Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) is filled with hundreds of unique individuals, with many flying under the radar. However, one student has made his presence felt on campus this year. You might know him as “Mikey I,” “Michael,” or “Master Intelligence.” Maybe you know him as the enthusiastic fan at the basketball games, or perhaps you know him through his Instagram raps about the ENC athletics. Regardless of what you know him as, he is leaving an impact at ENC this year through his positive spirit, charismatic attitude, and unique rhymes.
Michael Ivanoskos is a senior communication arts student at ENC. He started his college career at Lasell College in Newton, Mass., but transferred to ENC after his freshman year seeking a Christian college with a tight-knit community. He shares his heart for ENC through his love of music and sports.
Ivanoskos has been songwriting, singing, and rapping since he was in 7th grade, and goes by the rap name “Master Intelligence.” “My love for music has always been a kind of therapy for me,” said Ivanoskos. “It’s a way to express how I’m feeling.” He likes writing songs that touch on deeper topics like his original, “Hope” which talks about getting through a rough patch of his life thanks to the grace of God. He performed this piece last semester in the Junior/Senior chapel. This year he started with sharing his songs on Instagram, which quickly turned into a phenomenon of writing original raps about each ENC sports team. “I got a message from the ENC women’s soccer account saying that I should write a rap for them. Once I got a hold of their roster, I put that out, and the men’s soccer team asked, ‘where’s ours?’ and then I just decided I’m gonna do it for legitimately every team.” After this went viral around ENC, the legend of Master Intelligence was born. His latest Instagram TV (IGTV) release was a rap for the men’s basketball team. He is continuing this trend until he reaches every team on campus.
In addition to his love for music, Ivanoskos has a passion for basketball. A couple of years ago, he was arguing with a fan on Facebook about the NBA, and someone who ran an NBA writer’s page reached out to Ivanoskos and asked him if he would be interested in writing for his site. “Through that avenue, I got to write for their website and published over 100 articles, and some got a lot of attention like the one I wrote for the Big 3 league ended up getting read by Ice Cube, and he tweeted it out.” While writing articles for this basketball talk website, he also started a podcast series with eight episodes for his senior project entitled, “Baller Talk with Mikey I,” which is now available on Spotify.
Ivanoskos says, “being with like-minded Christians and being around professors who care about me,” is one of the many blessings he appreciates at ENC. As you can probably tell with the sports team raps, he is also a huge supporter of all ENC athletics. “Until I graduate, I’m gonna be at practically every sports team game I can.” While some may overlook him as just another student, Master Intelligence…I mean, Mikey I…ehh, you get the point; he is one of just many extraordinary pieces to the ENC community.