Senior Cole Herlitz-Ferguson is not your average high school student. He creates his own unique music and sound as a DJ both inside and outside of school. As Hackley students can proudly attest, Cole Ferguson’s impressive talent captures his creativity and uses it to generate extraordinary music. His passion for music exemplifies itself through his unbelievably impressive work.

Cole’s involvement with music began in elementary and middle school in the concert band. As early as age 12, he started mixing music. He played the saxophone for six years before he decided that he wanted to expand his love for music and his creativity into the art of trap, an electronic-based music genre . “Not only did I love playing the saxophone, I really fell in love with the music in general,” said Cole. Being trained in music theory, Cole continued along the path of DJing with his best friend and DJ partner, Thomas Andersen. Together they run an entertainment company, TJC Entertainment. TJC has DJed at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and 20+ proms. Cole has DJed at multiple Hackley events, and he said, “It’s nice to see how my peers react to what I play, and I love the support they give me,” but that’s not all Cole does. Cole and Thomas’ DJ group, Kryptic, performs gigs and concerts. Kryptic is  different from TJC, and it’s where Cole and Thomas show their artistry.

Thomas and Cole continue to improve their DJ skills, and are currently enrolled as the Dubstop Music School in New York City. Dubstop is one the top five electronic music schools in the entire world. “We are constantly doing two or three mixes together to work on our  chemistry as well as to find transition and mashup opportunities,” said Cole. This upcoming summer Cole and Thomas may go to the Netherlands to spend a few weeks learning at the Herman Brood Academie. “This would be an amazing experience at an amazing school,” said Cole.

One of Cole’s favorite DJ memories is when he and Thomas were coincidentally in the Dominican Republic at the same time. There just so happened to be a musical festival at their resort. After Cole heard about the festival he messaged Martin Garrix on facebook. “I told him that Thomas and I would be there and that we would love to get together and talk music,” said Cole. Garrix, Cole, and Thomas all met at the nightclub in their hotel, and they got to mix with Martin backstage. “Then two days later he brought us on to the stage with him again, but at the festival in front of tens of thousands of people. That was truly amazing,” said Cole.