#BecauseofHATCH – How HATCH changed a Groundbreaker’s course

When Bozeman talented musician and  high school junior Caroline Janssen was invited to participate in HATCH 2014 as a Groundbreaker, she recalls having a “solid life plan”.  During the four days she spent with creators and innovators from around the globe, she realized the power and beauty of changing course to realize new dreams.

In Fall 2014, Caroline was focused on developing her musical talent and serving as her school’s band director to move her toward her goal of attending college for music composition. During her first day at HATCH she had a conversation with a mentor who encouraged her to “find the gap you can fill with everything you are.”  Another HATCH mentor had a major impact when she said “we have a greater respect for humanity when we preach our own.”

As Caroline meditated on those words over the next few days, she came to the realization that film making was her true passion.  She also came to the profound realization that she wanted to direct her course in life based on what she “could bring to the environment, to others, to myself.”

As she put it quite simply, “I fell in love with learning at HATCH.”

This fall, Caroline will be starting in the Film School at Montana State University, and has earned an internship with PBS.  She has also continued her focus on music, and is currently composing pieces about chemical bonds (having found math and science to be the purest art forms after seeing DJ Spooky perform at HATCH).

Watch Caroline’s powerful video about what HATCH mean to her: