Meet this week’s Campus Celebrity: Dean Mulzac Jr.! Known by some as “Zig”, a nickname he earned while attending military school prior to his career as a college student, Dean is a Union, NJ native. At 19-year-old junior at Montclair State University, he is studying a major in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing as well as a minor in Creative Writing. When asked what it is that he plans on doing upon graduation, he confidently replied: “I plan on working in corporate for a company’s marketing department. I then plan on starting my own business.” Not only is he clearly ambitious, Dean is also intellectual, charismatic, sociable, humorous and wise beyond his years. With traits like that, I made it a must to interview him! Read on for the rest our interview.
HCM: Are you a part of any organizations on campus and, if so, which?
Dean: I am. I’m a general member of The Brotherhood/La Hermandad, a Class III organization on campus and I’m also a member of Speaking Through Silence (STS), a Class IV organization also on campus.
HCM: What is the importance of being involved?
Dean: Being involved is so significant. Me? I’m a people-person. I love people. So it’s an opportunity for me to meet people from all different walks of life, people who may share similar passions with me and enjoy similar hobbies as me – and if they don’t, that’s okay, I love them regardless. That’s the more social aspect of it, but because of involvement, I’ve been given the opportunity to not only meet new people, but also to network and thus create connections that – who knows – might be useful to me a few years from now. It really shapes you as person.
HCM: How has it shaped you?
Dean: Always being involved and meeting new people has made it almost impossible for me to ever feel awkward around anyone, really. I’ve learned to accept, understand, appreciate and embrace the person that I am, all the while doing the same for others, and because I’m able to do that, I’m able to be myself without apology and encourage those around me to do the same.
HCM: How do balance your time between your busy academic, social, and personal life?
Dean: I make sure that I allow myself time both before and after my classes start and end to study any material that needs to be studied for an hour, at least, to whichever class is relative pertaining to the day. All of the other hours in my day are spent socializing – at the Student Center Quad, in the Atrium and Blanton, at the library, even – just staying social and staying involved and not neglecting my personal life.HCM: What do you like to do for fun?
Dean: Honestly, I can find the fun in almost anything. Personally, I like poetry. I love it, actually. I read it. I write it. I wouldn’t say I do it for fun so much as I would say that I do it because I have a genuine interest in it and because it provides me a joy like no other. Now, that – that is my idea of “fun.”
HCM: Have you always been a reader and writer of poetry or is it new to you?
Dean: I starting reading by the time I was 5 and reading and writing go hand-in-hand so writing was never really hard for me. Being a sensitive child, I always felt that I could cope best with certain situations by writing about them. My first two years of high school weren’t traditional; I went to military school during those first two years so all of those bottled-up emotions from that time came out easiest and best by me writing to myself, which, in turn, inspired me to write poetry. The thing I like best about poetry is the way it made me feel the first time. After that, it became addicting, especially because I love having a presence on stage where I am able to fully speak my heart to those who will listen.
HCM: You recently performed some of your poetry for Speaking Through Silence. I loved it.
Dean: Thank you. I appreciate the love. I did. I’ll send you a link to the video of me performing it so you can post it. The feeling was indescribable, like love.HCM: Speaking of love, you are like an advocate of love.
Dean: I am! I love everyone and I love everything. I love love. I love the idea of love. Love is one of the most – if not the most – important things in all of the Universe.HCM: What are some of your other views about love?
Dean: The way I see it: I was born out of love so I want to die in it. A lot of people are living for money and materialistic things that will never allow you to experience what love is but the power it has is unmatchable. If no one had love for sounds, there would be no good music. If MLK didn’t have love for his people, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Our desires to be tough, insensitive, and to mask our emotions is just that – a mask. Everyone and everything yearns for love and to be loved.