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When 2 Chainz Made Straight A's Cool: How ADAPT and Page Turners Brought Intellectual Property to Life at BTW STE(A)M FEST
On March 26, 2026, something extraordinary happened inside the halls of one of America's most historically significant schools. IP practitioners, entertainment professionals, state government officials, and a Grammy Award-winning rapper came together at Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, the first public high school for African Americans in the state of Georgia, to show a group of graduating seniors that the creativity they carry every day has real, protectable value.
The event was BTW STE(A)M FEST, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between ADAPT and Page Turners Make Great Learners. It may just be the blueprint for how the intellectual property profession reaches the next generation, not just in Atlanta, but nationwide.
Where Literacy Meets Intellectual Property
The partnership began with a simple but powerful question: What can ADAPT do with Page Turners to expand STE(A)M education in Atlanta and introduce intellectual property to the community?
Page Turners Make Great Learners, founded by Fefe Handy, is a nonprofit that expands children's knowledge and understanding of the world through a love of reading. The organization serves Title I schools, predominantly serving students from households below the poverty line, across Atlanta and communities throughout Georgia and the Southeast.
ADAPT is a 501(c)(3) organization on a mission to advance the IP profession by improving access to information, creating meaningful connections, and leveraging technology to build a patent ecosystem that embraces everyone.
Mike Binns, an ADAPT member, former board chair, and current board member of Page Turners, saw the natural alignment between the two organizations. He envisioned expanding Page Turners' literacy mission into a full STE(A)M focus: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. The arts, after all, encompass design patents, trademarks, and other IP skills that are central to creative careers.
When Fefe Handy brought BTW FEST to the table as an event that would feature people who own and create intellectual property, the partnership clicked. With support from the ADAPT leadership, the vision became a reality.
Panels That Opened Doors
The event was organized around interactive panels designed to meet students where they are, through the industries they love. Dorianne Salmon and Moeka Takagi, both ADAPT volunteers from Perkins Coie, took the lead in curating the panels, splitting speakers across compelling topics including film and television, branding and marketing, entrepreneurship and content, and inventions and trade secrets.
During the panels, ADAPT volunteers, including several lawyers and professionals from across Atlanta and the country, showed students how intellectual property touches every part of their lives: social media content, music, fashion design, film production, and more.
Demystifying IP, One "Aha" Moment at a Time
The volunteers arrived hoping to spark curiosity. What they found exceeded every expectation.
"The students were so engaged. They had so many questions. They were really trying to figure out how their passions and creativities could fit, and we were happy to explain to them: absolutely, your love of design, your love of all of that, has a home in intellectual property." — Dorianne Salmon, ADAPT Member from Perkins Coie
Dorianne, who moderated the Branding panel, described the experience as humanizing intellectual property, stripping away the legal jargon and showing students that IP isn't just for lawyers in suits. It's for them. For some students, the event helped set career goals they hadn't considered before.
Moeka Takagi, who moderated the Film and Television panel, admitted she was initially worried about whether high schoolers would connect with IP concepts. After all, when she was in high school, she had never even heard of intellectual property.
"Once we got to the event, the students were very engaged, and a lot of them actually seemed to have some really good sense of what we were talking about already. I think there's a tendency to think that some industries are just all fun and creative. It certainly took me a long time to learn how much goes on behind the scenes." — Moeka Takagi, ADAPT Member from Perkins Coie
The event didn't just educate the students. The volunteers learned, too. Moeka shared that she personally gained new insights from her panelists and cherished the opportunity to connect with the Atlanta community on the historic campus.
The Surprise Guest Who Made Education "Cool"
As the day's panels wrapped up, all attendees were ushered to the school auditorium. A buzz swept through the crowd. Students debated who the special guest could be, throwing out the names of their favorite influencers.
Then a book cover was projected onto the wall: The Voice in My Head Is God.
"Oh my gosh, is it 2 Chainz? It can't be 2 Chainz!"
It was.
Grammy Award-winning rapper and Atlanta icon 2 Chainz took the stage to cap off BTW STE(A)M FEST. His New York Times bestselling memoir tells the story of how faith, education, and self-belief guided him from College Park, Georgia, to the top of the music industry.
What 2 Chainz shared with the students wasn't about fame. It was about foundation.
Education first. He was an A and B student throughout high school and earned a scholarship to college. His first C wasn't until college. He told students that reading was fundamental to his craft, and that he couldn't be the lyrical artist he is without it.
Trust your inner voice. He encouraged students to lean into that "still small voice" inside them that points in a positive direction, echoing the central message of his book.
Find a mentor. He credited the people in his life who believed in him and supported his dreams, urging students to seek out mentors and sponsors who can help them achieve their own.
IP is yours. He talked about creating his book as its own form of intellectual property, tying his message directly back to the day's STE(A)M themes.
For Dorianne Salmon, this moment was deeply personal:
"To hear an award-winning, top-charting rapper honestly share his love of education, to make it cool… When I was in high school in South Central LA, it was not cool to be a nerd. You would get beaten up for getting A's. I felt like it was really profound that 2 Chainz made it cool to get straight A's." — Dorianne Salmon, ADAPT Member from Perkins Coie
A Blueprint for the Nation
BTW STE(A)M FEST was always intended to be more than a one-day event. It was a test pilot, proof that ADAPT's mission can extend into communities where Gen Alpha students are already creating and consuming intellectual property every day but don't yet know how to exercise or protect those rights.
Atlanta News First covered the event, highlighting the surprise 2 Chainz appearance and the broader mission of exposing students to professionals across industries. In the weeks that followed, Mike Binns shared that the feedback from Page Turners, the Atlanta community, and the media confirmed what the volunteers already felt: having lawyers and IP practitioners show up for these students was something not readily seen, and it made a profound difference.
Mike Binns envisions scaling this program beyond Georgia and the Southeast, creating a nationwide blueprint that ADAPT members in any city can pick up and bring to schools in their own communities.
"We wanted this event to be a test pilot for what ADAPT could do nationwide. Intellectual property is a big part of these Gen Alpha students' lives, but they don't know how to exercise it, either through their own individual use of those IP rights or for career insights into what they can do to expand their opportunities in STE(A)M." — Mike Binns, ADAPT Member and Page Turners Board Member
Thank You to Our Volunteers
None of this would have been possible without the professionals who gave their time, expertise, and heart to make this event a success. A special thank you to everyone who volunteered at BTW STE(A)M FEST: Mike Binns (of Meta and ADAPT), Dorianne Salmon (formerly of Perkins Coie), Moeka Takagi (of Perkins Coie), Preston Heard from Womble Bond Dickinson, Gail Su (of Google and Co-founder of ADAPT), Shirley Fung from Akona IP, Fefe Handy (of Page Turners), Principal Tiauna Crooms, and her Staff at Booker T. Washington High School. Showing up matters.
How YOU Can Get Involved
BTW STE(A)M FEST proved that when professionals show up for young people, lives change. Here's how you can be part of what comes next:
Support ADAPT
ADAPT is a 501(c)(3) organization building a patent ecosystem that embraces everyone. Your donation fuels programs like BTW STE(A)M FEST, the ADAPT Mentoring Program, and efforts to scale IP education nationwide.
Visit ADAPT.legal to donate or join as a member
Become an ADAPT Mentor
ADAPT offers two mentorship tracks. The Student Mentorship Program pairs aspiring students with experienced practitioners to help them explore and launch careers in intellectual property. The Professional Mentorship Program connects IP professionals at all stages of their careers through mentorship and networking opportunities. Whether you've been practicing for decades or just getting started, your involvement can help shape the next generation of IP professionals.
Support Page Turners Make Great Learners
Page Turners has been changing lives through literacy: in-school book clubs, read-a-thons, author visits, the StoryBus program (in partnership with MARTA and Delta Airlines), and so much more. Your donation keeps books in the hands of children who need them most.
Volunteer at Future Events
Plans are already underway to expand BTW STE(A)M FEST across Georgia, the Southeast, and eventually the entire country. If you're an IP professional, creative industry practitioner, or simply someone who wants to inspire the next generation, we need you in the room.
Reach out to ADAPT at info@adapt.legal to get involved.
Because when you show up for a student, you're not just teaching them about trademarks or patents. You're showing them that their creativity has value, and that someone believes in their future.
As 2 Chainz told the students of Booker T. Washington High School: being smart is the coolest thing.
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Shirley Fung
ADAPT Communications Team
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