Over 80 Atlanta high school students visited State Farm Arena this week for the national WAY “Who Are You?” campaign an immersive career exploration event presented by Stand Together in partnership with Killer Mike, his wife Shay Render, and the Atlanta Hawks.
The experience invited students, from Fredrick Douglass High School and North Atlanta High School, to reimagine what success looks like, not just through traditional academic paths, but through hands-on engagement with real-world careers that power both the arena and Atlanta’s thriving creative and entrepreneurial scene.
Throughout the day, students rotated through a series of interactive “career activations,” where they explored everything from tech and hospitality to content creation, business operations, and entrepreneurship. Each station showcased the diverse roles that make a major entertainment venue, and the city itself, come alive.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the event, rapper, activist, and entrepreneur Killer Mike reflected on the need to give young people tangible experiences that connect education with opportunity.
“You know, when we were growing up, you had your Dream Jamborees,” Mike said. “You’d go figure out what you wanted to be, which college you wanted to go to. My wife had this idea, she reached out to the superintendent, who was great about saying, ‘Yeah, we should do this.’ Then the Hawks said, ‘Hey, we want to help.’ So it came together from a shared desire to inspire.”
Mike emphasized that the goal wasn’t just to prepare students for the future, but to empower them in the present. “We need to keep finding ways to inspire kids to let them know: you’re the right now. You’re not some abstract future. We need you to be the best version of you today,” he said. “Because you validate what public education gives you, what your community gives you. Your will and your want determine your destiny.”
The event also ties into Killer Mike’s broader relationship with the Hawks and State Farm Arena, from the “SWAG Shop” barbershop inside the arena to various community partnerships. “We already do business together, but this was about doing good together,” Mike explained. “It’s good to see people doing the work. Even if we’re not always doing it at the same time, we’re all pushing toward the same goal.”
For Tommy Fijacko, representing Stand Together, the event was about giving students permission to redefine success. “The whole idea came from a conversation with Mike and Shay,” Fijacko said. “They wanted to create an experience that exposed students to all the opportunities that await them in Atlanta whether that’s entrepreneurship, tech, culinary arts, or content creation.”
The event stood as a testament to what can happen when artists, educators, and community leaders come together to bridge the gap between education and opportunity. “We need these kids to know they matter right now, not someday, not after college, but today,” Killer Mike said.
