Leon Löchle: Life in a Highly Frequented Area

Leon Löchle likes to look back on his childhood in Radolfzell on Lake Constance. “It’s certainly a luxury to be able to go to the lake every day after school in the summer,” Löchle remarks. “And the fact that even during our family vacations, we eventually started longing for the water says it all.” He was also magnetically drawn to everything related to local politics. After all, quite a few conversations with his mother—and also with his step-grandfather—revolved around exactly that. His mother serves as a city council member, while his step-grandfather even held the office of mayor. “Ultimately, both of them motivated me to try my hand at local politics myself,” says Löchle.

Armed with the mindset that you can only bring about change by rolling up your sleeves and getting involved, the call to action fell on fertile ground with him. “And because there was a lack of programs for young people in the city, I seized the opportunity and ran for the Youth City Council,” explains Löchle, who made it into the youth parliament on his first try and, as a 15-year-old rookie, quickly had to learn the tricks of the trade in local politics—namely, what can and cannot be said. “On the surface, it was about developing our own issues among us young people and bringing them to the City Council. But you can’t delude yourself. Because the wheels of local politics turn slowly, quite a few issues were either put on hold or only implemented years later,” explains Löchle, whose responsibilities also included helping organize the occasional event for the 25th anniversary of the Youth City Council, informing residents about upcoming elections, and organizing the “Rock am Segel” festival.

Overall, however, Leon Löchle was so taken with local politics that he eventually ran for the municipal council. Once again, he succeeded on his first try. This earned him not only a seat on the municipal council but also a position on the Committee for Culture, Education, and Social Affairs, among other roles. “As by far the youngest member of the municipal council, I felt a special sense of responsibility here as well toward future generations,” notes Löchle. “At the same time, I didn’t get too involved in issues where I lacked experience and knowledge. I was particularly impressed by those members who, after decades on the municipal council, had become veritable walking encyclopedias.”

Even though he had attended the occasional city council meeting—particularly in his role as chair of the Youth City Council—his new political work took him into a completely different world. “At certain times, the workload is immense. Despite orientation workshops and business administration courses, I still remember exactly how challenging it was to plow through 400-page documents before a budget meeting and then not only have to discuss them but also vote on them,” reports Löchle.

Since he didn’t feel he could balance the responsibilities of serving on the town council with his studies and two other jobs, he resigned from his position early. “Of course, that was a painful decision—one that was anything but easy for me. But when I do something, I give it my all—or not at all,” Löchle emphasizes. After graduating from high school, Leon Löchle had actually planned to go from one internship to the next to figure out what was right for him. However, an acquaintance drew his attention to the possibility of doing federal volunteer service (BFD) with the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe in Singen. Weeks later, as a trained paramedic, he was driving an ambulance and transporting people who could no longer make it on their own from one place to the next. “The Johanniter rescue station in Singen is pretty small, but that’s also part of its charm: Since everyone knows each other, you feel like part of a family and are happy to take on the occasional extra task,” says Löchle, who gradually found his way into the civil protection response team or the medical services command staff at the Southside Festival. “I’m now responsible for all the logistics there, which means that at a festival with more than 550 paramedics, I have to constantly keep track of the emergency response teams and their meals, as well as the supplies and medications,” explains Löchle. To keep everything under control and say goodbye to paperwork and endless phone calls, he was also the one who digitized the ordering processes. Fulfilled by working with patients, but also because he wanted to remain independent, he initially worked full-time as a paramedic after completing his BFD. “Gradually, I realized that this wasn’t the career I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life,” notes Löchle.

So, politics or medicine as a possible major? Far from it! And it’s no coincidence that the text has now mentioned two festivals. “I’ve always dreamed of organizing my own festival,” says Löchle, who remembers his first concert experience as if it were just yesterday—Nena on stage, nine-year-old Leon in the audience. So what to study? “That’s when I remembered a presentation by a former SPE student at my school who talked about the program and student life at ZU,” Löchle mentions. So he dug out an information brochure and suddenly came across the term “festival management” in the description of the CCM bachelor’s program. “What also excited me about the program was the prospect of a customized course of study, which would open up further career paths,” adds Löchle. He was all the happier, then, when he received his acceptance after the selection day. To finance his studies and living expenses, Leon Löchle remained with Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe as a working student; further roles on the Student Vice Presidency team and in ZU Marketing would follow.

Added to this is his involvement in student initiatives, which has so far focused entirely on event organization. Initially serving as event director at StudentLounge e.V., Leon Löchle switched to the Club of International Politics e.V. (CIP) to revive the Zeppelin MUN Society there, resulting in a United Nations simulation taking place again at ZU one weekend in the fall after a long hiatus.

When, during the same semester, a course announcement called for a new team to organize the follow-up event to Seekult x Lange Nacht der Musik, Leon Löchle was immediately on board—as he could finally realize his dream of creating his own festival. “Unlike the ‘Rock am Segel’ festival in Radolfzell, we had to take care of absolutely everything ourselves: from the name and design to finances and sponsorship, right down to team motivation,” explains Löchle, who was incredibly happy to share overall management with Annika Werner. “We were a perfect match. While she was responsible for the creative aspects, such as outreach and marketing, I focused more on the practical side, like finances and production,” explains Löchle. Even though the three-day festival—titled “SEEQUENZ” and themed “Moving Horizons”—ultimately went off successfully, featuring concerts, performances, a cultural walk, and a gala party, Löchle admits: “Because I had significantly underestimated the amount of energy it would take—and because I was also juggling my studies, two jobs, and my role on the local council—I was completely overwhelmed at times. And yet I have fond memories of that time: In my view, the course and the resulting festival are the best the ZU has to offer.”