A Lip Sync Battle was held in UIndy Hall for Homecoming Week on Oct. 1. This was one of several events to get students ready for the homecoming game.
Events throughout the week were hosted by the Homecoming Committee. Junior psychology pre-occupation therapy major Claire Gallman is a committee member and compared the event to certain shows.
Homecoming king nominee Michael Lea took the stage lip syncing, “All Star” by Smash Mouth. Photo by Tez Lately
“We decided to do something fun, for students to have something to do on one of the nights of homecoming,” Gallman said. “We know that shows like the ‘Lip Sync Battle’ and ‘The Voice’ are really popular on T.V. So we wanted to create something kind of similar, but a scaled-down version for UIndy students, making it fun and a little bit of a competition.”
Gallman was the host for the event, which featured seven different acts, and an open mic session for anyone who wanted to show off his or her talent at the end. During the event, students filled the room, which according to Gallman made it a great night.
“I think a lot of people wanted something different,” Gallman said. “So it was a good experience for people to do something new and have fun.”
Besides being the host, Gallman enjoyed the performances because of the overall turnout.
“I like that it [the Lip Sync Battle] brought together a lot of people from different friend groups and backgrounds,” she said. “It was something that could appeal to almost everyone.”
Junior pre-med biology major Bre Bassett said she had a good time. As a Resident Assistant on campus, she said she also came to support her resident, freshman elementary education major Grace Kinsey.
“I enjoyed everyone’s performance,” Bassett said. “They were carefree, and everyone supported them. So I thought that was really cool.”
Homecoming king nominee and senior exercise science major Michael Lea and homecoming queen nominee and senior communication major Nicole Geoffrion also participated in the battle. They also tried to win over the crowd to vote for each of them in the homecoming court.
Basset said that the performances were great overall and that if the Lip Sync Battle continued next year in Homecoming Week 2016, she would perform by
singing a 1990s hit by the female group TLC.
Several other non-contestants came onstage to perform until the final winner was announced. The winner was chosen based off of the crowd’s reaction. Whichever contestant received the most votes from the audience would be crowned the champion.
At the end of the evening, Kinsey was declared the winner for her performance “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner. Kinsey won a gift card to the bookstore and performed during the halftime show of the homecoming game against Truman State.
Gallman expects the Lip Sync Battle to continue.
“Potentially, I think it is something that we probably want to tweak a little bit,” Gallman said. “But with some tweaking, it could definitely become an annual and even bigger event.”
