Dr. Dre is using his influence to support students at Compton High School.
Los Angeles Times reports Dr. Dre teamed up with city and school leaders for a ceremony announcing plans for the $200 million performing arts center at Compton High School. The center will be named “Andre ‘Dr. Dre’ Young Performing Arts Center” following a $10 million donation from the rapper in 2017, according to a press release.
“When I was approached about finding a performing arts center that will provide an arts and technological education to students, and be accessible to the community at large, I was all in. I wanted to give the young people in Compton something I never had,” Dr. Dre said during the ceremony.
Dr. Dre's Personal Journey
Dr. Dre’s story looks great on paper yet despite his earned success, he admits the road may have come with fewer uncomfortable lessons if he was exposed to more education surrounding the business industry.
“I’ve always wondered how much further ahead I might have been had the resources I needed in school were available,” Dr Dre reportedly said at the ceremony. “If I had learned more about the business industry, I would have saved myself [an] extreme amount of time, money and most importantly, [made] a lot of friendships.”
Dr. Dre has faith the performing arts center will make the journey easier for emerging talent while providing students with knowledge and resources to thrive in the real world.
“We wanted to equip students with the tools they needed to be successful in today’s music place and we knew that meant producing a new type of curriculum –one that would focus on multi-disciplinary, hands-on learning with an emphasis on real-world projects,” Dr. Dre said. “We also wanted that curriculum paired with competent enthusiastic teachers, because we know what a difference a great teacher can make in a young person’s life. We were able to achieve that at our academy at USC. It was important to me to be able to deliver that Program in the same spirit to my home city here in Compton.”
