Testing. Testing. 1… 2… Roses are red, violets are blue, my name is Jermaine McClellan. Nice to meet you, too.
I am a nineteen year old professional and recent high school graduate. I have lived in Los Angeles, California my entire life, so my artistic passion will not come as shock. I have always had a drive to create be it art, music, or a story of my own. I remember always begging my parents for new LEGO products for me to build a setting for my stories, and I would always have a new story every other week.
It was not until high school when I realized my love of storytelling. By this time, I had learned a bit of music in middle school in jazz band and had written a couple of stories. However, when I was asked by my school counselor what I wanted my major to be I froze. The things I did until that point were encouraged by my parents and my parents were not present to make my decision. In addition, I transferred schools from my home school to Alexander Hamilton, so I was not at all prepared for such a question.
There was a sheet of paper present on my counselor’s desk containing the school’s majors. I stared at that sheet for what felt like minutes on end. I tried my best to make a quick decision hoping it will not bite me back later. And there it was: Music Technology Major. For some reason, I saw that and said “yes.”
I feel as though, if I had not chosen this major, I would now be the same stuck and confused person I was then.
As I went through my high school life, I noticed that my choice opened opportunities for me to meet so many people I would not have met otherwise, and most importantly participate as someone in their own story to tell. I was chosen many times over the course of four years as lead audio engineer for many artists at Hamilton. I got the opportunity to actualize my servant leadership skills as president of a non-profit record label Make Waves Music. I learned how to multitask multiple duties such as lead engineer, studio manager, artist manager, and president all while excelling in my studies.
How I realized I loved storytelling was not so much telling my own story- albeit I do create my own music nowadays- but more helping my clients with the stories they mean to tell. As a consequence I am now a part of theirs as much as they a part of mine; I value this relationship.
After high school, I participated in a non-profit career development program named Year Up Los Angeles where I had the opportunity to develop my actualized servant leadership skills by leading a team of professionals to achieving their first certificate in technology using Coursera. Furthermore, during my six month internship at Universal Music Group as an assistant product manager, I continued to lend as much of a hand as I could whenever opportunity showed itself. I was able to present on multiple occasions team endeavors to the CIO because of my initiative and because of the people I networked with.
My experience with this program has been life changing. The stories that I heard and took part of I could never want to take back.
I am sharing this with you today to introduce the new volume of my book of life as a participant of Praxis. I am looking forward to sharing the stories of the staff and the apprentices alike.
