Miguelina's verdict: "My goal going into the DJ classes at Scratch Academy was simply to take a fun class and learn something new this summer. This was my first time doing something like this, and I had no other expectations other than to learn how to play and mix music, like you would expect any other DJ could. My first group class was with Tim Martell. He began with teaching me all about the basic history of house music. I learned about how to use the decks, and was able to understand the meaning and the difference between pitch, timing, the counting of beats, bars, and then, of course, how they all fit together.

Overall, the classes were lots of fun, however it was still challenging. Scratching and mixing were definitely the most difficult — and I'm still working on the 9 o'clock position. After the first week, I took private classes with Ellison Robinson. He continued to teach me the fundamentals of scratch techniques. Ellison had a lot of patience with me, and he helped me finally pick up the technique by making me practice over and over again. But, overall, I liked his teaching style.

My time at Scratch DJ Academy was pretty short, but I had a great time. Everyone there was friendly, happy, and I left each class excited. Maybe I wont be a professional DJ any day soon, but I'm excited to at least get some real practice at my future house parties (spinning a mix of '80s and '90s beats). And, if nothing else, this was the perfect class after a stressful day of work."