Graduation Decision
Peter Olumese faces the decision, post graduation in May, of which career path he wants to take. He is an electrical engineering student, with passions for photography, video and music. He currently works three jobs. He is a concessions manager at the Bryce Jordan Center, has his own photography business, and is also the lights director for the local band My Hero Zero in State College.
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Peter first met the band at a mutual friend’s party, where they play every year. It was his first year attending, and in deciding to videotape the party to make something fun for himself and his friends, he ended up becoming very close with the band. Jason Olcese, one of the lead singers for My Hero Zero, explained how Peter gradually started becoming more and more involved with them, “Peter and his friend were like hype men, not for us necessarily, but hype men for the entire experience of the evening.”
Peter explains how most people don’t realize how important the lights for a performance are. He has the ability to change the mood of the audience. There is a huge difference if the band is performing a sad, soft song and the lights are mellow and soft, versus bright and constantly blinking. He is not only a huge part of the band’s performance, but of the whole atmosphere itself.
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“For now I can’t do the band scene, but on the other hand I can’t sit in a cubical for the rest of my life,” Peter says, explaining how he will get a job within the field of engineering once he graduates, whether it be in the United States or somewhere else.
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90 days post-graduation, Peter will have made his decision on where his life will lead to next and if all fails he says, “I will go live in Switzerland with my family, get my citizenship and go fly planes in the army for a year.” His friends and family have shaped him into the “fun, funny, entertaining, but also, deep, contemplative and thoughtful,” person he is today he says, and he has the biggest decision of his life ahead of him.
Justin Ringland, has only a few months until he has to come to terms with the fact that he has dropped out of Penn State to pursue his music career. He is working on beats, lyrics and making connections in the music industry in order to make it financially. Coming from a musically inclined family, he has always had a huge passion for music. He learned to play the drums, piano, and sing at a very young age. Learning from his grandfather who always encouraged his involvement in music.
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“I need to put my entire self into it, that’s why I needed to drop out and focus only on this,” Ringland says.