Ready to rock? Decatur students are

Apr. 14—When The Velcro Pygmies rock-out on stage and food trucks fill Second Avenue on Saturday, know that students at Decatur's Career Academies planned it all.

In partnership with Reach and Teach, students from Decatur City Schools will hold Rock the Block, a free family-friendly concert for the community. The event will start at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Alabama Center for the Arts campus on Second Avenue Northeast.

"This year is going to be bigger and better than any event that we've had," said April Clark, executive director and co-founder of Reach and Teach. "I would highly encourage everyone from the community to come out, see what these students have been working on since August of this (school) year."

Reach and Teach is an organization that teaches students business, marketing and entrepreneurial skills through hands-on learning experiences. This will be the third year Reach and Teach has worked with Decatur schools to help students plan, promote and execute a concert.

"This experience is different than others I've had because it's putting on a real-life event for real live people to attend," said Austin High School sophomore Myah Motton. "It's more pressure because your goal is to make people happy, but it makes me want to do my best even more."

DJ PrimeTime256 will emcee the festival. Will Paustian will open the show at 6:30 p.m. with an acoustic set. Danté Pride, a Christian hip-hop artist and Decatur native, will go on at 7:30 p.m. The Velcro Pygmies, a high-energy rock band, will headline the show at 8:30 p.m.

"I believe that coming together in unity like this is what changes lives, and why I do what I do," Pride said. "I feel like it's an opportunity for me to be able to pour into the lives of kids. They're faced with so much nowadays."

Pride started his hip-hop career at Austin High School and continues his connections with Decatur City Schools. His twin sisters, Kaylee and Kelsee Pride, are both current students at Austin who will be in the crowd. His mother, LaShonda Pride, teaches fourth grade at Frances Nungester Elementary.

"I remember being younger, there were certain Christian hip-hop artists and inspirational artists that I listened to who literally changed my life," Pride said. "That's why I'm here today."

Clark anticipates 1,500 people will attend the concert. Last year, there were 800. Food trucks from Happi Pappi Beignets and On Thin Ice will serve guests, and a Pepsi trailer will offer beverages. The Downtown Decatur Alliance will also host a sidewalk sale.

Students involved with Reach and Teach will work the event in security, ticketing and merchandising roles. Clark said that in addition to learning business skills, students gain soft skills like problem solving, communication, decision-making and teamwork.

"We don't expect all students that come through the program to be concert promoters or event planners, but they are going to grow up to be productive citizens because they are learning to make eye contact, introduce themselves and shake hands," Clark said. "Those small simple skills make a big impact when meeting new people and planning for the future."

Most concerts hosted with Reach and Teach take place on school campuses, but Rock the Block is a community event.

"This partnership with Decatur City Schools is really unique in that the students that come through this program are hosting a communitywide event," Clark said. "The students are able to work with city officials in a way that most students don't have that opportunity to."

Students filled out city paperwork to barricade the streets, met with Decatur police to ensure patron safety and asked city leaders questions.

"What really surprised me was just how many small parts go into putting on a music festival," Motton said. "Each and every little thing impacts the efficiency of your festival and the happiness of the people. You'd never stop to think how awful of an experience people would have at a festival if there weren't any port-a-potties or trash cans." — Reach and Teach

Reach and Teach has worked with over 50 schools in the nation since it was founded six years ago, but the nonprofit started with Clark in north Alabama.

At Colbert County High School in Leighton, Clark worked as the marketing teacher and Future Business Leaders of America sponsor. Two of her students qualified for a national competition in Anaheim, California, in 2017.

"We knew that if those students were going to have the opportunity to go to Anaheim, we were going to have to raise that money," Clark said. "I sat down with my students and I said, 'What're your ideas? What are we going to do? How are we going to raise this money?'"

Her students suggested they host a concert, so Clark contacted hundreds of bands. The lead singer of The Velcro Pygmies, Cam Flener, wanted to help.

That semester, Clark turned the concert into a project for her sports and entertainment marketing class. They planned the event in just four weeks.

"After it was over, Cam (Flener) said, 'I am getting so many messages from parents and students about how the live concert really made an impact on them,'" Clark said. "I didn't realize it, but 80% of high school students have never been to a concert."

Together, she and Flener created a board of directors to found Reach and Teach. The program provides schools with nine to 13 weeks of curriculum free of charge. Any revenue generated by the concerts goes back to the enrolled schools.

"I think my favorite part is seeing students light up," Clark said. "When they have worked so hard for several months then on the day of the concert see that pay off in such a big way, you cannot replace the look that's on students' faces when they see people in the community showing up for an event that they planned."

— audrey.johnson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2437.