Student Spotlight: Zachary Klipp

Writer / Seth Johnson

Photography Provided

When Westfield Intermediate School student Zachary Klipp isn’t in the classroom, he stays busy honing his craft as a DJ.

“I just love creating my own things,” the 12-year-old says. “I love music. I love making a party and keeping it going.”

Klipp traces his initial fascination with deejaying back to hearing song remixes on the radio.

“When we were in long car rides we would listen to the radio most of the time, and when remixes came on, I was always fascinated and I always liked them,” he says.

With the help of his mother, an 8-year-old Klipp enrolled in his first set of DJ courses while living in Dallas, studying under an instructor by the name of Dan Quinn. These DJ studies continued when Klipp and his family made the move to Westfield.

“After we moved here, I was looking for things to do, and that happened for maybe one or two years,” Klipp says. “Then, I found this place called Bach to Rock music school, and they had deejaying. On my birthday of 2018 or 2019, my parents got me into that school as a gift, and I started doing deejaying again.”

When asked about his biggest inspiration as a DJ, Klipp quickly responds with DJ Indiana Jones. A beloved Indianapolis figure, Ron “DJ Indiana Jones” Miner passed away unexpectedly in December 2020 at the age of 50. His loss was felt far and wide, with global icons like Mark Ronson and Questlove voicing their condolences across social media.

To Klipp, DJ Indiana Jones was not only a respected DJ, but also a teacher at Bach of Rock.

“What I liked about him was he was really positive,” Klipp says of DJ Indiana Jones.

As of late, Klipp has been posting his own DJ mixes digitally via his Mixcloud account (under DJ_Klippstr). Outside of deejaying, Klipp is also improving his musical chops via the Westfield Intermediate School band program.

“I am involved in my school’s band,” he says. “I used to play the trombone, but now I play the baritone.”

When asked about his future goals as a DJ, Klipp humbly states that he just wants to keep getting better.

“My goal is to always improve, to just keep getting better,” he says. “And also to keep the party going.”