One of my jobs at work is to help coordinate a teen health coalition called T.H.A.T. The kids came up with the name because they thought it would be fun to say they are going to THAT meeting or THAT event. THAT stands for Teen Health Alliance of Today. The group does various events related to health in the community and wanted to host the 2nd annual THAT Battle of the Bands.

Me with two of the other adult coordinators of THAT

We usually meet and wanted to hold the event at Zoe’s, a cool funky warehouse style coffee shop that is run in conjunction with an area church. However, on the night they chose (this last Friday) it was already reserved. So they decided to work with another group that hosts at-risk teenagers in an indoor skate park/coffee shop that also has church ties. This organization is called Higher Grounds and they try to help intervene and prevent high risk behaviors in teens. It has a great mission and purpose and a perfect audience for health messages and music!

With some of the group (yah, THAT group -haha)

We didn’t have very many bands sign up to perform -in fact only two! So it wasn’t a big battle by any means. But they chose Britton as one of the judges (Simon Cowell!). One band was a garage band that mostly played reggae and punk reggae like Sublime. The other band was the jazz band from Eaton High School.

Jazz Band

The jazz band ultimately won the prize and will be playing at the Greeley Stampede this year on the free stage. Before and in between the bands they showed health messages on a big screen, had health trivia and handed out prizes.

The whole group afterward

Overall it was a fun night and a fun event. My work has me do some very interesting things like be an MC for a Quinceanera fashion show (in Spanish!!) and help run events like this. Pretty fun for work! I also made some headway with the coordinator of the Higher Grounds group to talk about making it a tobacco free property. Unfortunately even though it is for all underage kids, they still condone smoking in an outdoor cage area. As a health advocate,  I’ve found my work is never done. However, I was pleasantly surprised that my idea to bring “cutie” mandarin oranges and apples as a snack was a hit! No one thought these kids would eat them, but they were all gone by the end of the evening.