[from the York School website] Just days into Winter Break, Montana heard the devastating news about the Sandy Hook shooting tragedy. Overcome by sadness, Montana looked for a way to channel her grief. Donating to the scholarship fund and carrying out 26 Acts of Kindness helped, but she still wanted to do more. Then Montana was reminded of the healing power of music and she went to work with her younger sister, who likes to write harmonies, and her dad, who plays the guitar, to write a song that expressed her sadness.

Next, Montana engaged Mr. Walker to write the choral arrangement for the song. “I love to see kids come up with creative projects and this one turned out to be a good professional challenge for me as well. I haven’t written an arrangement of someone else’s work since graduate school.”

Using his arrangement, Mr. Walker worked with York’s choir through multiple practices to perfect the song so that it could be recorded and shared. After Monday’s successful recording session, Montana will now send the song to Newtown’s School Superintendent who has agreed to share it with the Sandy Hook Community. The song has also been released in video format created by Kevin Brookhouser using an audio recording made by Noah Reeves.

“It’s been a healing process; I feel like I’ve done something and the school community will be able to listen to this and know a bunch of teenagers across the country are still thinking about them,” says Montana of the project.

Click here to see KSBW’s coverage of the story.