Megan Halferty’s workdays don’t always end at 5 p.m. After spending her days as a program specialist for alumni affairs at the Fox School, Halferty often switches from business attire to jeans and meets up with her band, Paper Street.

The band, for which Halferty is the lead singer, formed two years ago when its five members were all students at St. Joseph’s University.

“At one point we believed that we were going to make it big, but eventually we realized we had to be realistic and acknowledge that this wasn’t what we were going to spend our lives doing,” said Halferty. “Now, the band is a great way to keep in touch with my friends from college and relieve stress.”

At one point, the band used to play a show every week, but now, once a month is more likely, with all of the members working full time or attending graduate school. Paper Street plays mainly cover songs of popular bands from the 1960s on.

Halferty explained, “We play everything. Tom Petty, Simon and Garfunkel, Journey, and the Foo Fighters are some of the band’s favorite artists to play.”

Most of Paper Street’s shows are at popular local bars, such as Brownies in Philadelphia and the Great American Pub in Narberth, or for fundraising and charitable events, such as the Muscular Dystrophy Walk.

Lately, the band members have been using their talent to give back to the Philadelphia community through participation in a program called Musicians on Call. Sponsored by WXPN, the program allows musicians to go into hospitals, such as University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson, and play for patients by their bedsides. Halferty said that people they play for are usually cancer patients or those who have just undergone serious surgeries.

“One of my favorite parts of being in a band is getting together and helping others. The beauty of having a talent is having the ability to share it,” said Halferty.

— Written by Rachel Knorr

for the Fox School of Business