Andrew Daume ’26 said his parents always told him, “College is what you make of it.” It seems like he’s taken their words to heart.
As a member of five student organizations – two of which he’s president of – an admissions ambassador and an employee of Merrimack’s Media Center, one could reasonably assume Daume has his plate a bit too full. He, however, said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“My way of making Merrimack my own is getting into as many spaces as I can to explore everything the College has to offer,” he said. “I want to make sure I use every resource at Merrimack to give myself a better experience. So far, it’s worked out.”
Daume is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in public relations. He hopes to one day be a news anchor, journalist or actor. So, during his freshman year, he knew he needed to join Merrimack College TV. Today, he’s the president of the club.
“I knew it would put me on camera, teach me about cameras and put me into that sphere,” he said.
Since October, Daume has directed monthly live shows with pre-recorded segments submitted by students. Nowadays, he’s passing his directing knowledge down to other club members so they can call the shots on their own shows.
“We’re expanding to whatever students want,” Daume said. “As club president, I want to make sure the students can make whatever they want. I will support them in any way I can.”
Daume said he picked up the job at Merrimack’s Media Center, where he’s in charge of loaning cameras and other A/V equipment to students, as a way to further supplement his celluloid dreams.
“I’m learning the same skills for what it takes to be an anchor as well as an actor,” he explained.
Daume said he’s been acting in community theater productions since he was 8 years old. Because many of these productions have been musicals, he had to learn to sing over the years. Today, he uses his deep bass voice in Mackapella, Merrimack’s co-ed a cappella group, of which he’s also president.
“It’s not exactly the main career focus in my life,” he explained, “but I definitely love to sing.”
The group recently performed the National Anthem at the TD Garden before a Boston Celtics home game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“This is the second time we did this,” he explained. “They hooked us up with a locker room and they let us watch the warmups before the TD Garden opened to the public. We got to watch the whole game too.”
On top of all this, Daume still finds time to write for The Beacon student newspaper and participate in Merrimack’s running and craft club.
“I know everyone says this, but the community is really the best part of Merrimack,” he said. “It’s the reason I get so involved on campus, it’s the reason why I do all the clubs that I do, and it’s the reason why I don’t go insane doing all of this.”
