He steps out into the frigid February air wearing a green and gold letterman’s jacket. Slipping in his earbuds, he scrolls to his favorite playlist and presses the center button on his iPod. In a moment, Journey’s lyrics, which he knows so well, drown out the bustling students around him. He marches through Central Campus, opens his mouth and begins to belt, “Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world…”

Those he passes turn their heads. Some are puzzled, others amused, still others annoyed. One thing is for certain: Mitchell Nieland is causing quite a stir.

“It’s really hard for me to hear a song that I know and not sing it,” said Nieland, sophomore in meteorology and performing arts.

So, he sings. He has caught the attention of ISU students, who submit comments to the Iowa State Daily’s “Just Sayin’” column as well as the Facebook pages “Just Sayin’ — Iowa State” and “Overheard at ISU.” Now, he has a Facebook group dedicated to him, “WHO IS THAT SINGING SENSATION @ ISU?!?!?!?!?”

Nieland loves music and said he began his unique hobby last semester “to warm up my voice in the morning.”

He likes to sing songs with a higher voice register, like “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, “My Life Would Suck without You” by Kelly Clarkson and “Defying Gravity” from the “Wicked” soundtrack.

“I was walking to class last semester on a Friday and he was singing ‘Eye of the Tiger,’” said the Facebook group’s creator, Anthony Davis, junior in kinesiology and health. “It was kind of one of those ‘made-my-day’ moments.”

The phrase, “You made my day!” is one commonly attributed to Nieland’s singing in “Just Sayin’” and the Facebook pages.

“It shows that doing something simple can make other people feel really good,” Nieland said.

It was comments like this from many people that prompted Davis to create the “Singing Sensation” Facebook group.

“It started out as a joke,” Davis said. “We didn’t think we were going to find him.”

Now with 310 members, the group has identified the “singing sensation.”

Nieland said when a friend told him about the group, he was “quite blown away by it, because in high school I was never the popular kid, ever … But I will say it does make me feel really good that people are paying attention to me for something I enjoy doing.”

This attention isn’t always positive, however, as people have also complained and even made fun of him. One comment referred to Nieland’s public singing as “socially unacceptable behavior.”

Davis disagreed.

“There’s a lot of socially unacceptable stuff, but as long as he’s having fun … and people are liking it, it’s OK,” Davis said.

“The first time I saw him I was like, ‘Oh, that’s little weird,’” Davis said. “But it’s one of those things that gets funnier every time, because you realize he’s not doing it on accident. He’s kind of singing at the top of his lungs on purpose.”

Despite the aversion, Nieland said he’s going to continue to sing because he enjoys it.

“I’ve had situations like that in high school,” Nieland said. “But I’ve learned to ignore those people, because I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m not going to care what other people think of me. I’m going to do my own thing.”

Nieland, who is now accepting requests on the Facebook group’s page, says he sings because of his passion for music. He was involved with choir and band at Woodward-Granger, his high school, and he’s currently considering changing his major to music education. He also plans to eventually pursue his dream job: professional acting.