The lunchroom at Lehigh Valley Charter Arts High School looked like anything but a school cafeteria on a recent Friday afternoon.

On one side of the room, a group of students formed a band that played classic rock songs while on the other side, local alternative rock band, The Line of Fire, set up its instruments for a concert of their own.

Charter Arts Director of Development Debra Storm explained that the din was not uncommon. “We’re an arts school so the halls are usually filled with music,” she laughed, “but having a local band jam out during lunchtime is a real treat.”

A student approached the microphone and raised his arms triumphantly. “Welcome to the last day of school!” Cheers erupted across the room.

That student is Jeremiah Paul, Senior Instrumental Major and one of the students in charge of the special lunchroom event. The band was brought in by the charter school’s collaboration with ArtsQuest and Musikfest known as Chartsfest.

Paul instructed the assembled students to take out their phones (most already had their phones out recording the event) and set the date of Aug. 6 in their calendars. “That’s the day that ChartsFest will run the Plaza Tropical stage and all of our work this semester will be realized,” said Paul later. He is one of 20 students who enrolled in the music-in-education program “Marketing Musikfest” this year.

The program brings professionals from the music industry into classrooms once a week to teach students about marketing strategies, band promotions, booking gigs and more. Paul, of Gilbertsville, Douglass Township, Montgomery County, plays saxophone and piano in many of the school’s 140 music performances each year.

When he goes to college at Berry University in Miami this fall, he wants to study music management. “I was very interested in the business side of musical performances and this semester, I was able to learn more about what it takes to put a band on a stage.”

Curt Mosel, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Partnerships for ArtsQuest, is proud of the work that the students have done. “They gain a lot of skills that are absolutely necessary for band management,” he said. “With advances in streaming on the Internet and other applications, it’s important that our program expands with technology.”

By putting this lunchroom event together, the students were able to do a dry run of the large-scale events that will happen at Musikfest, Aug. 5-14 in Bethlehem, thereby putting the skills into practice that they studied all semester.

The program was held for the past two years at Liberty and Freedom High Schools and Diane LaBelle, CEO of Charter Arts, says that her school will certainly offer the course again next year. “What these students learned this semester is truly invaluable and got them into the nitty-gritty of real management techniques.”

ChartsFest will manage the Plaza Tropical Stage at Musikfest on Aug. 6. The bands the students selected to perform on the stage are Ju-tuan, The Mellowells, The Line of Fire and the Brian Colburn Band.

Mosel hopes that the day will be truly memorable for all involved. “August 6th will be a special day,” he said. “Hopefully, people will see the students doing what we do every day and see the true talent and potential in these young people.”