High School Nation Comes To West Ashley High

On Friday, Oct. 16 High School Nation hosted a concert at West Ashley High School to promote the arts in public schools. The High School Nation Tour gave teens at WAHS a chance to immerse themselves in the arts and explore many potential careers in real world settings.
The talent at the concert included Drake Bell (from Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh, Spiderman the Cartoon), RCA Records recording artist History In The Making, Vel Records/Sony singer and songwriter Cady Groves, and Pop singer Heather Russell.
In addition to the concert, the tour featured a number of zones that highlighted journalism, film, fine arts, fashion, photography, and dance. Students were able to visit interactive zones including the Sony Media Zone, Guitar Center Music Zone, Michael’s Art Zone, and Tilly’s Style Zone to try out a variety of products while the singers performed. Throughout the concert, High School Nation gave out free merchandise at each of the zones that could be decorated or designed by our students.
Michael’s Art Zone allowed students to face paint themselves or their friends and apply glitter tattoos to each other. In the same area there were photo booths for students to capture their artistic designs. Another part of the art zone provided students with plain canvas bags that they could decorate with spray paint. Students also had a chance to screen print their own High School Nation T-shirt and choose between a number of colored hats and Tillys’ designs to print on their hat with a heat press.
Across the concert area, Guitar Center’s Music Zone offered students the experience to play the drums or guitar and to sing a song. Students also had the opportunity to mix their own music as if they were an actual DJ. A tour bus allowed students to explore and see hand-crafted Gibson guitars as well as an authentic recording system. Adjacent to the music zone, a number of PS4s were provided for students to play various video games with their friends.
Students were also given many opportunities to enter drawings to win prizes such as an acoustic guitar, an electric piano, or a DJ recording kit. There was a Breast Cancer Awareness booth that hosted a beanbag toss where students had the opportunity to win several other prizes. On each stop of their tour High School Nation donates $10,000 worth of supplies to go towards each school’s fine arts programs. The concert ended with an opportunity for students to purchase a $5 raffle ticket to meet and take pictures with Drake Bell.