robes had yet to arrive. “When I first found out that a box of robes was missing my first reaction was, ‘oh Lord, if it ain’t one thing it’s another,’ ” said Slaughter.
Graduating Senior, Kiera Price, majoring in Speech-Language Pathology from Alexandria, La said, “My first reaction was disbelief, then disappointment. After speaking to our director, Mr. Bowman, he advised that we should pray and keep the faith that they would arrive in time.”
Apparently, their prayers worked because they came, and members were very pleased to finally have them.
“It feels great knowing that we as a choir came together to accomplish such a big goal of ours,” said Price. Although she will be graduating this semester, she is happy that she could be a part of this achievement. “For us to be able to dedicate the robes on Founder’s Day was a remarkable moment,” Price remarked.
It appears that to everyone the robes mean something different, however, everyone is very pleased to have them.
To Slaughter, they mean “unity and uniformity.”
According to Price, the robes are more than a uniform. To her the robes are “a symbol of spiritual unity.”
For Christoff, the robes are a symbol of determination. “I know that Mr. Bowman, along with the board members have went through a lot to get them, and now that they are here, it’s like everything that they went through is now paid off,” said Christoff.
Everything seems to have paid off indeed and the Gospel Choir is now equipped to perform as a team with unity.