15,000+ attendees honor the legacy of UGA scholar, Cameron Fearon
On March 29, Jam for Cam, an area Athens music pageant, welcomed greater than 15,000 attendees to the streets of downtown Athens to rejoice the life and legacy of Cameron Fearon, a College of Georgia scholar who handed away at age 19 after a courageous battle with metastatic melanoma.
Fearon was first recognized in eighth grade. As he skilled years of therapy, his energy, humility and heat impressed these round him. Fearon had a dream of settling the controversy of which band must be topped “Athens’ finest” and pitched the thought of internet hosting a Battle of the Bands proper earlier than his passing. In 2018, his mates created Jam for Cam to make sure that his title and spirit would by no means be forgotten.
Now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with its board comprised of Fearon’s six mates, Jam for Cam has grown into a big annual pageant, bringing collectively hundreds from the UGA and Athens communities. A real Fearon and Athenian legacy, the pageant not solely helps most cancers analysis but additionally celebrates life and love of music.
Annually, present UGA college students work with the board to assist plan the occasion, deal with logistics and fundraise. The funds profit the Melanoma Analysis Basis and Camp Carolina, the place Cameron spent a few of his favourite childhood summers. This 12 months, the pageant raised greater than $520,000, a record-breaking whole that can immediately influence most cancers analysis and melanoma consciousness.
A Highlight on Scholar Management
Two roommates, UGA actual property and finance majors Briggs Settlemier and Dimitri Nakis, are among the many main causes for this 12 months’s unprecedented success. In 2024, Jam for Cam confronted surprising challenges, together with the closure of the occasion’s long-standing venue and preliminary issue in recruiting expertise. The group discovered itself at a crossroads — they might both play it secure, maybe downsize, or they might use this as a catalyst to take Jam for Cam to the following stage. After volunteering for a number of years, Nakis and Settlemier felt that this occasion had the potential to be greater with the appropriate location and headliners.
“Everybody loves AthFest in the summertime, however there’s probably not any college students round then,” stated Nakis. “Even when they wish to go, they often can’t, so this felt like our alternative to deliver everybody collectively.”
Refusing to let the pageant lose its momentum, Nakis and Settlemier spent six months working with the workforce and coordinating with the Athens-Clarke County authorities to safe a brand new downtown venue, securing the required permits, recruiting company sponsors, and overseeing all occasion logistics — together with expertise reserving, stage setup, safety, and extra. In March, they labored greater than 150 hours.
“It was overwhelming at instances,” stated Nakis. “’Off the clock’ didn’t exist. We’d barge into each other’s rooms at 3 a.m. and had 100-plus cellphone calls a day. It was price it as a result of we knew the aim behind it.”
Briggs has at all times cherished music. He grew up enjoying guitar, writing songs, and singing in choir.
“In these six months of planning, I noticed I’ve at all times been an okay musician,” stated Briggs. “However I feel I may be higher at creating one thing that musicians can get pleasure from.”
By way of his personal performing expertise, he felt like he understood the complete image.
“I understood what’s taking place on stage, what bands want backstage, what sponsors want, and what the viewers desires,” stated Briggs.
For each Nakis and Settlemier, they knew essentially the most important ingredient of the occasion could be the consumer expertise. Not solely did they should safe nice expertise that will entice the plenty, however additionally they knew they wanted to make it as secure and seamless as doable.
“We over-insured and overbooked safety,” stated Nakis. “We took each precaution we might.”
Their understanding of the consumer expertise was spot on, as they later realized the pageant attracted people from far outdoors of Athens. Vacationers from the likes of Charlotte, Tampa, and Denver.
Settlemier expressed how a lot he loved partaking with the neighborhood. They went to downtown companies to get approval and speak with enterprise homeowners, resulting in additional pleasure and encouragement.
“We went into Wuxtry, and with their music historical past data, they instantly lit up and began asking questions,” stated Settlemier. “So many individuals — music professionals, enterprise homeowners, mates — got here out of the woodwork to say, ‘What you’re doing is unimaginable!’ It obtained fairly exhausting at instances, and listening to these encouraging phrases meant loads.”
The coed workforce’s means to execute such a large-scale occasion speaks to the ability of scholar management and studying outdoors the classroom.
“By way of this expertise, Nakis and your complete workforce mainly gave themselves a music enterprise minor,” stated Settlemier.
Their dedication not solely saved the occasion after its surprising hiatus but additionally doubled its attendance and fundraising totals. This 12 months’s Jam within the Streets was a reminder of the chances when folks come collectively for a trigger better than themselves.
To be taught extra go to jam4cam.com.
