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Graduating senior Rain Michael has always considered themself a musician but didn’t feel they could take on the title of “leader” until they took the course LEAD 1000: Becoming A Leader. “I wouldn’t have necessarily called myself a leader in the same way I do now, if I hadn’t taken that course,” they stated. “I decided to take that course and it ended up being something that was very interesting and valuable. Especially the way Dr. Pasquesi taught the course, just clicked with me in a way that I frankly found surprising.” 

Her first student nomination, Dr. Pasquesi was struck by Rain’s leadership in class and their quiet yet attentive approach to the learning environment. “I observed them striving to hear others more deeply, asking more profound questions, and seeking to understand,” she stated in her nomination letter. Michael believes in the power of constructive learning and collaboration, a theme that is present in all of their work. “I think there’s a lot more power in collectives than we allow their to seem,” they stated. Rain currently defines leadership as “providing a space for others to learn and grow, and for me to do so alongside them.” 

Michael graduates this year with a double major in Music Composition and Psychology, minors in Leadership and Linguistics and a certificate of Cognitive Science. In addition to managing an ambitious academic workload, they work as a Registered Behavior Technician at Wild Sun Behavioral Sciences, where they administer one-on-one treatment to children with behavioral struggles or disorders. Rain has worked with children since high school participating in afterschool programs. “It’s so much fun!” they stated with palpable excitement. “They’re all such unique people.” For Rain, there is a profound sense of fulfillment in working with a client for months at a time and seeing the progress they are able to make once they reach what they refer to as a “flow” state.

But Rain’s foundations are deeply grounded in music. “I’ve been in music my whole life,” they stated. Michael’s parents started them in a music academy at the age of four where they mostly played piano, hand percussion, and guitar. In high school Rain started composing but states that they’ve been coming up with ideas since the fourth or fifth grade. “I would not be where I am right now if I wasn’t as involved with music,” they stated. “And even a lot of my leadership experiences have been in music. Both in directing my own pieces, with my own ensembles and just the way I try to approach performance and composition.” Rain has a unique, creative approach that speaks to his training in the fields of music, psychology and behavioral science. “I like to give performers a couple of cells or ideas and ways in which they can iterate and repeat and expand on those ideas, pulling on their own musical experience and feeling in the moment.”

A recital Rain put together last semester stands out as a generative and capacious experience that allowed them to hone their organization skills while also putting their music in front of an audience. “It was really wonderful,” Rain stated. Performing an untitled piece composed of the single note A, Rain initially thought of it as a personal piece. “It was a very simple improvisation that was all done with one note on the piano. I was trying to invite them into my experience but there’s not a story, there’s not a clear point of connection.” After the performance a graduate student approached Rain to thank them for creating a piece that made him feel like there was space within the Music Department at ����ֱ�� to explore innovative ideas. The untitled piece is a rich auditory experience with crescendos, peaks and valleys that invites listeners into an affective experience that speaks to Michael’s talent in the field of music composition. Dr. Carter Penn, a professor in the College of Music stated, “ I hold them among the top students with which I have had the pleasure to work closely. They have proven themselves to be one of the most enterprising young musicians in our College of Music.”

I asked Rain what it means to them to be named a Student Leader of the Year. “I’m honestly still trying to figure that out,” they stated, “I really didn’t expect this.” Rain views learning and music as very collaborative experiences and believes leadership should be too. “At the very least it’s a point of visibility and a reminder that the things I do are much bigger than myself and that they really can impact people more than I think or even realize.”

Written by Nandi Pointer