Written by: Colin Cross

Axel Kalbach is a Special Projects Captain on THON™’s Technology Committee. Axel is from Royersford, PA, which is right outside of King of Prussia. He is a senior at Penn State, double majoring in Computer Science and Economics. He is involved in THON, Alpha Kappa Psi, and was previously a member of the Blue Band. Axel explained, “The Technology Committee supports all the technological needs of THON, ranging from Microsoft Teams to the Dash system for THON Weekend. I am a Special Projects Captain, which means I work on a variety of smaller projects, the main ones being the point of sale and inventory systems used by the Merchandise Committee. This means that whenever an item of THON merch is purchased, our applications are used.”

When asking Axel about what he enjoys about TECH he said, “Being on the TECH committee is great! For me specifically, it offers a great way to use my technical skillset to further the mission of THON. Being a Computer Science major, I feel like I can make the most change for the organization through programming. THON TECH offers a great place to do that, and a great community of like-minded individuals!” 

Axel became a part of THON relatively late in his college career, he said, “I instantly knew I wanted to play a larger role after serving as a Dancer Relations committee member during my junior year of college (THON 2022).”

He also said, “I loved the atmosphere of THON and got to learn so much more about what it does throughout that year. Additionally, that year, I was able to get closer with my organization’s THON family, the Rodriguez’s. Seeing the impact hands on, combined with my alignment with the mission of THON, led me to pursue a captain position where I felt I would be most impactful, being the TECH committee!”