DJ “Slap Serif” is delivering on the pillars of Scouting and fighting hunger one musical performance at a time.

Long gone are the days of Scouts sticking to the typical Eagle Scout projects. Drew V., or DJ “Slap Serif” as he’s called behind the DJ booth, is mixing things up – literally.

“It didn’t resemble much of an Eagle project,” the Chrysalis School senior of Seattle, WA said.

He decided he wanted to escape from the norm of what’s considered an Eagle Scout project by uniting his passions of electronic dance music and Scouting to combat hunger in his community.

With electronic music pulsing and laser lights shooting through the multipurpose room of the Chrysalis School, he orchestrated a food drive: “Will DJ for Food,” attracting around 100 community members. Each attendee donated cans for admittance into the event garnering an estimated 1,000 pounds of canned goods.

Drew also held a bake sale at the event that raised additional funds to purchase food for Hopelink, a local nonprofit food bank that serves approximately 60,000 people every year in Washington. One hundred percent of all donations and proceeds went to the organization.

“I was hoping for like two boxes full,” Drew said, but the event far exceeded his expectations, delivering ten crates of food to Hopelink. With the help of his mother and friend, Issac T., the hundreds of pounds were piled in the back of their car for delivery.

Drew says his music isn’t the usual electronic dance music you might have heard and considers his style to be “more instrumental hip-hop” that’s “very danceable.” His friend Issac added that he even infuses notes of jazz to his unique sound. Drew spinned tracks from popular artists in addition to some of his own music, turning the venue into a dance floor filled with people of all ages.

The young DJ’s musical influences started at an early age. At age 6, he began playing the piano and six years later was introduced to Techno. Now at 17, he is no stranger to performance, often playing at Urban Outfitters, other local events and school dances. DJ “Slap Serif” has even released an EP of his music entitled “Bada Bing” that can be found at slapserif.bandcamp.com.

Drew also seeks to help others with interests in the genre. He teaches DJing at the Vera Project in Seattle every weekend. Three of his students played at his event.

With graduation on the horizon, Drew anticipates attending college with hopes to study either engineering or computer science. He’s also considering minoring in music.

With his undeniable talents and strong desire to serve others, it’s safe to say this Eagle Scout is going places.

(Some information from this article from Emily Hamann, The Woodinville Weekly.)