A national Down syndrome advocacy organization recognized the Wisconsin Singers for its work with a cognitively challenged student at a January dance workshop.
In a March bulletin, the National Down Syndrome Congress posted a video of a Wisconsin Singers choreography workshop before a performance in Waterloo, Wis., where one of the participants was a choir student with Down syndrome.
The interactions between the performers and Jeffrey Carter, the student, were an example of communication and therapy strategies used in NDSC workshops nationwide.
The opportunity gave Singer Ryan Moldenhauer, now a music teacher, a chance to develop his teaching techniques.
“I am teaching now and have a special education music class,” he said. “It was a really cool opportunity for the Singers to get to see that these special ed. kids give their all 110 percent of the time.”
The Singers also worked with a class of cognitively challenged high school students at a March workshop in Janesville, according to a second video on the group's YouTube channel.
Founded by the Wisconsin Alumni Association in 1967 as university “goodwill ambassadors”, the non-profit entertainment company’s musical performances and educational workshops are entirely student-run, from choreography to the community service productions.
