Senior Raven Hayes traveled to Southern California over the summer, to the heart of Los Angeles at University of Southern California, to attend a five-day camp put on by the Grammy Foundation, named Grammy Camp.

“High school students with a career interest in music can learn and experience the career they hope to pursue from professionals,” Hayes said, which is the reason she went.

She has known since freshman year that she wants to go into the music business, and said that this camp gave her the basic exposure and experience needed. The camp consisted of six different tracks, or parts of the music industry one can go into, and Hayes was a part of the business side of music.

“Our group was focused on how to make money in the music industry.”

She listed the three major ways to make money, which are recording, publishing, and live performance, and said every day they learned about those three topics in depth. Not only did she learn about the music business from her professor, Mike Garcia, at USC, but also got to meet with a few well-known and successful figures in the music world.

“My track got a lesson from a music attorney. He’s a booking agent for a few big names. [Also] an executive in charge of Grammy Week productions.”

She also mentioned that Noah and Billy Ray Cyrus were at the camp, but not working with her track.

Hayes really enjoyed the camp, saying that it was able to allow her to be around people who have the same passion as her, and giving her opportunities that she would not have had in St. Louis.