POST 1 - (Essay) 1. What have you undertaken or done on your own in the last year or two that has nothing to do with academic work? (Northwestern)

The period of time from the August of 2011, to the beginning of April, 2012, was a very intriguing phase of disorder, frustration, exploration, and growth for me. It was the first half of my eleventh grade year: a whirlwind of confusion between what to do, what not to do, what is right, and what is wrong was to be expected. Partly the fault of my raging hormones caused by puberty, and partly the fault of my own risk-taking nature, I made an incredibly unwise decision that somewhat put my place in the school I go to at jeopardy. One of the consequences I received on behalf of my actions was that all of my titles and leadership positions were stripped from me. Because of it, I was left with more free time than I knew what to do with.

Another aspect of my life which is extremely relevant to fully answering this question is my passion and love for music. I have loved listening to, playing, and performing music ever since I can remember. And luckily, the school I attend has in incredibly large and promising music program. But I still felt it could be a lot better, encompass a larger variety of music, and include many more people from many different backgrounds with many different musical tastes.

My passion for music and the excessive free time I now found myself with led to me to start a venture in my school which had never been taken before. A group of three friends and I got together, and with the help of one staff member, we were able to pull of Woodstock School’s first Battle of the Bands. It initially started off as an idea and it evolved as we got closer to the day of the event which was the 24^th of March, 2012. And it became an entity of its own, growing far beyond anything any of us members would have even dared it to become.

Financially, it was a difficult project to pull off. We as a committee wanted minimal help from outside, and therefore had to do all the fundraising ourselves. The total cost of the project was 150,000 Indian Rupees (roughly $3,150) and we collected all of that money from fundraising at every occasion we could find. Some of the money came from the advertising and selling of t-shirts which we were forced to sell at a high profit id we were to break even in our event. But other than that, thanks to the generosity, and encouragement of the students and teachers of this school we were able to have a successful event where we were able to financially stay on top of things. Part of the reason the costs were so high was because we had hired an event manager from outside who supplied us with a six foot tall stage with an elevated platform for the percussionist, two frames full of multi-colored lights which stood 20 feet up in the air, a back drop with the Battle of the Bands logo, enough amplifiers and sound equipment to have an open-air rock concert, and a sound mixer which he took care of himself.

Our initial hopes for the event were miniscule to what it actually turned out to be in the end. Our aim was to get a few bands from school play and have the judges’ asses only their performance. Then one day, I received an email from a high school boy in Delhi (a city 300 km away from where we were) saying that he had heard of the Battle of the Bands from a friend of his and asking if it was possible for his band to participate in the event. We accepted his request. After that the ball just would not stop rolling. We received invitations from five more schools from all across India which were asking if they could attend our event. Two National news papers covered the event and wrote articles on the even both before and after the event took place. The Battle of the Bands was an even that was certainly on the lips of everyone in Woodstock, and even on the lips of people miles and miles away in different cities and states.

The event went on for a total of six hours for the audience and the performers. But for those on the committee, it went on for a listless 18 hours, from nine o’clock in the morning to three o’clock at night and then for several days after that for final payments and transactions. It ended in a blur of lights, emotions, sounds, people, and instruments. It went by too fast and ended too soon. Yet, it was one of the most proud moments of my life so far. Where something that I have spent hours and hours trying to develop not only came to life, but succeeded far beyond my wildest hopes. Months and months of organization and countless consecutive days of planning and meeting, every single bit of it, from the hard labor to the promotional trips to other schools, every moment of planning and organizing, fighting and clashing, making up and forgiving, for one day, a few hours of music and entertainment. It was worth it. And I would not hesitate to do it all over again.

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