Flocabulary / Nearpod · 2019–2023
Give students
the mic.
How a rap-writing contest became a recurring platform for student creativity, original music, and stories that traveled beyond the classroom.
My role
Community, Content & Campaign Strategy
Focus
Cultural Campaigns · Student Voice · Earned Media · Creative Storytelling
THE CHALLENGE
What happens when students become the creators?
Flocabulary has always used hip-hop to make learning more engaging. But we saw an opportunity to take that philosophy further: instead of students only learning through the music, what if they helped make it?
We wanted to give students a meaningful way to explore underrepresented histories, bring their own perspectives to the material, and see their creativity celebrated beyond the classroom.
The opportunity wasn't just to launch a contest. It was to create something worth participating in — and worth talking about.
From student lyrics to a published song
2019: John Lewis — Jaden Jackson
The original winner helped create and perform the published song — from student submission to professional production.
Watch the finished songTHE IDEA
Their words. Their stories. A real audience.
We invited students nationwide to research a historical figure, event, or cultural tradition and turn what they learned into original rap lyrics.
The premise was simple, but the reward was bigger than a certificate or a prize.
Finalists performed their original work on video. Winning students had the opportunity to collaborate with Flocabulary's professional musicians, writers, and artists to turn their ideas into published songs and animated educational videos.
Their work could become part of the very platform they used in school, giving other students the chance to learn through something a peer had helped create.
What began with the Black History Month Rap Contest grew into a series celebrating Black history, Hispanic heritage, and Asian American and Pacific Islander histories and voices.
MY ROLE
Building the campaign around the creators.
I helped launch the inaugural Black History Month Rap Contest and went on to lead community, content, and communications strategy across student contest campaigns.
That included:
- Developing campaign messaging and the promotional strategy across email, social, community, and editorial channels.
- Creating campaign content, including blog posts, promotional materials, video scripting, and supporting educational resources.
- Coordinating with teachers, students, and internal creative teams to capture finalists' performances, interviews, and testimonials.
- Turning student participation and winners' stories into opportunities for earned media, social storytelling, and continued engagement.
- Working across marketing, curriculum, community, and creative teams to connect the contests to educational goals and broader brand narratives.
The goal was always to keep the spotlight on the students and the stories they wanted to tell.
FROM SUBMISSION TO SPOTLIGHT
The story didn't end when the winners were announced.
An invitation to create.
Students researched overlooked historical figures or cultural stories and developed original rap lyrics, using classroom resources and their own creativity.
A stage for student voices.
Finalists were invited to perform their songs, giving us a chance to celebrate not just the winning entries but the students and teachers behind them.
From student work to published work.
Winners collaborated with Flocabulary's creative team to develop professionally produced songs, animations, and educational lessons inspired by their submissions.
A story worth sharing.
We carried those stories into winner announcements, interviews, videos, social content, and outreach to local and education media.
IN THE WILD
From classroom lyrics to published music.
In 2019, Jaden Jackson won the inaugural Black History Rap Contest with a song about civil rights leader John Lewis. He traveled to New York to record his song with Flocabulary, and his work became a published educational music video.
In later years, students wrote about figures including Fannie Lou Hamer, Emmett Till, Louis Armstrong, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass.
Through the Hispanic Heritage Month contest, students also explored figures, events, and traditions ranging from Rigoberta Menchú to the Mexican Revolution.
Each year brought new voices, subjects, creative interpretations, and reasons to keep the conversation going.
The original work
2022: Hispanic Heritage Month — Dulce
A fifth grader from Alabama created a rap about Rigoberta Menchú. The concept expanded into new cultural stories.
Watch Dulce’s winner video2023: Isabella Vasquez — Sojourner Truth
Isabella’s winning student performance, featured in the 2023 winner announcement.
Watch Isabella’s performance2023: Arcadio Torres — Frederick Douglass
Arcadio’s winning student performance — the foundation for a Flocabulary educational lesson.
Watch Arcadio’s performanceBEYOND THE BRAND
The students became the news.
The most compelling stories weren't about Flocabulary hosting a contest. They were about the students and what they'd created.
Jaden Jackson shared his experience and the inspiration behind his John Lewis song in a first-person story for The 74. Student winners and finalists also received local news attention, celebrating their creative work and the educators who supported them.
These stories created opportunities for local publications, school districts, and education audiences to spotlight student voices while introducing new people to the creative possibilities of Flocabulary.
In the press
2019 · THE 74
A winner tells his own story
Jaden Jackson’s first-person piece about writing his John Lewis rap, traveling to record it, and bringing the song to other students. This is my favorite earned media example because the student is quite literally the storyteller.
2019 · FOX59 INDIANAPOLIS
A fourth grader’s rap reaches a national stage
Terrany Moncrief, a fourth grader at Grassy Creek Elementary, wrote her finalist rap about Marley Dias and the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign. Local coverage of a student’s work traveling far past her own classroom.
View original coverage2019 · THE ADVOCATE
One of eight finalists out of more than 1,000 entries
Ava Trail, a fourth grader at Myrtle Place Elementary in Louisiana, rapped about Olympic sprinter Wilma Rudolph and became one of eight national finalists. The story a hometown paper told about a student who had never expected to be heard.
View original coverage2023 · THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Santa Rosa students top the national contest
A Santa Rosa paper followed Benefield students to the top of the contest, tracing finalists from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, and Texas back to work done in classrooms.
View original coverage2023 · TAPINTO HOBOKEN
Arcadio Torres wins nationwide hip-hop contest
Local coverage of a student whose work became the foundation for a Flocabulary educational lesson.
View original coverage2023 · HOBOKEN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT
A district celebrates its student creator
The district announced Arcadio’s win and the opportunity for his work to reach schools around the world. Community amplification — distinct from independent press coverage.
View district announcementTHE IMPACT
A campaign that kept creating new stories.
The inaugural Black History Month Rap Contest generated:
1,067 submissions — 327% above the original goal.
4 earned media placements highlighting the campaign and student achievements.
15,000 lesson assignments and 35,000 video plays during the inaugural campaign period.
The series continued in subsequent years, generating hundreds of submissions per contest, new original educational content, and recurring opportunities to celebrate student creativity.
1,067
INAUGURAL SUBMISSIONS
4
EARNED MEDIA PLACEMENTS
15,000
LESSON ASSIGNMENTS
35,000
VIDEO PLAYS
THE TAKEAWAY
Give people something worth creating.
The best part of this campaign wasn't simply how many students entered. It was what happened when their work was treated as something valuable enough to publish, celebrate, and share.
The students weren't just participating in a brand campaign. They were helping create the content, tell the stories, and inspire the next group of participants.
That's what made the experience bigger than a contest.
What this work demonstrates
Cultural Campaign Strategy · Community-Led Storytelling · Earned Media · Content Strategy · Creative Partnerships · Cross-Functional Production