By MIA QUICK
Contributing Writer
The Girls Next Door (GND) hosted their first karaoke fundraising event of the semester on Nov. 8 with an assortment of raffle baskets, baked goods, and music.
The all-female a cappella group held the karaoke performances on the stage of Studio G3 while non-participants watched from their seats. Outside of the studio was a table full of raffle baskets including college essentials, Starbucks merchandise, self-care products, GND shirts, Christmas themed goods, and a Chipotle gift card. Store-bought and baked goods, made by GND’s members, were displayed for sale.
The event began with Sophie Collura, the President, and Cristina Shaul, the Vice President, singing “No Me Queda Mas” by Selena. Spectators became participants as people began to sign up to sing their own songs, such as Andrew Bruck performing “Fight the Dragons” from Big Fish and Penny Sierra performing “Somebody to Love” by Queen.
The group has been around for 21 years and went on a hiatus when COVID began. They hosted the event in the hopes of meeting new people, building a community, and fundraising for their concert at the end of the semester, said Moira Gellman, the senior Secretary and Treasurer.
“People didn’t know we existed because we were trying to be COVID friendly,” said Gellman. “We couldn’t have meetings, our meetings consisted of singing,” she said.
She stated that they weren’t able to perform or have meetings during the heights of COVID, and this led to the group being forgotten. In the past, the club was very active and competed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). Gellman said she hopes that will once again be in the club’s future.
The level of participation seen at their first event on Tuesday night indicated they could be taking an important first step. Students, fans, and alumni of GND enthusiastically attended.
“I liked going up there and acting like a fool,” said Clarissa Lamora, a volunteer firefighter in Brunswick.
Lamora isn’t a student at Saint Rose but joined her friend, a GND member, and performed “Breaking Free” from High School Musical. She said that her friend was always the singer amongst the two, but it was interesting to be the one on stage.
