They've got your back: School orchestra honors 'Big Nik,' spreads a message of unity

With a slideshow of photos of Nikoles Joseph  —  or "Big Nik"  —  playing in the background, the Dartmouth High School orchestra performed a song composed to honor Joseph's life while teachers, coaches and others shared stories and memories.

Joseph died in a car crash on June 15, 2025, just 14 days after graduating from Dartmouth High School. Now 10 months later, his peers took to the Zeiterion theater to play a piece in tribute to his life.

The tribute was created through a collaboration between the school district’s orchestra program and the Sing Me a Story Foundation, a nonprofit organization that gives kids in need an opportunity to write and illustrate stories that are then given to songwriters and musicians to turn them into songs.

It was through this program that Joseph’s three siblings were able to share the memories and spirit of their brother in a way that captured his kindness, humor and loyalty, according to the Foundation.

Heather Church, the Dartmouth Public Schools orchestra director, said she received an email from the Sing Me a Song Foundation when she was trying to decide on a theme for the orchestra program’s March 31 concert at the Zeiterion.

“When I got that email, I was trying to do something more meaningful this year, and I thought this was so perfect,” Church said.

Church then met with the student orchestra officers and pitched the idea of collaborating with the Sing Me a Song Foundation.

“They thought it was a great idea, and … we were trying to think of who we could support … somebody thought of Nik, and we thought that was a really wonderful idea,” she said.

The song the students performed — titled “Big Nik” — was composed by Kyle Ducharme, an undergraduate student at Wheaton College, as part of a program that puts concerts together in honor of someone who’s died or is sick.

Ducharme said it’s been a “great, great honor” to compose “Big Nik” and work with the students in remembrance of one of their fellow students. “I am thankful for everyone who’s been willing to take a chance on me."

Church said, “The whole process has been really beautiful because all of the people that have been contacted to help out with it have been really eager and wanting to do as much as we can to honor his life and his family."

High school principal Ryan Shea, who met Joseph when he moved to Dartmouth from Boston, said that the decision to tell Joseph’s story showed that “even a department that he’s not connected to felt like they wanted to honor him and show him their respect.”

Shea, who was the assistant principal when Joseph moved to Dartmouth, said that Joseph “made an impact, and that smile and that big heart — that’s what everyone connected to.”

Every couple of years orchestra students in sixth through 12th grade perform at the Zeiterion, focusing the evening around one central theme.

This year, the message was a simple one — I’ve got your back.

“My bigger picture is to try to counter the ugliness that’s going on in the world right now as much as I can in my little orbit with my beautiful students,” Church said.

She noted that the piece titled “Big Nik” was just one of “many” to be performed at the Zeiterion.

“The grand theme is friendship, having each other’s backs,” Church said.

She said that while the piece titled “Big Nik” is a tribute to Joseph, it is also representative of all the other community members Dartmouth has “loved and lost.”

“We’ve lost a lot of people in our school community recently,” she said.

Juliana Carrico, one of the orchestra officers, said she feels like the concert is “rewarding for everyone in our community, because this concert isn’t just about the Dartmouth High School Orchestra — this concert is really about everyone.”