Live music, stage lights, food, and crowds of excited fans, are all parts of waiting for a concert to begin at Ruoff Music Center. The venue is known for the music events it hosts almost all year round. Not only do these concerts bring the Noblesville community together, they also help the local economy grow by bringing attention to the Noblesville area. While Ruoff Music Center benefits the Noblesville community, it also teaches the many NHS students who work there business skills and shows them the behind the scenes of a production.
Ruoff offers a wide variety of jobs and sales opportunities for local Noblesville residents, including students. Olivia McCaffery has enjoyed the opportunity of trying out a brand new internship with Ruoff as an NHS senior. On the other side of the arena, junior Londyn Nicholson gained experience working with a local business in the concessions area. Together, the two have seen the impact Ruoff has on the Noblesville area.
“I think we’re lucky to live in a place where there’s things to do., It definitely helps the economy, and it just helps create a sense of community,” McCaffrey said.
According to Nicholson, bringing people together isn’t the only benefit Ruoff provides. It also provides valuable job experience.
“I’d say Ruoff helps the Noblesville community because it brings a rise in the community for people that listen to music to all get together and have a fun time,” Nicholson said.
Students like McCaffrey who are interested in a career working in music are in luck. Living near a venue like Ruoff is rare and it has benefited people like McCaffrey who landed an internship there.
“I hope to work in the [music] industry someday, so it’s helped me get kind of a sense of how at least events and venue management is done. It has helped me to get a wide variety of experience,” McCaffrey said.
Dan Nicholson, one of the Internship Coordinators at Noblesville High School, worked behind the scenes to put the Ruoff internship opportunity into place. Although the venue never offered this type of placement before, Nicholson says the company was willing to give it a try at the beginning of this school year. This was a new step for NHS students that can open many doors, according to Nicholson
“We don’t have a lot of music production, or even a lot of venues for that matter, that are here locally that [offer internships] on a regular basis, so that was why this was a great placement for us to be able to pick up this year,” Dan Nicholson said.
Aside from music-related experience, students who work there see many other benefits to Ruoff. Londyn Nicholson believes that while the amphitheater is a great spot for music lovers to gather and an opportunity for students to gain valuable work experience, at the end of the day, it’s the people found there that make it a pillar of Noblesville culture.
“You get to meet all different types of people, you know, see everyone’s different energy. You always meet some interesting people there,” she said.
