From the Nominator

As the 2022-23 school year approached, our office was in the middle of rolling out a new brand for Michigan Engineering called “People-First Engineering.” So, we wanted to find stories from our community that are brand exemplary and share those stories with our community, specifically the student body. When we heard that Michigan Marching Band Drum Major Rachel Zhang was a senior Michigan Engineering student, we thought it would be a great opportunity to highlight her as a person, student, and band member. We arranged and filmed a full-length interview, having Rachel share her experiences in those areas. We took that interview and split it into three parts: 1) Introducing Rachel by focusing on the game day experience for an Instagram Reel to be shared on the day of a Michigan Football game; 2) Rachel sharing her favorite things about campus and the surrounding city; and 3) a longer, traditional video telling Rachel’s whole story as the drum major, an engineer, and a person. This submission is for the first video of this series.

From the Judges

First in a series, Michigan Engineering’s “The Drum Major” tells an authentic and emotional story in a tightly-edited and deceptively simple format. This entry, an unexpected piece of content from an engineering school, expertly supports their values of “People-First Engineering.” The heightened contrast between the chaos and excitement of the game day footage and the quiet, empty field where student Rachel Zhang gives her interview serves to emphasize the joy and energy of the Michigan Engineering community. By introducing prospective students to Rachel, they highlight a multitude of ways to be a Michigan Engineering student.