Industry Insights: Innovation Entertainment at the Grammys... Career Day, that is!
We started the
experience with a mandatory Saturday morning
orientation, where we discovered (along with awesome
free pizza) that we were “Student Escorts”. And by
student, I mean high school students. I must say
Thristina was a little disappointed. She really had
her heart set on being a “Talent Escort”. I guess
she’d been bitten by the “Glitz and Glamour” bug.
However, after I pointed out that she was going to be
able to spend the whole day with me and I’m all sorts
of fun, she (mostly) decided that being a humble
“Student Escort” was okay. After a lengthy tour of
the USC Campus and a quick run-down of what was to
happen on the day of the event, we were dismissed.
The morning of the event Thristina and I arrived 30 minutes early; this was because we had a practice run of driving there for orientation. Anyone who knows Thristina and me knows that we are notorious for getting lost. So, getting there half an hour before our call time (which was 6:00AM, by the way) meant a lot to us. We exchanged high-fives, yelled out a quick “Wooooo! We rock!” and headed to our first post.
After consuming a couple of donuts and putting on our Grammy Career Day t-shirts, we were ready for action. Or so we thought. The first task set to us was balloon distribution. This doesn’t seem difficult until you realize that you’re in charge of controlling a bunch of 20 or so helium balloons (which includes trying not to let a single one pop). We ran around putting balloons here, putting balloons there, putting different color coordinated balloons everywhere.
Soon after the balloon distribution was complete, the buses started to arrive. Thristina was given the task of jumping on the buses to give the “Welcome to Grammy Career Day” spiel, getting a headcount for each school involved, and making sure the students knew the number of the bus they were on. I was put on student wrangling duty. This meant that, with the help of other Grammy Career Day volunteers of course, I was to escort the 800 plus students 30 at a time from their bus to their designated workshop areas. I have to admit that there was a point during that fiasco when Thristina and I both thought “What did we get ourselves into?!?” There were students, teachers, and balloons everywhere. But after the kids were all settled and we realized that we narrowly escaped potential cafeteria duty, we took the only moment we had and realized “We are having fun!” Plus by that time, we’d managed to see 3 of the 4 Boyz II Men members. Sweet!
The middle of the day was a pretty big blur. We basically did a lot of running around while smiling and nodding at everyone. I think now’s the time to mention that Thristina and I had gotten separated at some point, and while she got to sit in on one of the workshops with the guys from Underdog Entertainment (producers for the Dreamgirls soundtrack, Jordin Sparks...), I (being the lucky girl I am) got to run from one end of the campus to the other distributing Grammy Career Day programs before the concerts started. We managed to find each other after lunch and had a chance to sit and breathe before we had to escort the students back to their buses.
All in all it was a pretty good day. We met some cool people, made some business connections, saw a few famous faces and got to volunteer our time for a noble cause. Oh, and the kids thought that we were pretty cool too. I must say that it did create a warm, fuzzy feeling in our hearts to see them waving frantically at us as their buses drove away from USC. And not for the reason you’re thinking.
& 
- Kim - Thristina
The morning of the event Thristina and I arrived 30 minutes early; this was because we had a practice run of driving there for orientation. Anyone who knows Thristina and me knows that we are notorious for getting lost. So, getting there half an hour before our call time (which was 6:00AM, by the way) meant a lot to us. We exchanged high-fives, yelled out a quick “Wooooo! We rock!” and headed to our first post.
After consuming a couple of donuts and putting on our Grammy Career Day t-shirts, we were ready for action. Or so we thought. The first task set to us was balloon distribution. This doesn’t seem difficult until you realize that you’re in charge of controlling a bunch of 20 or so helium balloons (which includes trying not to let a single one pop). We ran around putting balloons here, putting balloons there, putting different color coordinated balloons everywhere.
Soon after the balloon distribution was complete, the buses started to arrive. Thristina was given the task of jumping on the buses to give the “Welcome to Grammy Career Day” spiel, getting a headcount for each school involved, and making sure the students knew the number of the bus they were on. I was put on student wrangling duty. This meant that, with the help of other Grammy Career Day volunteers of course, I was to escort the 800 plus students 30 at a time from their bus to their designated workshop areas. I have to admit that there was a point during that fiasco when Thristina and I both thought “What did we get ourselves into?!?” There were students, teachers, and balloons everywhere. But after the kids were all settled and we realized that we narrowly escaped potential cafeteria duty, we took the only moment we had and realized “We are having fun!” Plus by that time, we’d managed to see 3 of the 4 Boyz II Men members. Sweet!
The middle of the day was a pretty big blur. We basically did a lot of running around while smiling and nodding at everyone. I think now’s the time to mention that Thristina and I had gotten separated at some point, and while she got to sit in on one of the workshops with the guys from Underdog Entertainment (producers for the Dreamgirls soundtrack, Jordin Sparks...), I (being the lucky girl I am) got to run from one end of the campus to the other distributing Grammy Career Day programs before the concerts started. We managed to find each other after lunch and had a chance to sit and breathe before we had to escort the students back to their buses.
All in all it was a pretty good day. We met some cool people, made some business connections, saw a few famous faces and got to volunteer our time for a noble cause. Oh, and the kids thought that we were pretty cool too. I must say that it did create a warm, fuzzy feeling in our hearts to see them waving frantically at us as their buses drove away from USC. And not for the reason you’re thinking.
&
- Kim - Thristina