By Ashley Wolfgang '14

Matthew Klich is not your typical college junior. In addition to majoring in computer science and minoring in business and management, Klich has self-designed an additional minor in sound engineering, and the young entrepreneur owns and operates his own entertainment corporation, Clik Entertainment, LLC.

Designing individual packages for each event, Clik Entertainment provides music for festivals and concerts, as well as party services for universities, private colleges, and specialty clients across the country.

"My job extends from event inception to event execution: from calling leads for possible events to making the annual report, playing music in front of 2,000 people, and even designing and implementing the light shows used at events," Klich explains.

"Clik Entertainment, LLC was originally designed for the typical event but soon expanded to something much greater," says Klich. "We released our Operation Glow concert package to all different types of colleges, universities, and organizations. We packed every type of effect (foam, UV paint, glow bubbles, confetti, balloon drops, paper launches, you name it) into one monstrous setup that we made sure impressed even the largest colleges and organizations around the U.S."

Klich runs about two events per weekend, most of them in the Chicago area. He travels back and forth to Knox on Amtrak trains, often doing homework during the rides.

Juggling multiple obligations is nothing new for Klich. He started disc jockeying in eighth grade and developed his passion into a sole proprietorship business by his junior year of high school. It became a limited liability corporation (LLC) in 2012. Klich typically has about seven to 10 part-time employees working each weekend -- and sometimes as many as 20, depending on the size of the event.

Klich says he appreciates what he has learned in Knox's business and management program. "John Spittell [Professor and Chair of Business and Management; Executive-in-Residence at Knox] specifically is the one who showed me the ropes of building a corporation out of my sole proprietorship."

"I always tell people that I fell into owning a corporation," explains Klich. "This year, it became apparent that it was something much more. Throughout the many classes I've taken with Professor John Spittell, I learned that I have a mind of creativity and innovation, known as ‘the bug', and an affinity for fixing or improving processes. I always want to create new things that can help people in their lives -- whether they need a good time out or a memory that lasts forever, I want to provide that experience."

Klich has taken various business and management classes while at Knox, including Business and Society and Marketing and Society. He is currently enrolled in Entrepreneurship and Society, a new course offering at Knox.

"I cannot begin to express how crucial this class is to being in business," Klich says. Because of his Knox courses, he adds, "I can simultaneously relate personally and learn about new things I never would have even considered."