Drake was so moved by Diane Sawyer's ABC News special in 2013 "Hidden America" featuring Philadelphia's Strawberry Mansion High School in Philadelphia that the Grammy-winning rapper donated a new recording studio to the school. The school can now use the donated studio in light of its recent music teacher hire.
According to ABC News, Sawyer's special first aired in May 2013. Sawyer's and producers later returned for the 2013-14 school year and that special aired in December 2013.
Drake donated $75,000 for a new recording studio after learning the school was left without a music teacher due to budget cuts. His team completed the studio last summer, but Principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman told ABC News the school had difficulty finding a music instructor. As a result, the studio went unused for months.
"Music has a way of bringing people together," Wayman told ABC News via email. "That is what I want the music to do for my kids, bring them all together to find the special gifts that lay dormant inside of them. I want them to get distracted on their positive attributes to help them create within and around them. They all love music. That is the one thing they all have in common."
In February, part-time music teacher Ben Diamond joined the Strawberry Mansion staff to teach studio production. Student interest in the class piqued when Wayman used the school's PA system to broadcast the first student-produced song out of the recording studio. Now 80 students are signed up for the production class.
"For me, the opening of the studio is more than about music," Wayman added to ABC News. "It is about making and keeping a promise to students who are constantly disappointed, pleasing them, making them happy and getting them to see that they must finish what they start [and] work hard to bring dreams into reality."
According to U.S.News, Strawberry Mansion junior Josiah Showell previously never shared his tracks with anyone.
"The studio inspired me to bring out the love of music that I have inside me," he said.
Drake revealed his gift to the students and staff of Strawberry Mansion in October 2013. Watch the ABC News clip below.
