Why on earth would an audio engineering major commit to a college with no music studio?

My name is Koehn and I moved to Excel in the fall of 2022. I was drawn to Excel because of their commitment to leading people into holistically healthy lives.

When I was looking for higher education options during high-school, I struggled to find something that offered everything I was looking for. I’ve always had a passion for music production, and as I got more serious about it in high school, I started looking for schools that offered audio engineering majors.

I found a few good options, but none of them seemed to have the emphasis on genuine Christian community that I was looking for. I had spent some time as a missionary in South Africa after high school, where I fell in love with life in community, but the pace left me pretty burnt out and it didn’t offer a lot of hope for pursuing a career in full time music production. 

A couple weeks after moving back from South Africa, I felt God call me to plant myself in a community. I had visited Excel during my senior year of high school, and I was so encouraged by the community there.

I applied to the college, but at the time, there wasn’t a music studio or any promise of being able to pursue audio engineering. However, I had such a strong feeling that the community would make it worth my time that I was ok with putting my audio engineering pursuit on pause. 

Looking back, it’s kind of bizarre how it worked out. I met Austin Smith, the campus worship leader, right after moving to Excel. We didn’t talk long before he brought up the plan to build a creative arts studio on campus where students could pursue practicums in everything from graphics design to photography to music production and everything in between.

I was sold. So even though there currently wasn't a studio, I took a leap of faith.

Upon arriving in the fall of 2022, it wasn't long before I felt at home here. This place has such a hospitable culture, it’s hard not to feel welcomed in. And although I didn’t come here primarily for the liberal arts education, I quickly found myself being intellectually stretched and challenged. Through the faculty and staff, the curriculum, and my fellow classmates, I was introduced to a bigger God and a better narrative.

We Have a saying here that “it’s perfectly natural to be spiritual and perfectly spiritual; to be natural.” This place showed me that God is intimately involved in every aspect of my life. God is present at church on Sunday, and He’s just as present at work on Monday. God created us with a body, soul, and spirit. Most colleges feed part of that, but this community feeds the whole person. 

Putting my audio engineering dream on pause seemed to be worth it.

But little did I know, I wouldn't have to put the dream off for long.

About a year after I first talked to Austin about pursuing a creative practicum, guess what? We started building a studio. I had a meeting with our Practicum Coordinator to finalize my plan to do an audio engineering practicum. I remember sitting across from her and telling her about all the dreaming and planning that led up to this moment. I used to sit in the back of my parents' minivan and make simple instrumental beats on my iPhone and dream about one day working in a music studio.

I had thought I was throwing the whole thing out by committing to a college with no studio and not a single student who had done what I wanted to do, but I followed God's call and took a leap of faith anyways. And He came through. This is a safe place for the dreamers, and it helped that the faculty wanted to see it happen just as much as I wanted to live it out. 

I’m 8 months into my practicum now, and it’s everything I’ve wanted. And that college that didn't have a music studio? Now it has one! I get lost in there, and it's even more special that I get to be a part of the pioneering creative arts class and that I got to watch it be built as part of a larger Creative Arts building, right here on campus.

The very thing I dreamed about with Austin when I first moved here came to life right in front of me. I went from not knowing hardly anything about music production to writing, producing, mixing, and releasing my first two singles: Mid-October and Nothing to Write Home About. My practicum made the space for me to dive deep into technical music production. It's been challenging, frustrating at times, and it pulls out everything I have, sometimes calling me to a higher capacity than I thought I had. But it's also so incredibly fun, and it gives me life.

What's better? I get college credit for doing what I love: making really cool things with sound.

The focus on holistic living that first drew me to this community continues to be one of my favorite things about being here. Working in the studio is a dream come true in itself, but the work isn’t what makes it. It’s the community that I get to work alongside. No one here is a creative robot. No one who works at the studio is in there just to get a degree. We don’t clock in to clock out. We do all of life together. Practicum is challenging and frustrating and beautiful and wild, but it's nothing without the people I do it with.

I still can't wrap my mind around how blessed I am to be in a community that values both practical excellence and personal, holistic health. This is a place where I’m cared for, body, soul, and spirit. Oh, and I get to make a little music too.

PS - we've raised $5,000 in our current campaign for new studio equipment and are looking to raise $70,000 more by October 1 for audio, visual, musical, and media gear so students like me can have the tools they need to grow in the creative. Interested in helping us reach that goal? Leave a donation by clicking here: www.theexcelcollege.com/creativelegacy