Montreal school board employee helps students chase their dreams — and find purpose

It all started when Garth Service thought he was hearing Stevie Wonder singing in a Montreal school music room.

"I realized that it was not actually Stevie Wonder," Service said. "It was Braydon Jackson who was singing."

Jackson is a 17-year-old student at the James Lyng Adult Education Centre. He has always dreamed of making music and music videos.

As for Service, he is the project development officer for the English Montreal School Board, and he believes it's important to help students chase those dreams.

Now Jackson has produced a music video that is available on YouTube, and it's getting hundreds of views. That's all thanks to Service, who has been assisting Jackson in his spare time and supporting the project out of his own pocket.

"As a kid, that's all I ever wanted to do," said Jackson. "Just sing, have my own music, make my own music, make a music video, be in a music video."

When he saw the final edit of the video, he said he "was ecstatic."

When Jackson was working on his song and music video, he explained that he wanted his voice — who he is — to come across in the sound and imagery.

"Not everything has to be about violence," he said. "Not all kids have to sing about violence and all that nastiness. There can be good things in the world too."

Working on the music video with Service's help gave Jackson a "reason to keep moving forward," he said.

Sometimes life can get hard, he said, but creating the music video helps him feel like he is doing something meaningful now.

"I'm not just here for no reason," Jackson said.

And that's exactly the kind of results Service is aiming for. He works to find subjects that students are particularly passionate about outside the normal school curriculum.

Over the last year, he has been supporting a few students to realize their passions on a volunteer basis, he said. In Jackson's case, he chipped in financially and wrote the lyrics for the song.

Helping students like Jackson explore their passions can act as a catalyst for academic success and personal growth, he said. It's important to listen to these students, support and nurture them, he added.

These can be students in alternative programs or in mainstream schools, he said.

Service isn't hoping to discover the next big pop star but instead to help students stay focused in school and develop dreams and goals that they can look forward to accomplishing, he said.

"I want them to do what they would like to do," he said. "I'm here to develop them, but also the lessons that we learn through music are transferable to other areas that they may like."

He said he hopes the education system will see the value in this sort of project and help more students dip their feet into the world of music and video making.

"Because that's what schools are for: To teach students. To mould them. To develop them. To empower them," he said.

In Jackson's case, Vanier College music student James Travers provided the drumbeat to the track, and he appears in the video. He helped develop the music. Travers met Service while hosting a drum workshop for high school students.

He said he is particularly interested in creating music that has a strong, positive message of love rather than violence or vulgarity. He said he enjoyed working on the project with Jackson and Service.

"I think it's cool for younger kids to see where it could go if you keep practising, working on music," he said.

WATCH | Braydon Jackson's My side video: