Students take on professors
FMU Honors hosted their first ever student versus faculty lip-sync battle from 6-8:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 in the Chapman Auditorium of the McNair Science Building.
The battle was set up tournament style where student teams competed against each other to make it to the final round, which was against the top faculty team that won the faculty tournament. The two winners of each side won a trophy for best overall student performance and best overall faculty performance. The top faculty and student groups competed in a final battle for the best overall grand prize trophy.
The line up included the Awkward Turtles, Four Bobs, Resting Pitch Faces, Badly Dubbed from the Japanese and soloist Kyla Allen. The judges for the event included Gabriella Galore, Suzanne Barnett and Brigid Kennedy.
Senior Gabe Hutson, a biology major, hosted and planned the lip-sync battle and said he enjoyed the event and hopes to see it repeated in the future.
“The highlights of the event for me were seeing how dedicated the faculty were in performing their numbers,” Hutson said. “I would love to see this event offered in the future. It is great entertainment for both faculty and students. All of the performers did a fantastic job. In the future, I hope more students will participate and not fear embarrassment, but fear missing out.”
Junior Dante Ahquin said he attended the event because one of his friends was performing.
“I heard about it through many emails and really good advertising around campus and then my friend said she was going to be performing, so my roommate and I decided to go,” Ahquin said. “I am a big fan of this event already. I liked that everybody was so into it. It was so cool to see that students and professors actually spent time rehearsing and having cool costumes and dance routines.”
Ahquin said the highlight of the event for him was seeing the unique performances and how each person managed to make the event a success.
“Highlights were ironic names, really energetic performances and of course the ever so brilliant Gabriella Galore doing a split after jumping off of the stage,” Ahquin said. “The Awkward Turtles were my favorite. Ariana and Nicki killed it. Anybody who saw it could tell you everybody involved was having a great time.”
Ahquin said in the future he hopes to see more students get involved and participate as either performers or audience members.
Junior Jonas Smith, a health physics major and president of the Society of Physics Students, said he attended the event because he knew faculty and students who were performing.
“I heard about the event though honors emails and I went because I knew some students and professors performing and thought it would be entertaining and it was,” Smith said. “It was fun to see everyone get so into it and I didn’t expect everyone to go so all out with the costumes.”
Hailey Reed, a member of the Awkward Turtles, said she enjoyed being a part of the event.
“My roommate convinced me to be in it,” Reed said. “I liked performing and also getting to watch Gabriella. I think it’ll be really fun in the future and I loved all the professor groups. I hope it continues.”
The Awkward Turtles won the student tournament and the winners of the faculty side were the Resting Pitch Faces. The Resting Pitch Faces were the overall winners of the battle.