In 2024, I was an award recipient of the Annie Ruth Foundation. As an aspiring musician, I was placed at JAMS, also known as Jacksonville Arts and Music School. JAMS is a school that focuses on preparing and developing young artists, musicians, vocalists, creative writers, and others. They also help with developing leadership skills, collaboration and even creativeness.
My main mentor was Steve King. It was a pleasure working with him, as he was a musician as well. I would help serve kids breakfast, as well as working with other interns in helping clean up and help tidy up the school. Jamie King was also a mentor to me, as she helped me with the scheduling for my worksite and even allowed me to go inside two of the music rooms inside the school. In one of the music rooms, I was able to get a glimpse of what the music class was like, and I also got a chance to see the songs they would practice with and imitate. This would help fuel my passion for music by allowing me to continue to practice and get better. It would even help me learn to step out of my comfort zone and try new things with music. Before Entering the music room however, I got a chance to connect with one of the interns who was a musician as well. This internship experience taught me how to collaborate with others, as I would work with a student and another intern during breakfast, which taught me how to work with others to complete a task. In general, I learned communication skills, developing a strong work ethic, and emotional intelligence. As a result, this would even allow me to use the metronome more when I produce music.
In summary, this program gave me the green light to pursue a career in music, the life nuggets that the instructor would give his class helped me not to give up on my craft, and I love the unique ways I can combine melodies and chords together. Lastly, meeting Jahaan Sweet and Harold Goode before being an award recipient, helped me understand that this is a career that will bring me great joy.