GCHS business class presents the school with the first country concert put on at the high school on Nov. 5.
This concert is a wonderful way to get kids out of the classroom and teach in a more hands-on way.
“Specifically with ticket sales pitches and how to properly get people to buy things and I feel like I wouldn’t have learned that in any other classroom,” sophomore Lily Smathers said.
The Reach and Teach program is the program that the concert is going through. It is a nonprofit providing authentic educational experiences to students across the globe. Their mission is to motivate and encourage students to discover new career paths. Also inspiring teachers to explore new teaching methods. The program is used to reach kids that struggle with a regular school environment. To get them out of the classroom and into a different setting. “Education through experience”
The past two years the band that has played was the “Velcro Pygmies,” but this year business teacher Tina McDoniel decided to change things up and use Adam Calvert.
“Several of the students have seen this band, so they’ve seen the Velcro Pygmies twice, so we thought changing it up would give them something different.”
Calvert holds the titles of ‘Rising Star of the Year,’ ‘Vocalist of the Year’ and ‘Single of the Year,’ all awarded to him at the Josie Music Awards. These were held at the Grand Ole Opry House. As of 2023, Calvert has been in 200 live shows spanning across 35 different states.
Reach and Teach provided the class with some bands to choose from
“By classroom we voted between five different artists and they kind of liked him best,” McDoniel said.
“They supply us with a nine weeks curriculum and the band,” McDoniel said.
All the business class had to pay for was the housing and meals for the band.
In order to pay for the housing and food, the business class went out to get sponsors from local businesses.
“They go through a whole curriculum on learning about their target market, about pricing strategies, about sponsorships, about budgeting, ticket prices, promoting and all that,” McDoniel said.
There is a lot of work that goes into putting the concert on. There are many different jobs such as ticket sales, finance, setting up and many others, not to mention that this concert is almost completely student run.
“They are fully in charge of the concert,” McDoniel said.
Smathers has dealt with the promoting.
“I do all the ticket sales, and I also go and talk to classes about buying the tickets and opportunities that you can gain from this amazing concert,” Smathers said.
Smathers says that she has learned many things that she can use later in life that were specific to the concert.
“Specifically with ticket sales I have learned sales pitches and how to properly get people to buy things, and I feel like I wouldn’t have learned that in any other classroom,” Smathers said.
Smathers is not the only one that has gained experience from this concert.
“Me and my partner Julian Hicks, we are in charge of the finance part,” sophomore Skyler Lawrence said.
Lawrence is learning many things from the concert that he will later on use.
“It’s good to be prepared, that’s what this concert is really kind of teaching us,” said Lawrence.
With all the work put into this concert the students are very excited to see how it goes.
The concert will be held on Nov. 5 in the gym during fourth block. A regular ticket is $5 and $30 for a V.I.P. ticket that includes a T-shirt, lunch with the band, out of second-fourth blocks and front row seating.
