Omar Jobe, a junior at Church Farm School, is an old soul.

His favorite musicians (A Tribe Called Quest, Miles Davis, and Kendrick Lamar) represent a life shaped by diverse influences. The son of two educators — Jobe’s mother, Sheri, is the Assistant Director of DEI at The Shipley School, and his father, Dawda, is the Assistant Dean of Students at The Winchendon School in Massachusetts — he has moved around a lot with his family, attending eight different schools before settling at CFS for his high school years.

Jobe’s passion is the arts, something he pursues avidly both inside and outside the classroom. He enjoys painting, drawing, theater, photography, and playing piano, drums, and bass guitar. This winter, he participated in the school’s theater offering and gave an amazing spoken word performance of The Amen Corner by James Baldwin.

When not focused on academics or athletic pursuits — he had a great season this spring on the tennis team — Jobe can be found making instrumental beats. He says he always has his computer, headphones, and mini electronic keyboard at the ready, because he’s never sure when inspiration will strike, even if it’s at an inopportune time.

“A lot of times, it’ll be when I should be studying for a big test, but sometimes it’s on the train to Philly,” he said.

Jobe admits he’s even worked on beats in the storeroom during breaks at a summer job at Chipotle. Jobe has made more than 200 beats, and his style is a mix of neo-soul and old-school hip-hop.

“I always like to do something unexpected and include a beat switch in the middle,” he said.

Jobe has several connections with musicians in the Philadelphia area, and he often uploads his beats for them to purchase and use. Recently, he accidentally uploaded a project he did for his Music Tech class with Dr. Nicole Campbell to the files. A rapper in Australia liked it so much that he purchased the beat and performed it at a concert.

The CFS experience has been a good one for Jobe. He relishes the amount of time he gets to work on different art mediums, as well as the time spent living with his best friends.

“Every day is fun,” he said.

Learn more about Church Farm School.