our students enter Xaverian their freshman
year from four different towns. They have
never met. They have different interests.
Different life experiences. And different
goals. But this year, their senior year, these four
students come together to release their first joint
venture—a music video for a song called “Broken.”
Two of them write and record the music; two
film and edit the video. It’s 100% student driven,
powered entirely by the artistic collaboration of
these four Xaverian young men. What follows
is their story of how they got here...the mutual
respect, and the dollars and cents.
TEAGAN BLUM AND JUSTIN
MILLER: THE FILMMAKERS
“We’ve been best friends since freshman year,”
Justin explains of Teagan. Teagan retorts, “No, you
hated me freshman year.” Justin fires back, “I still
hate you.” They laugh, as only best friends can.
KYRON BROWN AND DIMITRI
CHARLOT: THE SINGERS
“Ky heard I could sing and asked about it,
so I sent him a recording,” Dimitri says. He’s the
more outspoken of this pair, a subtle irony since
it was Kyron who first caught the attention of his
classmates for his music. “I wrote this song, ‘Roll
with Me,’ freshman year,” Ky says, explaining why
he wanted to see if Dimitri could really sing. “But
he didn’t say ‘yes’ to recording it with me until
junior year.” Ky didn’t take “no” for an answer, and
the two started quietly working on music together
while talk of Ky’s solo musical presence continued
to percolate among his classmates. For both, it was
clear that making music was a priority.
THEIR BACKGROUNDS
Dimitri says he’s been singing since he was
three. Growing up in the Baptist tradition, he was
familiar with the Church’s music and, he says,
“singing all the time.” But it was a fateful day at St.
Agatha’s School that kicked off his more formal
training. He got called in for an audition with St.
Paul’s Choir School and was one of six selected
for a second audition. He was the only one offered
a spot in the coveted music education program.
That’s when his real training began.
For Kyron, it came later. In eighth grade, he
started writing his own poetry, and that quickly
turned into writing songs. He dove in with the
unwavering support of his mother and began
lining up studio time and releasing his own music
on the web under the artist name, “K Loyal.”
That’s how his classmates at Xaverian heard him,
including Teagan and Justin.
Justin came to Xaverian with a bit of film
background already in place. He had made short
films during middle school and already had some
equipment. Teagan picked up his video fascination
in junior year, after both he and Justin were cut
from the lacrosse team and wanted to fill their
time. By senior year, he was fully immersed—
making highlight reels of Xaverian athletics
and devouring content wherever he could find
inspiration. The two continued to perfect their
skills, teaching themselves how best to shoot, edit,
apply effects, and more.
THE FOUR CONNECT
“Once Teagan and I heard Ky freshman
year, we knew he was a good rapper,” Justin
explains of their history. He turns to Ky and says,
apologetically, “But you didn’t have your sound
yet.”
“I’m still working on my sound,” Ky responds.
It was Teagan who first floated the idea of
making a music video. For him, it’s all about
earning his video chops...it doesn’t matter the
subject. For Justin, it’s less about the video and
more about sharing as yet undiscovered talent
with the world. Watching from the sidelines as
Ky continued to grow musically, they say they
knew by sophomore year that they wanted to film
a video for him. Meanwhile, Kyron and Dimitri
continued to quietly collaborate. The summer
heading into senior year, they released a recording
of their original song, “Broken.”
“We listened to that all summer,” says Justin.
“It’s so good.” Teagan chuckles. “Actually, we’re
like half your views by the way,” he admits. They
finally decided it was time to approach Kyron
and Dimitri about a video, and the conversation
among the four began senior year. It came down
to finances.
In order to get recording studio time, Ky
counted on birthday money and the generosity
of his mother. “I sold my sneakers for this last
session,” Dimitri adds. “I got $250 for them.”
So when they had the choice between paying
someone from the outside $700 for a video for
“Broken,” or working with Teagan and Justin for
free, they went with free.
THE FUTURE
All four agree that even with the array
of software and techniques they have taught
themselves during high school, there’s room to
grow. “Ky and I noticed, we’re all learning at the
same time here,” says Dimitri of their first filming
days. “We’re learning while they’re learning.” And
then they dissolve into brotherly ribbing about
Kyron changing his hair between filming days
and messing with the continuity, rendering issues
that caused the quality of the video to be less
than ideal, Dimitri’s inability to climb a hill, and
Justin’s poor navigation as Teagan wandered blind
A SONG
CALLEDBROKEN
To watch their music video for Broken,
filmed at the Blue Hills Reservation in
February, go to Xaverian’s website at
www.xbhs.com/music-collaboration.
4 www.xbhs.com