David John Lander began his career as a sherpa.

He loaded Pitt housing carts and pushed them… David John Lander began his career as a sherpa.

He loaded Pitt housing carts and pushed them down Forbes and Fifth avenues. He was the original Arrival Survival guy, co-founder of the program that has become a rite of passage for freshmen.

As a Student Government Board member in 1999, Lander wanted to expand Arrival Survival, Pitt’s two-day program during which student volunteers help incoming freshmen move into their residence halls.

Fellow SGB member Alyson Kavalukas gathered a few of her friends from the Blue and Gold Society and SGB to help the Pitt newcomers.

But Lander had bigger plans. In his first year working with the program, he recruited more than 400 student volunteers to help. “The adrenaline you’d get from running such a big event like that” is what he remembers most, said Lander, who graduated in 2001. “Those days just really stuck out to me.”

That organizing ability has translated into Lander working to his own beat.

Now, about seven years later, Lander, 28, is general manager and disc jockey at Privilege Ultralounge, a popular nightclub in the Strip District. He will also be supervising the management at Zen, a nightclub in Station Square set to open this spring.

Dave Goes Digital

It started with roller skating lessons.

Gloria Lander, David’s mother, signed up him and his younger brother Stephen for instruction at Romp ‘n’ Roll skating rink in Glenshaw, Pa.

“I thought it would be good exercise, right?” said Lander’s mother, laughing. “I never thought signing David up for lessons would