It’s a known fact that students at U of D have many talents. When people think of the school, they think of intelligent students and athletes that dominate their respective sports. What they may not think of is that all students have other hobbies and interests. Maintaining a 3.9 GPA and being on two different varsity sports, U of D Senior, Carter Cate, is a student who has several unorthodox interests in which he excels outside of the U of D classroom and field. On weekdays Carter wakes up as a student and athlete. On the weekends Carter enters the party scene as a DJ. 

“I love being a DJ, everyone’s watching me, and I feel that what I’m doing contributes to everyone’s night, so that makes me feel good”. He wants others to have just as good a time as him, and when he’s in control of the music, he feels he can make that happen. When Cate DJs, he takes different samples of other music and makes it his own. He remixes and creates his beats with his soundboard and laptop. This is typical behavior for any DJ, but Cate says he takes “special care of every track” he “produces”.  Like everything else he does, Cate takes pride in his work. 

Of course, his musical talent didn’t appear overnight. Cate became a DJ in the summer of 2022. His older brothers had become DJs while in college. Cate goes on record saying, “I saw the way they controlled the room with nothing but the sounds they created”. He was inspired by this and wanted to emulate them. He got his soundboard; hooked everything up to his laptop and speakers and got to work. Cate spent many days practicing and making tracks until he decided it was time to show others what he had done. 

Cate and his friend, Seamus Doyle, decided to give a party they were at a free sample of their work. They set everything up and went to town. “At the time I thought the music was amazing, but looking back at it I realized it was pretty bad”. Cate says he’s come a long way since then. He often spends weekends performing at friends’ parties and even charging money to perform at graduation parties. Performing for Carter is not his only passion. He has many other interests such as hockey, lacrosse, and maintaining good grades. Being a DJ is just something he does in his free time.

He encourages everyone to find time for the things they love. “Sometimes people just need a break from all the stressful aspects of their life, for me that break is messing around with my laptop and soundboard”