The weekend of April 21st was a first for both Lehigh University: organizing a 3-day festival. From conception to execution, I was proud to be involved in all stages of putting on this festival.

As part of the One Love Fest, I was proud to help organize and run the following: Peace Fest, an outdoor music and poetry showcase; Lehigh University’s first student-run Art Showcase; Pub Jams, a live music show at Molly’s, a local off-campus pub; and The One Love Music Showcase, a 4 hour concert featuring student bands and solo artists.

The One Love Fest was one of the largest collaborative efforts by arts organizations in the history of the University, engaging the leadership of 13 student clubs and University Administration offices.

I and my fellow organizers were proud to see the University student body turn out in force for our events and to have created a weekend dedicated to student creatives to recognize their work.

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300+ people in the audience, over 20 acts consisting of over 100 performers to introduce and coordinate, a celebration of 150 years of Lehigh University, and 1 Master of Ceremonies to run the show. There I was, alone, hosting the Lehigh University 150th Anniversary Vocalpalooza, the largest showcase of student talent in University history.

It was and still is the single largest hosting job I have ever had, and made me have to improve not only my speaking skills, but my event organization and coordination skills, working with the largest bill of talent the university had ever seen, and was overall an incredible learning and growing experience.

Here is a link to photos from the evening: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lehighuniversity/albums/72157662037554064

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All my life, music has been a major part of my life. Between playing and performing as a vocalist, guitarist, bassist, drummer, and brass player, I knew that I needed to find a musical outlet when I came to college; Music Box has been that place for me.

In addition to performing, I have also proudly led the organization as an officer since my Freshman year.

As treasurer for 2015, I balanced the budget for our events season and worked with the University and Student Senate to secure funding for the organization. As Master of Ceremonies, I have hosted 12 events per year to crowds of over 100.

What I’m proudest of, however, has been my service as President for the past year. This year, we had our best event attendance in the history of the club, averaging over 100 attendees per show. We also managed to grow our artist roster to include a greater variety of art forms including poetry, comedy, and spoken word performances. And, while I’m proud of our event-related successes as a group, I think our biggest achievement as a club has been our success raising money for charity. Our annual concert for a cause this year raised $1000 for The Lodge, a local living and working center for people with mental disabilities who are trying to live fulfilling, independent lives.

Through all my time here at Lehigh, the Music Box has been a huge part of my experience. I am proud of  my work as a leader of this organization so far, and look forward to the work ahead.

This past January, I had the honor of being selected to be part of Lehigh Silicon Valley, an experiential entrepreneurship class where 50 students fly out to California to learn about the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem firsthand.

As part of the course, my classmates and I were able to meet and speak with professionals from some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names in the start-up, product design, law, and venture capital spaces including Andreesen Horowitz, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Lunar Design. We also got the opportunity to be part of live case studies with entrepreneurs working on ventures from seed stage to fully established levels, going through Q&A and problem solving sessions to address needs for their businesses.

The capstone to our trip, however, came with our final team projects to deliver a go-to-market strategy for the NASDAQ Milestone Makers, a small group of entrepreneurs selected by NASDAQ as major up-and-comers in the startup world today to receive specialized mentorship to further themselves and their companies. Working in small teams of 6-7, we were tasked with creating a solution to a problem our Milestone Maker was having, much like a short-term consulting engagement.

My team and I devised and presented a go-to-market strategy for our Milestone Maker, a founder leading a company focused in the B2B logistics and transportation management application space looking to launch to a larger customer base. After months of market research, collecting direct customer feedback from a variety of target industries to sell the app to, and developing and concept testing various solutions, we presented our strategy to our founder and staff from the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center to positive feedback.

Lehigh Silicon Valley was an amazing experience, and probably the highlight of my Lehigh career, getting to get hands-on with founders, funders, and the people that make the startup world what it is today.