NCCU’s Worship and Praise Inspirational Mass Choir (WPI) is having quite a busy season. The choir is celebrating its 22nd anniversary Sunday, November 1, 2009, at 4 p.m., in the B.N. Duke Auditorium. This will come on the heels of a gospel coup, so to speak. WPI will be the opening act for highly touted gospel artist, Tye Tribbett and the Greater Anointing, October 27.

The vice president of WPI, Jessika Andrews was “excited about opening for Tye Tribbett.” But added, “In the past, WPI has performed with famous artists like Shirley Caesar, Dr. Bobby Jones, and Byron Cage when he visited the campus of NCCU in 2008.”

Andrews, a Fayetteville, N.C., native is a junior, majoring in computer information systems. She says, “the Worship and Praise Inspirational Mass Choir was formed in September 1987, to carry the gospel through song to students and churches throughout the Durham metro area.”

Michelle Bridgers, president of WPI, says the members of the choir are trying to lead by example; they want young people, alumni and the community to understand how easy it is to “meld lifestyle and praise.”

Bridgers is a junior from Greenville, N.C. Her major is math with a focus on education. She compliments NCCU advisors—WPI’s music directors, Charles Robinson and Whitney Turner; Katrina Billingsley, director of the N.C. Teaching Fellows Program; and Paulette Morrison-Danner, faculty and student support coordinator of the Division of Extended Studies. “Their main focus is to bring out the best in each choir member— God first, school second, and then the choir,” states Bridgers.

On November 1, the 60 member choir, according to Bridgers, “will do some crowd pleasers like Powerful God by Youthful Praise; Morning’s Breaking by Richard Smallwood and Earnest Pugh’s Rain On Us, but the entire anniversary concert will be an experience the audience won’t forget.”