Thanks to Southside High School alum Andre Williams, his alma matter now has a state of the art multimedia studio for the use of current and future students.

Williams, now a software developer for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), has spent the last two years and a significant chunk of his own time and money trying to bring the project to life.

According to Williams, the idea for the studio was conceived after reflecting on his own personal experience as a student and realizing he wasn’t quite as prepared as his classmates in the music program at Auburn University.

“They all came from much better schools that I did,” said Williams. “They had opportunities I just didn’t have.”

After returning to Selma three years ago and passing Southside on the way to and from work every Williams was reminded of his experience and he decided it was time to take action.

Getting the project up and running wasn’t without it’s hiccups.

Williams said one of the biggest challenges was winning the support of the school’s administration.

“We had to bridge a generational gap with communication,” said Williams.

Williams said that it was difficult to get the administrators of an older generation to recognize that hip-hop and video games are valid forms of storytelling.

“We had to overcome those stereotypes,” said Williams.

The financial requirements needed for the project were also a hurdle Williams faced – after the $20,000 grant for the project ran out, Williams and his wife invested a chunk of their own paychecks each week into making the studio state of the art.