Student's Poem About School Safety Confusion Turns Into Choir Performance

ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4)- It was the same week as the horror played out in Parkland, Florida and Arvada West High School dealt with its own threat. It shook students who were contemplating their own safety inside school.

Taylor Huntley sat down to express her feeling with the first poem she ever wrote.

"We want to be heard," Huntley said. "There's something wrong and we need to figure it out together. And we can do something about it."

She went to one of the safest places she knew, her choir room, and recited the poem to her teacher and choir.

"We all started crying," said Samantha Meakins, now a Senior at Arvada West. "It's a hard concept to wrap your head around and it's disheartening but it's a reality."

Huntley's choir teacher Chris Maunu posted the poem to Facebook, A renowned composer reached out and asked if she could make a song from the words. "A Hive of Frightened Bees" premiered with the Company West choir Friday night.

"I'm proud that the girls that I've sung with are the ones that get to sing it first and are the ones that get to share that message," said Huntley, now a freshman at BYU. "I just want to show the emotional. This is real."

While preparing for the annual end of the year Pops concert, the choir had to deal with another school shooting nearby.

"Tonight, it's a statement about this isn't okay. And we want everyone to know this isn't okay. But, we also want them to know this is what we feel going to school every day," Meakins said. "I hope we're going to get a positive response from the audience but even just a sentiment of silence, just recognizing this is real and this isn't something we can ignore anymore"

The Pops concert will also be performed May 11 at 7 p.m. at Arvada West High School. Tickets are $10.