Maria Ellis

For choral conductor Maria Ellis and her students, convening historic Sumner High’s first choir in decades has proved to be a challenging task — but also full of reward. “St. Louis on the Air” checks in with the choir as it prepares for a winter concert.

As Maria Ellis waited Monday afternoon to meet her students and help kick off a brand-new arts and activism focus at the recently saved school, Chuck Berry tunes played quietly through a speaker.

Growing up in north St. Louis County, where she was leading choirs by the time she was 12 years old, Maria Ellis remembers thinking about St. Louis…