When starting college at Tufts University in Boston, Class of 2023 alumnus Zach Zinman was looking for engaging activities to involve himself in. One that caught his eye at a club fair was Mock Trial.
In high school, he was involved in a variety of activities, including the music program, History Day and journalism. He realized an activity like Mock Trial encompassed his passions for acting, debate and public speaking. In the following months, he would be awarded the largest number of Outstanding Witness Awards by any freshman nationally in just his first year doing the activity.
Zinman is majoring in interdisciplinary studies combining business, entrepreneurship and political science. He has also interned at tech companies for the past two years working in Software as a Service (SaaS). His decision to join Mock Trial was independent of his major and came out of his curiosity and vibes he felt from the members.
“I was just curious about how law works and how layers use the law to craft cases. It didn’t really have anything to do with my major,” Zinman said. “I also really liked the people that were in it and you sort of grow into the people you surround yourself with so that was really important.”
In high school, Zinman took part in a wide variety of extracurriculars. He was largely involved in the music program immersing himself in marching and jazz bands as well as starting his own independent band, Peach Fuzz, with fellow class of ‘23 alumni Anirudh Iyer, Woody Li, Noah Marquez and Anastasia Ramirez. Additionally, Zinman and a group of four others took part in National History Day, writing about the Cuban missile crisis. Their performance was ranked first place in the county, first in California and third in the nation. Zinman was also a member of The Falcon staff, serving as a backpage editor, layout artist and reporter.
“I realized through my extracurriculars that I love working with teams to build an incremental product that you incrementally change,” Zinman said. “It’s about bonding with the people that you work with and getting in sync with them both in work and outside of that as well.”
With the difficulty of transitioning to college, he stated the importance of meeting new people and being outgoing.
“Don’t shy away from meeting new people,” he advised. “Everyone is in a position to meet new people and there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Introduce yourself and have a brief conversation because you never know what kind of relationship that could spark into.”
In addition to being approachable and affable, Zinman’s open-mindedness helped him explore new pathways through the university’s many clubs and societies. Although Zinman is no longer on the Mock Trial team due to other time commitments, he is still largely involved in extracurriculars at Tufts, serving as the president of Tufts Democrats as well as forming yet another band at university called The 128s.
As president of Tufts Democrats, Zinman works to raise participation in government regardless of political affiliation.
“I view it that when more people participate in our democracy our democracy is the strongest. When we bring everyone to the table we learn more,” Zinman said.
During the 2024 elections, Tufts Democrats made thousands of phone calls to citizens around the nation rallying people to register for voting and get involved in the election process. Additionally, the club hosted a voting watch party packing the auditorium with more than 400 students, many of whom had never watched a presidential debate before.
“Our focus was getting students who were not involved in the political process involved. I am proud I had the opportunity to open people’s eyes to the electoral system in the U.S.,” Zinman said.
Additionally, Tufts Democrats is part of College Democrats of Massachusetts, a coalition unifying Massachusetts schools to build a larger organization. The group plans “Lobby Day” where members visit state senators and representatives, presenting bills and lobbying for their support. Additionally, Zinman had the chance to speak with former director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs Louisa Terrell, as well as MSNBC host Chris Hayes, both of whom provided deep insight on the legislative process and political climate respectively.
Although Zinman has immersed himself in numerous new activities, he still continues to pursue his passion for music through the 128s. Zinman had formed the band with a friend and serves as the lead drummer. The band performed numerous nostalgic hits from the likes of the Beatles during a Valentine’s day gig and is continuing to grow in size.
Zinman said he aspires to start his own business following graduation. He also noted that although he has found a lot of success in his extracurricular endeavors, he stumbled on many of these experiences by a combination of chance and curiosity.
He added, “Try as many new things as possible in college because you’ll never know what you love until you do it. Even if you don’t fully love it you should lean into the parts of it that you love.”
