The Hillsdale College Chamber Choir will sing for a prayer event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 17.

President Donald Trump announced the upcoming event, “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving,” at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 5. Freedom 250, an organization honoring America’s 250th anniversary,  with the White House Task Force, is planning the event to include prayer and speakers on the mall. According to the Freedom 250 website, it  “is the national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday…that connects, aligns, and amplifies national and local efforts to deliver the defining presidential moments of this anniversary year.”

Trump said the prayer event will “rededicate America as ‘One Nation Under God.’” 

Chief Staff Officer Kyle Murnen said the invitation is a “great compliment to our music program.”

“It’s a fitting and beautiful thing, because the college was founded in gratitude for the blessings of civil and religious liberty in America,” Murnen said. “This is a great moment to be grateful, to rededicate ourselves, and remember the great blessings of liberty.”

James Holleman, professor of music and conductor for the chamber choir, said he is excited to have the opportunity to perform on “such a big stage.”

“My enthusiasm is mostly for the students to have this experience and this opportunity because they’re very excited about it. So I’m excited about it as well,” Holleman said. “It’ll be fun to travel. Anytime we travel together, our bonds grow. We have good fellowship together.”

Holleman said the choir will include current members of the chamber choir as well as two choir alumni living in D.C. The choir tentatively plans to sing “The Lord’s Prayer,” “America the Beautiful,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the event. 

This will be Holleman’s last performance during his time at Hillsdale College, as he anticipates his retirement after 29 years in Hillsdale’s music department, as previously reported by The Collegian.

“It’s kind of fun that that’s my last high-profile event,” Holleman said. “And I’m excited for the college to have the profile and for the students to be part of that.” 

Junior Ariel McDowell, an alto in the chamber choir, said everyone is “very excited” to perform at the event. 

“It’s amazing that the leaders of the free Western world want our little group of like 30 or so people to sing for them, and we get to celebrate America and hopefully praise the Lord while we’re there and be a witness, which is great, especially in a place like D.C.,” McDowell said. “So, I’m probably going to cry at some point. It’s such a great opportunity. I kind of can’t believe it.”

Sophomore Symeon Clark, a tenor in the chamber choir, said the White House’s invitation makes him “proud to be a Hillsdale student.” 

“It speaks to the status of the college in particular. It makes me very proud to be a part of an institution that is asked to do something of this magnitude,” Clark said. “It’s something that I’m going to be able to flex on people afterward.”