NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Overton High School students are getting a seat at the table to help shape the future of the new Nissan Stadium and its surrounding community.
Students recently pitched their ideas for the stadium's green spaces and community areas to Tennessee Titans executives. The pitches focused on affordable housing, transportation, and ways to support small businesses with everyday spaces like gyms, grocery stores, and farmers markets.
The opportunity came through Project Destined, a program designed to give students real-world experience in the real estate development industry.
"My hope is that they have an ownership mentality," said Cedric Bobo, founder of Project Destined.
In February, the students received a crash course in the stadium development process. Weeks later, they returned to present their own ideas to team leaders.
Titans Chief of Staff Haley Davidson said the team wants the stadium to serve the community year-round.
"We want a building where Tennesseans feel this belongs to them," Davidson said. "This is a place where they can enjoy not just on a game day, but on every other day of the year – there’s a reason to come down to the new stadium."
Davidson noted that three pitches in particular stood out to the team, including a concept for an innovation hub.
"We have this 12,000 square foot community room in the new building, and we’ve been trying to brainstorm and think about how we can bring that center to life," she said. "And we really latched onto that idea and we would love to take that innovation hub and that innovation center idea and keep fleshing it out and think about how can we engage children in the future, youth in the future, high school students."
For the students, the experience provided a unique opportunity to influence a major city project.
"My hope is that when they walk away from it and in 10 years they’re saying hey, I was a part of that," Bobo said.
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