User Manual

What gives you energy and what depletes me?

A main thing that gives me energy is ideating. Whenever I come up with ideas, I get really into the subject matter and want to dive in head first, especially if it is something I am passionate about. I call them my 2 hour energy periods, because when I get the energy I expend it fairly quickly. So, this also could be a cause of my energy levels depleting. I also lose energy when I am uninspired, and if I am uninspired for a long amount of time, it takes time for my energy levels to kick back into gear. 

What is the best way for others to communicate with me?

The best way for peers to communicate with me would be through text. It is simple and easy to check, plus I can quickly respond. Texting also feels more personal than email to me, and on these types of projects I feel it is important to knock down barriers, like email, to forge stronger relationships between the class. 

What are your pet peeves?

I don’t have many pet peeves, but the few I have really annoy me. First, if the person isn’t as invested as I am in the idea or project it gets on my nerves. I realize that not everyone is as enthusiastic about everything I am, and I am guilty of doing this to other people, yet, I still feel that everyone should go head first into everyone’s new venture. One other pet peeve of mine is if I am the only one pulling my weight on a group project. Too many times in other classes was I the one to pick up the slack. 

What do people misunderstand about you?

People sometimes think that I don’t put as much effort into things, like school, as I should, which is untrue in my opinion. I’m very dedicated to learning and I expend a lot of energy towards school. I think people might think this of me because of the way I used to be, before I found the drive to put more energy toward school.

What values are important to me?

The two main values I hold close are honesty and open mindedness. If someone is honest with me, I immediately know I can trust this person and the work they are doing. I also really value when someone is open-minded. I think being absolutely free of prior judgment or conclusions is the only way to get the most out of a situation.

What kind of innovator are you?

I classify myself as an ideator. I am the person that is going to come up with the big ideas and big picture; the overall picture of the journey, rather than the intricacies of it. This helps me when being ambitious and creating interesting ways to solve problems, however it hurts me when I need specific tasks done, especially when dealing with numbers.

A Meeting with Natalie Nixon

When studying Natalie Nixon’s work before our meeting, I was struck by something she mentioned in her interview with Forbes. She was asked about the value of pausing and responded with the three R’s, “restore, reorient and reboot”. These three terms are heavily important and I was interested in having a conversation with her on this subject. I was also interested in her travels. I believe traveling helps to open the mind up to new experiences and realize new, better ways of thinking. Nixon had been on many trips to foreign countries and hearing her journeys and the impact they had on her is something that I was looking forward to.

The meeting with Natalile Nixon was a very rewarding experience. Having the ability to listen to someone who is well-versed in the ideas that the class is built upon, helped me to connect certain ideas that I hadn’t before. For instance, I had never linked abstract and concrete creativity together. The way she spoke about how humans are built to be creative and that every job required some sort of creativity was eye-opening for me. It allowed me to see that no matter where I end up in life, I will always be able to use the creative skills I’ve gained over time. All in all, I greatly enjoyed having the opportunity to listen to Professor Nixon speak and I gained a more thorough knowledge of the realm of creativity.

Stomping Grounds: An Overview and Reflection

At the start of last school year I embarked on a goal of organizing and curating a local music festival, emphasizing local artists who wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to perform. I was able to formulate my idea into a full-blown project through a class called Innovation Lab offered at my high school. Innovation Lab studies the foundations of entrepreneurship and lets learners explore their passions through intrinsically-motivated projects. I knew I wanted to pursue this idea early on in the school year and thus heavily researched how to create a music festival. After reading articles upon articles about the subject of music festivals I knew a team of driven, passionate individuals would be necessary for my idea to succeed.. 

After introducing and presenting the festival idea to my peers, I formed a team of six students, all with their own unique skill-sets, to help the project come to fruition. We officially started working on the festival in late October. Through my leadership and the teams’ hard-work, we began to gain traction fast. 

By the end of our first month we had chosen a name; Stomping Grounds, meant to highlight the festival’s focus on local artists and community. Five artists, of the seven we had hoped to line up, committed to the gig immediately. One of our team members, employed at a local music shop, was able to get a meeting scheduled with his employer, and through this meeting, we successfully secured a partnership whereby they would supply all the necessary audio equipment. And lastly, our marketing manager had successfully set up our social media. At this point however, we were struggling to find a location and funding for the event. Luckily, to my surprise, I discovered that a college in our area, Ursinus, was planning a music festival of their own. I immediately gathered my team and wrote an email to the director of Ursinus’s event.  I explained our plans and outlined our idea and our mission. I asked if they might be interested in meeting with us to talk about how our ideas might align. 

The Stomping Grounds Team

To my excitement, they agreed. My team and I went into the meeting knowing we would have to sell our idea as one of a kind. Going into the discussion we were confident and when it was over, I still was, even though they didn’t give us a clear answer. They told us they’d let us know. Then came the silence. 

After an entire month of trying to contact them, nothing. I assumed that my dream was over and was close to giving up, due to the lack of funding. However, I chose to remain optimistic; brainstorming with my team how to pivot from the festival aspect.  

Then, on December 19th, I received a call from the director of Ursinus’ Music on Main. Our patience and persistence paid off, they had agreed to partner with us for the event.  They had agreed to not only give us our own stage to curate and organize, but also provide the funding. I was ecstatic for their support. 

Stomping Grounds Poster

January and February were spent confirming all the artists we had previously contacted, creating a larger social media presence, and contacting vendors to set up at our stage. Before lockdown was imposed we were gaining a healthy social media presence, had just begun to hang up our customized posters, and had secured all our artists, consisting of four rappers, a heavy metal band, and an alt-rock band. Out of all six acts, four of them were high school students, the other two being in college. This is something I was immensely proud of, being able to obtain six very talented acts all being young and up-and-coming artists. However the world had a different plan for Stomping Grounds then I envisioned. When COVID-19 hit, Stomping Grounds was postponed and all of our progress was immediately reset and cancelled.

My time as leader of Stomping Grounds has taught me to never stop pursuing my dreams, even in a time of anguish and uncertainty. When Ursinus wasn’t responding to me, I made sure we, as a group, didn’t stop reaching out to potential artists and posting on social media. Most importantly,  I inspired them to continue to fulfill our purpose and mission and consider alternative possibilities. It was the most I’ve ever learned about myself as a person and that is a main part of why I find it so easy to write about the experience. Now, months after the cancellation of my creation, I still cannot wait to continue the Stomping Grounds journey into the future!