Buck Fridays partnered with Knights4Life (K4L), Commons Dining Hall, the music department and the Video Game Enclave to bring a night combining karaoke, video games, breakfast foods and approximately 500 Calvin students in their first-ever Midnight Karaoke Breakfast.
“I liked that there were less people here than other events,” said freshman Meghan Bogema. “It made it feel like a closer community and that everyone was involved, and enjoying themselves singing and dancing.”
This Buck Fridays event was different from others because it brought so many different groups and organizations together to make the event happen.
“We wanted to partner with Late Night With Capella so that we didn’t compete for students,” said weekend programming intern Ashley Holmes. “So instead we advertised for each other, hoping to draw bigger crowds.”
K4L took this event as an opportunity to welcome sophomores into the alumni community as the class of 2015. Besides making the sophomore class the guests of honor at the event, K4L brought in alumni to help serve the breakfast and assist in the set-up and clean-up of the event.
“Basically we partnered with Buck Fridays to make it possible to reach more students,” said K4L President Kaitlin Hussein. “Our main goal was to let the sophomores know that they are now a Knight4Life and to get them started in the community of Calvin alumni.”
K4L also took this opportunity to hand out some swag. The first 300 people in the building were given a free K4L bracelet. Sophomores also received a bonus tumbler with K4L logo on it to remind them they are now Knights4Life.
“Usually we get t-shirts for the sophomore gift,” said K4L Communications Director Jonathan Chong. “We decided to change it up a bit and do the tumblers instead. We’re hoping that the freshmen will get excited and make the event even bigger next year.”
The sophomores enjoyed the experience and were very excited to be welcomed into the community of alumni.
“I loved the celebratory atmosphere of the Midnight Karaoke Breakfast,” said sophomore Owen Tanis. “It is great to know that I am now a Knight4Life and I love my awesome new tumbler.”
The majority of students celebrated the night singing karaoke and dancing. DJ Chuck, from Moments in Time, played everything from Taylor Swift classics and the Wobble to “Lean on Me.”
“The live singing and dancing was by far the best part of the night,” said Bogema. “The only thing it could have used was more colored lights to give it a cooler atmosphere.”
The Buck Fridays staff was pleased with not only the turnout itself, but with the breakfast as a whole.
“Overall, it was a success,” said Holmes. “The dining halls were stellar and made sure we had what we needed to make it work well. The only thing to change for next year is that we will have to make the middle karaoke area bigger.”
Buck Fridays is already busy preparing for their final two events of the year: the Comedy Showcase featuring Rajiv Satyal on Oct. 12 and the Superhero and Villain Skating Party on Oct. 19.
