Something in the Water (SITW)
2022
As part of our partnership with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), XQ partnered with Pharrell Williams and the city to celebrate DC’s high school graduates during the Something in the Water (SITW) music festival. The festival coincided with: Juneteenth and graduation season, giving us an opportunity to honor the class of 2022 and engage with the DC community. XQ gifted over 3000 festival passes to DC public school grads, and Pharrell even recorded a personalized video congratulating them.
At SITW’s community engagement activity, we hosted a Student Roundtable with DCPS students. This panel was an opportunity for DCPS students to share what they want and need in high school. Additionally, they shared compelling stories of pandemic learning—struggling with mental health and asking for better social-emotional support. They called for stronger academics along with both applied and real-life skills, like financial literacy.
We stood up a free DC+XQ community market next to the festival alongside community champions, local artists, local musicians, and vendors. This allowed us to place the DC community at the center of the celebration. More than 5200 people browsed the community market during the two-day festival.
Additionally, XQ participated in 16 DCPS high school graduation ceremonies at the Entertainment Sports Arena. We hosted a DC+XQ red carpet for family photos, brought in listening booths, gave away gift bags for grads, set the mood with a DJ, and contributed a whole lot of energy to make graduates and families feel loved and honored.
Learn more about the DC+XQ partnership.
