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Los Angeles Partners with Music Producers to Open New High School

  • The Los Angeles Unified School District is partnering with music producer Jimmy Iovine and artist, producer, and entrepreneur Andre “Dr. Dre” Young to create a new high school in South Los Angeles.

    The school will develop a curriculum based on USC Iovine and Young Academy’s groundbreaking approach that combines design, business, and technology with hands-on, real-world learning to help develop young entrepreneurs, leaders, and professionals.

    The school will serve up to 124 students and be known as Regional High School #1 until the official naming ceremony before its opening in Fall 2022. The district plans to eventually expand the capacity of the school to serve 250 students.

    “This new partnership with Jimmy, Dr. Dre and the USC Iovine and Young Academy will help open the doors of opportunity for students, in particular Black and Latino children, from communities which have been historically underserved,” said Los Angeles Schools Superintendent Austin Beutner in a news release. “Much like the work of the Academy, this effort will help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators.”

    Students at the school will be exposed to new career paths and opportunities as well as increased access to top college programs through a college preparatory curriculum, and enhanced learning programs that focus on critical thinking and analysis.

    Modeling the curriculum after the Young Academy will come with large benefits as the Academy has seen success since its inception. Graduates of the academy are on the rosters of leading companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, DreamWorks, and Sony, as well as launching successful startups that have garnered more than $120 million in seed funding to date.

    “We want to give the next generation of students access to a proven, revolutionary learning experience that will not only prepare them for the jobs of today, but equip them to reimagine and shape the jobs, technologies and creative enterprises of the future,” said Iovine.