the Informer

People often ask me, “Why pop music?” Is it the money? Is it the popularity? The thing I love most about music is the way it can light up a room. The way a pop song can put a smile on someone’s face, unite a nightclub or fill an arena. When the first few chords are strummed or the initial beat is laid down, everyone in the room feels it, connects with it.

There is a raw emotional relationship to the song and it is for that reason that I have devoted myself to the genre.During my four years at the University of Hartford, I have witnessed a monumental shift in the entertainment industry.

In that time, companies like Live Nation, once a company looking to buy the entire music industry as it stood, went from media moguls to a dying breed. Once again, smaller bands are seeing success as the world realizes that you don’t have to sell your soul to the devil in order to turn a profit.

Music isn’t the only thing that’s changed. In September of 2006, when I first walked through the doors of The Hartt School, Hulu was just a way to mispronounce a popular Hawaiian dance.

In 2010, we as college students are watching television almost exclusively online. The idea of deadlines, racing home to catch the opening of a show and breaking news cutting into your favorite show are gone. Instead, we as a generation watch our shows when we want, where we want. What is really special about our generation, defined by our graduating class of seniors is our take on the world.

We own ourselves and understand what we are worth. When someone treats you unfairly, you tell everyone through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. We figured out how to communicate with people in power and excersise that right daily.

Unlike our parents, today’s graduating class of seniors own the job market. As sparse as jobs are, we know that the first company we land with is only as good as what they offer us. Students are interviewing their potential employers as much as they are interviewing us.

We all understand one simple thing, regardless of what challenges we face, we are the next acclaimed doctors, journalists, award winning CEO’s and web designers. We are the leaders of the not-for-profit sectors in the arts, the general managers of a new breed of sports team and most importantly, the keepers of tomorrow. As we leave college behind, it is important to look back and realize what these last four years have meant.

Class is class. What is really important are the relationships you formed, the friendships you treasured and the realization that in 20 years, this same group of people will sit with you at the peak of your journey, looking back on your four years of college and smile at the great people we have become.