When the Memorial High School A Cappella Choir sings Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" Saturday night, it will have special meaning for Samantha Harper, her family and a relative who can only be there in spirit.
"You Raise Me Up" was the favorite song of Samantha's aunt Joanne Papanek, who died in May of a brain tumor at age 52. The piece is just one part of a variety concert designed to honor Papanek and to raise money for brain cancer research.
The concert was inspired and coordinated by her 16-year-old niece.
After her aunt died, and with her father's help, Samantha created the nonprofit Project A.J. Inc. (for "Auntie Joanne").
"Our whole family was grieving," says Samantha, a junior at Memorial who will sing tonight with the choir. "Midway through summer, I realized that I needed to do something with all my sadness. I was thinking about how we could help other people and stop other families from going through this."
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