Appalachian Children’s Choir celebrates 20 years

by Monica Orosz

Daily Mail staff

CHARLESTON, SC — When she joined the Appalachian Children’s
Chorus in 1994 as a shy fifth-grader, Chitra Sampath could not have
imagined how it would shape her life.

Now living in Hollywood as a screenwriter, Sampath doesn’t make
her living with her voice and admits her singing now is restricted
to the shower and karaoke nights out with friends. But her
Appalachian Children’s Chorus experience is a part of her life.

“I use the tools of self-expression I learned in ACC every
single day,” Sampath said via e-mail. As a writer for TNT’s
“SouthLand,” she dreams of creating her own television show,
“fairly farfetched dreams for a kid that grew up thousands of miles
away from Hollywood,” she said.

“I’m frequently reminded by senior level writers around town
that two of the most valuable assets a screenwriter can have are
confidence in their own voice and the tenacity to make sure they
get to use it right.

“Well, I lucked out, because I didn’t have to learn that the
hard way like a lot of my peers. Those were life lessons taught to
me by ACC over a decade before I arrived in Hollywood.”

These are the kinds of stories that make it all worth it for
Selina Midkiff, who founded the chorus with just 12 children as the
University of Charleston Singers 20 years ago and serves as its
artistic director.