for college students by college students
Nov. 18, 2021 / 14 Kislev 5782

Mic-Drop!

Samantha Cohen } jewish@edu writer
A

s the vice president of community
programming at Michigan State
Hillel, event planning, promotion
and production are a big part of my every-
day life. Because I’m a student at the School
of Hospitality Business at Michigan State,
I was excited to recently become an event
planning intern for a new program series at
MSU Hillel.
There, I have been working very closely
with Josh Rudman, the new Springboard
Innovation Specialist from Hillel
International, to put on Zipser Open-Mic
Nights. This brand-new event series enables
students a platform to showcase their per-
forming talents. Zipser Open-Mic Night is
open to any and all performances, which
can range from singing, to stand-up come-

dy, to freestyle rapping and even a skit per-
formance. The main purpose of this pro-
gram is to enable and encourage students
to practice and display their unique talents
and be proud of what they can do.
Our vision for Zipser is to take our MSU
Hillel event planning goals and tools and
elevate them. One way we did that is by
forming and bringing along with us our
own Zipser House Band. The Zipser House
Band is made of four Michigan State stu-
dents. Throughout the program series, the
band will be available to students, who can
send the musicians music to learn to per-
form at the next Open-Mic Night. Students
will also be able to practice with the band to
perfect their performances.
One challenge of planning Zipser Open-
Mic Night was finding a suitable venue. We
ran into many obstacles, like finding venues
that had the necessary space for the band
to setup and play that could also provide
food. Luckily, we reached out to Blue Owl
Café of East Lansing, and we were pleasant-
ly surprised with their response. Blue Owl

Café already had its own open-mic pro-
gram, and they needed some help with it.
Zipser Open-Mic Night collaborated with
Blue Owl’s “The Mic Drop” and packed the
venue. Fans were enjoying the show outside
the Blue Owl as well.
There is a saying “don’t fix what isn’t
broke,
” but one can always continuously
improve. I am so happy with how our pro-
gram went; however, I’m excited to make
our next Zipser Open-Mic Night even big-
ger and better!
I hope that this program allows more
people to go out and chase their singing
careers or inspire people to find their pas-
sions and perform — just as I got to use my
passion in getting the wonderful opportuni-
ty to plan such a fun event.
Come check out the next Zipser Open-
Mic Night at Blue Owl Café in East Lansing
on Thursday, Nov. 18. The doors open at 6
p.m. @

Samantha Cohen is the vice president of com-

munity programming at Michigan State Hillel.

MSU’s Zipser Open-Mic
Night gives students
the chance to showcase
their talents.

Students shine at Zipser
Open-Mic Night.

26 | NOVEMBER 18 • 2021