It’s no secret that afterschool clubs in Fannie Lou are nowhere near as popular as they used to be. Compare this to just a few years ago, when D1 teachers like Tiara, Eriberto, and Vinny would easily keep 5-10 students attending consistently.
Lack of interest in music related activities could easily be attributed to a lack of interest in extracurriculars altogether. Just a few years ago, our school did offer something reminiscent of a music course. While not considered an official class per say, nor anything akin to an afterschool program, we did have an organization by the name of “Building Beats” hosted in our community outreach program, held in the school from first thing in the morning until lunch period.
Building Beats showed students how to produce, publish,and monetize tracks. Students would learn how to use a digital audio workspace, and be tasked with making their own track as part of their final project. Eriberto Cruz, a D1 teacher who oversaw Building Beats notes that the program also taught subjects such as the history of music and hiphop.
Assistant Principal Eli Cruz, who helped manage community outreach here at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom Highschool cites “lack of interest” as one of the biggest factors in the program’s removal. The program used to have a limited number of spots available, and oftentimes there weren’t enough to go around, showing that the program used to have a high demand. But as time progressed, less and less people signed up. To save funding that could be used on programs the student body was more interested in, the program was cut.
Eli points out that one thing that could have contributed to said lack of interest would be disappointment in what the program offered. “Maybe kids thought it would be like a music studio instead of working on a laptop at a desk.” Another reason could be that the kids didn’t get along as well with the facilitator of the program. Whatever the case may be, it is evident that something must have been disappointing enough to have such a drastic change in interest in such a short amount of time.
But that’s not to say that things like these are completely out of the question. Staff at Fannie Lou Freedom Highschool are willing to put funding into new endeavors such as a possible music related afterschool program, or class, or whatever subject is in demand. But that’s the thing, it has to be in demand, people have to want it first.