As senior Jared Fallin steps on to the stage during the 4-H talent show, he is prepared to perform a song which not only represents Prince George County, but also the school spirit he shares with many of the students and alumni of the high school.
After performing the song called “Prince George,” the group of students received an overwhelming amount of feedback, including over 6,000 views on YouTube.
“[We] were expecting positive feedback, but not in such a large amount,” Fallin said.
Originally the idea of doing the video came from Herman Maclin, the 4-H director.
“I wasn’t my idea, it was Herman’s,” Fallin said. “ I agreed immediately [because I] thought it would be a good way to promote Prince George.”
As the 4-H director, Maclin did have a part in the process.
“I am the 4-H youth development agent in Prince George County. We do a program called Music Biz and the annual Talent Show at PGHS and 4-H Camp among many other 4-H youth development programs,” Maclin said in an email interview. “I knew Jared, Sadé and Darius had something special as soon as they walked out on stage at the talent show auditions.”
Herman recognizes the importance of youth having good, clean music and this was one way to make that possible.
“The video represents the love that our kids have for Prince George and the people in it. It also represents the many talents that our kids have and gives us a chance to show the world that they are awesome in more ways than one,” Maclin said. “They talk about good things in the song and that’s what we need more of in today’s music industry. Folks need to hear songs like this to lift them up and make them feel good about something.”
Alumnus Sadé Ferguson assumed the role of the vocalist of the song. Ferguson’s goal for the future is to have a career in music, but the reason she took this opportunity was because of her love for the county.
“My favorite part of the process was watching the final product on YouTube and seeing the views go up. Not because I wanted to be a ‘local celeb’, but because it showed how many people really love this county,” Ferguson said in an email interview. “I was overjoyed [at] the amount of positive feedback that was circulating. I did not even know that the video was on YouTube, let alone the news.”
After the group performed at the 4-H talent show, they began to prepare for the state competition at 4-H Congress at Virginia Tech. Music Biz members Justin Brown, Lawrence Jeffries, and Josh Maclin started the process by recording sessions and rehearsing with the group.
“They won first place at congress competition and ended up being the best act on the show!” Maclin said. “We came home and recorded the song in the Music Biz studio and later in September we added the footage Josh shot of their performance at 4-H Congress, then edited the video and dropped it.”
Fallin then tweeted to CBS 6 News and they did a feature news report on it. After that, the views of the video began to climb. Each individual in the process agrees that the purpose of the video was to represent Prince George County.
“This song represents where I have come from and it reminds me of what a strong and supporting foundation I have back at home,” Ferguson said. “Whenever things get tough in the real world, I know that I can always come home to the friends, and family that I have in good old PG. Once a Royal, always a Royal.”
