WINDHAM – For the third time in her high school career, Megan Leighton, a senior at Windham High School, is hosting a benefit concert, this time hoping to raise at least $500 for The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing in Lewiston.

The Gray teenager, who plans to be an agent in the entertainment industry, has done all the legwork and planning for the “Dedicated to Dempsey” benefit concert to be held Friday, April 27, in the high school auditorium. She’s assembled three Portland area bands – Like Waves, Admit It and Encore – and wants to sell enough of the $7 tickets to raise more money than her previous two concerts brought in.

“I’ve known Megan for four years, she’s always been involved in things, but what I didn’t know until this year was that she was involved in things she generated herself,” says her Business Simulation teacher, Diane Leavitt. “She produces shows where she brings in bands and she’s always raising money for different causes, and in this case it’s the Dempsey Center. She’s an amazing young lady with a lot on the ball.”

In her freshman year, Leighton raised money for Safe Passage, a group that helps Guatemalan youth living around the city dump. A concert in her sophomore year raised money for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center.

Last year was a tough one for Leighton with her mom suffering a cancer scare, her grandfather being diagnosed with colon cancer and her best friend’s mother dying from a form of leukemia. She started attending a group dedicated to pre-teens and teens dealing with the effects of cancer at the Dempsey Center and decided she’d “go out with a bang” in her senior year hosting a concert to raise money for the center.

“The previous two concerts have given me the background of what needs to be done. I think the first one was more like dipping my toes in,” Leighton said. “I’m getting help from [Business Simulation] class to throw ideas off of, and Ms. Leavitt has been such a good support. I couldn’t ask for a more invested teacher.”

Leighton got hooked on concert-hosting when she moved to Windham in seventh grade. Attending concerts in Portland, she found herself more interested in the backstage management aspect of the shows more so than the onstage performance.

“So I ended up talking to a guy after the show and he was like, honestly, you have to just jump right in if that’s what you want to do. So, that’s what I did,” she said.

Leighton started her own company, Blackbird Booking & Management, after the Beatles song, “Blackbird.”

“‘Blackbird’ stuck with me since the song talks about how differences work, and I’ve learned I may be different but somehow it works. I’ve been able to produce all these concerts and manage local bands so obviously me being different is a good thing,” she said.

Windham High School senior Megan Leighton stands with her Business Simulation teacher Diane Leavitt outside Leavitt’s classroom. Leighton is organizing a music concert April 27 to raise money for The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing in Lewiston.