Swagg

Two months ago I awoke from a slumber to see the little red light flashing on my phone. I believe it was right at the crack of noon when I rolled over and checked my new message. I quickly discovered that a friend had been perusing job listings at the Center for Nonprofit Management when she came across a listing for a "Digital Media Instructor" position at Rocketown, an organization that shares the love of Christ with the youth of Nashville through a variety creative programs. The deadline for application was May 1st, and in my groggy haze, I discovered the date was May 2nd. Being at 24 hours behind the curve, I hit play on the soundtrack of The Social Network, and within 30 minutes, I had a suitable cover letter on its way to Rocketown. I guess they liked it.

Soon, I was offered the position to teach both photography and video production for a 7 week program called Rocketown Summer Sessions. Summer Sessions is an amazing programs that offers a diverse group of Nashville youth the opportunity to come engage in activities like photography, dancing, skateboarding, song writing, and much, much more. There's even a "Gear Heads" group at Summer Sessions that begins the week by repairing old busted go karts, then has them racing full speed around our custom course by week's end. Summer Sessions is connecting students from all across the board of Nashville as bond over their passions.

A month down the road, I  found myself sitting in Rocketown at the crack of dawn. For those of you unfamiliar with my living habits, I'm a high maintenance sleeper. As a freelancer, I have the luxury of setting my own schedule, which seldom results in wake up times before 10:30am. Day One of Rocketown Summer  Sessions started at 7:45. Brutal. So, like I said, at 8am that Monday morning I found myself sitting in a circle of students I'd never met, ready to give my first real shot at teaching photography and video production. The first week went well, but proved to be a challenge as I established myself in a new role, in an entirely new setting, with an entirely new group of people, all while adjusting to a "normal" sleep cycle. By the end of Week 1, I came home and blacked out.

Week 2 was an entirely different story. I came in with the mentality that I was going to go all out, and that my team was going to dominate. To clarify, Summer Sessions also offers team game competitions. Teams are led by Rocketown staff (like me). Games range everywhere from dodgeball in the skatepark, to kickball on the blacktop, to the most irritating minute to win it challenges the world have ever known. As I met my new team for the first time, I told them they had one minute to work together to create a team name. If they failed, our team would be named "Taylor Swift." One minute late, we were team Taylor Swift. During day one we were conquered in each of the minute to win it challenges, and the moral of Taylor Swift was low. On the drive home I wondered if naming my team "Taylor Swift" had been pushing things too far. I envisioned the humiliation our opponents would face when Taylor Swift had conquered them, but the last thing I wanted was to embarrass my squad. 

Day two - I walk in to discover a Taylor Swift collage posted on the Summer Sessions scoreboard. Turns out the evening before, a young girl on my team crafted this masterpiece and posted it for all to see. From that point on, Taylor Swift was a unstoppable train, like that train from Denzel's latest flick, Unstoppable. We swept everything, including the handball tournament, which is for all purposes a hybrid of ultimate frisbee, basketball, and soccer. Essentially, you pass a dodgeball like you would in ultimate frisbee, attempt to shoot past a goalie who's guarding a net to score, and you play on a basketball court. After running the table in the tournament, Taylor Swift found ourselves pitted against the all staff member team in the final match. Being up just one point with time running out, we needed to seal the deal. In an effort to supplant our glory, the staff team set in place a new rule that if you could shoot the ball from the 3 point arc and score through the basketball goal, instead of the soccer net, your team would be awarded 3 points. On a fast break I found myself and my 12 teammate Caleb, who'se pretty much become my favorite kid at camp, staring eye to eye with the staff goalie (who used to be the drummer for Audio Adrenaline). In a moment of pure luck and glory, I called for the ball. Caleb, without looking, tossed the ball over his shoulder and hit me in stride. Channeling my inner Dirk, I pulled up and let the raindrops fall. Everything slowed down as the ball drifted through the air and toward the net. Silence fell across the court. The ball fell through the net. Rocketown erupted. I remember running down the court with arms held wide. Kids were jumping on my back. I was jumping on kids backs. Someone was probably seriously injured. The entirety of Rocketown was chanting "Taylor Swift! Taylor Swift!" It was a beautiful.

It may have have just been a game of handball, but in that moment, it felt like I had hit a walk off home run in the World Series. 

From that point on, Taylor Swift became known as Taylor Sweep. We would not be denied. And at the end of the week, we claimed first place. 

Over the course of these three weeks, we've made a lot of funny short films ranging everywhere from Anti-bullying to a short survival guide on how to survive a zombie apocalypse. We've taken some sweet photos and doctored them up in photoshop. We've put our own swagg on things. We've all formed new friendships as well, which is what it's all about.

Coming in, I really didn't know what to expect from this job. Three weeks in, I absolutely love it. I'm getting paid to teach photography, make short films with kids, and play dodgeball. Yes, I get paid to play dodgeball. And kickball. And handball. Simply put, it's been a treat. I still struggle with the early a.m. wake up call, but I'm slowly adapting. With the first three weeks behind us, I can tell the next four weeks have a lot in store for Rocketown. Brace yourself, Nashville!