DECATUR, Alabama — A local and non-profit organization Reach and Teach teamed up with Decatur City Schools for the third year and it's for a community-wide concert.
FOX54's Jasamine Byrd spoke with organizers about this exciting student-made festival.
"This year we will have a large group of students that are helping to execute the event on Saturday, and we have had one phenomenal student that has worked through the program for the entire year. Her name is Maya Moten, and she is a sophomore at Austin High school," said Executive Director and Co-Founder April Clark.
Clark said this program gives students the opportunity to make decisions and see those decisions come to life. "The idea is to teach students about business, marketing and entrepreneurship through concert promotion actually grew out of my classroom. I'm a former marketing teacher."
Clark said this partnership with Decatur City Schools is really unique, "In that the students that come through this program are hosting a community-wide event, and most of the concerts that we work with, with the students, take place on their school campus. Furthermore, "the students are able to work with city officials in a way that most students don't have that opportunity," she said.
For Clark, the support from the community has been incredible! "...and not just that, but just great encouragement from city officials being patient as they work with teenagers to fill out the paperwork and ask a million questions and, you know, understanding that we're not going to always get it right the first time," she said.
The overall goal is, "This is a learning experience. and so just giving my students grace and working with us to make sure the students are learning, that's the ultimate goal, is getting those students experience and connections with industry professionals and people within the community," said Clark.