World-travelling American DJ and producer Trauma presented approximately US$10,000 worth of equipment and software to Herbert Morrison Technical High School in St James on Thursday and encouraged students to think big in terms of their future.

“You just never know where music can take you. I’ve deejayed in over 50 countries, I’ve been all over the world. I never thought I would be travelling across the world, so I would say, dream big,” said the popular DJ who has played for the likes of Jay-Z, Beyonce, Serena Williams, Oprah, among others, and currently serves as the tour DJ for legendary American comedian and actor Dave Chappelle.

Among the equipment that will be used by the school’s music department are Studio One Pro 7 software, BPM create licences, a pair of professional studio monitors, one Quantum ES 4 USB-C Audio Interface, one large diaphragm cardiod condenser microphone, and two iMac desktop computers.

DJ Trauma, whose real name is Tayari McIntosh, has been in the music industry for more than two decades. He was in Jamaica for his Trauma Unit Retreat.

He urged the students to look to the people around them as they would probably be the individuals to offer them assistance in their chosen careers.

He gave as an example his friendship with American record producer and songwriter Bryan-Michael Paul Cox — known for his work with multiple platinum-selling artistes including Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige, and Toni Braxton.

“Me and B Cox, we’ve been cool for over 20 years and rocking together, we’ve been supporting each other, so look at the people next to you; those will be the people who will help you out, that’ll be your team in the future,” he told the students.

He thanked his partners for their help with securing the equipment— Personos, which donated most of the equipment; Akai, which donated the keyboards; and B Cox, whose foundation donated one of the computers.

Prior to the donation the school didn’t have recording equipment.

Teacher Nicola Watson-Morris expressed gratitude for the gift.

“It is profound, it is very very significant, it is huge,” she told journalists following the event.

“The music department has been doing great things, entering competitions, winning competitions, and opening at Sumfest, being invited to different events, and so the donation that we received today is going to be a huge boost to our music department, not just for the band but the wider community of students and future students coming to Herbert Morrison Technical High School,” she added.

“We have a lot of work to do, and we are doing a lot of improvements and upgrades to the music department, and currently we operate so greatly on so little, so this is excellent, it’s an excellent move and we laud and applaud it,” she said.