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 

