Heba Abdalla ‘19 has been in choir since the seventh grade but the lack of time and fear of not fitting in has kept her away from joining the team at City. Finally, last year, one of her best friends, Asha Keller ‘19, convinced her to do show choir.

“When I was…in elementary school…[the] show choir would come and we would all go see them perform during the winter show,” said Abdalla. “We would see white girls doing show choir and you really wouldn’t see a person of color. Maybe one or two people of color sometimes. When I decided to join I knew, especially when we go to perform, that I would definitely stick out especially being of darker skin and wearing [a hijab].  I knew I was definitely going to be noticed.”

To overcome the fear of being different, Abdalla had to gain confidence within herself.

“It’s a mental game, really, because at the end of the day, what are you going to do? You can’t change it,”  Abdalla said. “You just have to find [confidence] in yourself and say ‘I might stick out, but am still just as good as these people. I can work just as hard and [be] just as good, even if I look different.’ So it’s more like yourself hyping yourself up.”

Now Abdalla enjoys performing and would encourage other people, especially people of color, to also be a part of the show choir crew.