The WLC and Global Neighborhood hosted the second annual Global Vision Song Contest to embrace music from around the world!
The Department of World Languages and Cultures and the Global Neighborhood hosted the second annual Global Vision Song Contest on April 26. Students and faculty alike were encouraged to sing a song in a non-English language for a chance to win some sweet prizes.
Irazú was electrified as folks sang their hearts out and the crowd cheered them on. There were a total of 15 performances with nine languages represented (French, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Italian, German, Japanese, and Portuguese).
Zoe Gehtland, who performed a song in French, remarked that it was “a super fun environment because I didn’t feel like there was any pressure on the singers even though there was a competition aspect, and the crowd was really engaged and interacted with the singers a lot, which made it a lot more welcoming.”
Bonnie Baffoe-Bonnie, who sang in Japanese, shared their experience, saying “It was nerve wracking but I want to get better at singing in front of a crowd so I’m glad I did it. Exposing people to different cultures is a beautiful thing!”
A panel of judges was responsible for deciding the top three acts from the competition, then members of the audience, through an online poll, were the final determinants for the winner.
In third place was Linghong Zhou, who sang beautifully in Chinese and received a basket of international candies and snacks. In second place were Alyssa Alpaugh and Lexi Mulholland, who sang a duet in Korean and won an even bigger basket of global goodies.
Taking home the gold trophy, and more snacks of course, was Hyemin Im, who sang ‘Energetic’ by the K-pop group Wanna One, which is a perfect description of the event itself! The energy from the audience was indicative that you need not understand a song to enjoy it, as long as you can feel the rhythm and feel the passion from the performers.
Thank you to the WLC and Global Neighborhood for collaborating on this event. We can’t wait until next year!
