Sara Zanussi, ’18, and middle-school members of a youth development music program she founded had the opportunity of a lifetime on February 4—to perform for an audience of thousands, and a broadcast audience of millions, at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis.

Zanussi founded ComMUSICation in 2013 with a mission to empower youth through music, service, and community. Serving St. Paul’s most vulnerable youth, ComMUSICation runs a tuition-free, rigorous music-making experience for second through eighth graders using music as the vehicle for character skill development.

For the Super Bowl, Zanussi’s group partnered with another local youth choir and sang “America the Beautiful” along with Broadway star Leslie Odom Jr. After the performance, the young singers watched the big game—and the halftime show—from the field.

“Our choir is not a choir that would usually be auditioned for big opportunities like this,” says Zanussi, “so the fact that Leslie Odom Jr. and the NFL had this vision to really represent the diversity and true representation of the Twin Cities the way they did was an incredible honor.”

Zanussi just completed her master’s in comparative and international development education. In 2017 she received the University’s prestigious Judd Fellowship to conduct qualitative research at two music programs in Colombia that use ensemble-based music to improve the lives of vulnerable children.