For decades now, Penn State students have walked the sidewalks of Beaver and College Avenue, jamming out to the music rattling through their headphones. In the ’90s, the genre of choice was grunge. In the 2000s, it was pop. But today, one of the most popular styles to take hold of millennial’s eardrums is electronic dance music, better known as EDM.

EDM artists with stage names like Skrillex, Zedd, Flume, and Major Lazer have infiltrated earbuds, speakers, and music festival lineups across the country in recent years. Their style rejects the traditional sounds of vocals or guitar solos in favor of a more futuristic, dynamic genre full of percussive, electronic sounds.

Nowadays, EDM music can be found at virtually any nightclub, festival, or rave out there, and can even be heard live at Penn State, thanks to the university’s own EDM club.

The Penn State Electronic Dance Music Club (EDMC) was founded in the fall of 2011 by students Kaveh Emami and Nicole Armstrong. When they initially began to build their club, they were faced with quite a bit of resistance. Many students and faculty members were skeptical of the pair’s idea — they thought that since EDM music is often associated with issues like drug use, the culture surrounding the genre wouldn’t project the club in a positive light.

But Emami and Armstrong refused to listen to their critics and continued on with their plans. Penn State requires that at least 10 individuals express an interest in joining a club before the club is officially recognized. In order to gauge public interest, the duo took to Facebook to create a page for their prospective organization. Though Emami and Armstrong knew that there was certainly a community of Penn State students who were interested in EDM music, they weren’t prepared for what happened next. In less than two weeks time, the page had gained the attention of more than 200 students who were interested in joining the club.

Seven years later, the EDMC is still up and running. It boasts a membership of about 75 students and hosts many EDM inspired events throughout the semester.

“EDM Club is a place for people who like EDM, producing, and/or DJing to meet other like-minded people and to have a good time,” club president Matt Shipman said.

Shipman, who’s now a senior, joined the club at the start of his freshman year in 2014. For him, the best part of the organization is having a place to explore his creative side.

“EDM shows are a place where all the weirdos, stoners, and misfits of the world can go to dance and have a good time free of judgment,” Shipman said. “I think that’s a fun and beautiful thing.”

Club meetings are usually casual. Members get together to discuss upcoming events, ranging from their own shows to concerts and performances in nearby cities like Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., or Philadelphia. For out-of-town events, the club comes together to figure out logistics — including rides and hotels — so that all interested members can travel to the shows. While anyone can go see a public show in a nearby city, EDMC events and meetings are perfect for anyone looking to meet up with fellow music lovers.

“I see our meetings as a one-stop-shop to get all the info an EDM fan needs to have a good time while going to Penn State,” Shipman explained.

But there’s much more to the club than just arranging rides for nearby city shows. Each semester, it puts together about seven or eight general events for anyone to attend. These events fall into three main categories. The first category includes house and apartment shows. These events are usually held on Friday or Saturday nights, and typically feature four local DJs spinning a wide assortment of EDM. The second type of event falls into a daylong and tailgate category. When the weather’s nice, the club will arrange to move their systems outside to a member’s backyard or the IM fields and dance the day away.

For its third and final event category, the club hires a professional DJ from out of town to perform at a local music venue. It most recently brought artist EPROM to Chronic Town, and the resulting show didn’t disappoint:

If you’re interested in checking out the EDMC, it is always welcoming new members. The only requirement for membership is a love for EDM music and a desire to make some friends.

“An EDMC event is a place where I go to forget about everything bad that happened to me in the last one or two weeks, hear some cool new music, and see my best friends,” Shipman said.