Since age 12, junior David Stubbs hasn’t stopped thinking about music.

“I never stop working on it,” Stubbs said, “24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

Stubbs is an audio engineer who was recently approached about a job, jump starting a career in music.

“I record professionally for like any artists that are signed to the label,” Stubbs said. “I’ve helped engineers up at chat rooms.  I just do like all the technical stuff, filtering, blah, blah, blah, a bunch of stuff nobody really knows what I’m talking about.”

Through working as an audio engineer, Stubbs was offered a studio and given an opportunity to meet big names in the music business.

“I was really confused myself,” Stubbs said. “I was like ‘Wow, that really just happened.’  It’s pretty sweet, so I just took the opportunity when I had it.”

Working in the industry so early on in his life has granted rare experiences.  Stubbs has made connections with people he wouldn’t have met in his daily life otherwise.

“You just meet a lot of cool people,” Stubbs said, “and they all kinda have the same idea, like they’re the kind of people who go out there and do those things because we’re those kind of people.”

Stubbs also remains involved in music within Free State.  Like so many juniors and seniors, he participated in Encore, but his contribution was unique.

“I beat boxed for ‘You Don’t Know Me,’ which was super fun,” Stubbs said. “We did an acapella version.”

Overall, Encore added to Stubbs musical repertoire and reinforced the value in hard work.

“It was epic,” Stubbs said. “I loved it.  It prepared me for next year cause I kinda just thought it would all magically fall into place, but the more I assume it, the more it just wasn’t, so you gotta keep on it.”

Stubbs gladly allocates a huge portion of his life to music. His dedication is geared towards achieving his future goals.

“…It’s gonna pay off,” Stubbs said. “It’s gonna pay off big.”