Leadership takes center stage
Wild Oak lets Music Industry Program students get out of the classroom, put down the textbooks, and embrace real-life business scenarios.
Thirty Chico State students, two Swedish exchange students, two semesters, one shared love of music—remixed each year into Wild Oak Music Group.
“Wild Oak lets Music Industry Program students get out of the classroom, put down the textbooks, and embrace real-life business scenarios,” says 2008–09 Wild Oak chief operating officer Sean Nagasawa.
The student-run group is a business that promotes local music. “Students do it all,” says Sean. “Business affairs, marketing, media relations, accounting, graphic design—we have it all covered. We set our own goals—and we go out to achieve them.”
“I had never considered myself a leader,” adds Sean. “Until this, I never had the chance. Now I have my eye on that type of career. At my job [a video game tester for Neversoft], I have my name in to become a lead tester and move up. I’m looking into getting into promoting on the weekends for local clubs. The Wild Oak experience really changed me.”
With Sean as student executive, the group produced a series of soundtracks for local businesses, started a hip hop collective, and put on 10 major shows. The year culminated in the 4th annual Chico MusicFest, supporting Chico’s vibrant music community.
“Our music industry program is the largest in the West,” says program director Paul Friedlander. “Students are fortunate here in Chico that a state university gives a high-quality liberal arts education and they can study the music industry at the same time. It is the best of both worlds.”
If music isn’t your thing, other opportunities to learn—and to lead—are found across campus. How about hands-on programs in concrete, journalism, or entrepreneurism?
A band plays at one of the many shows produced by the student-run Wild Oak Music Group.