As part of the Dolan School of Business’ yearly Week of Service, the second annual Lip Sync Battle was held in the Gonzaga Auditorium on Thursday, March 22. The premise of this event is that students nominate others, including other students, administration and faculty, and whoever receives the most nominations gets to participate in the contest.
Out of all of the nominations received, only four students and four faculty and administration members were chosen to compete in the competition that night. All proceeds for Thursday’s event, including the $5 admission and $1 nomination fees went to the charity, nOURish Bridgeport.
This year, there were several notable acts on display including renditions of popular songs “Man’s Not Hot” by Big Shaq and “Havana” by Camila Cabello. Assistant Dean of the business school, Dawn DeBiase, also performed “Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid.”
The end of the competition culminated in matchup between finalists DeBiase, along with her backup dancers, and seniors Kristen McLaughlin and Macey Hollenshead.
Junior Maya Pacelli expressed her admiration for the event, “It was truly inspirational to see fellow classmates come together outside of the classroom to create such a successful and fun filled night together with both students and faculty. In DSB we don’t only learn about the hard cold facts of how to survive in the cut throat business world, but we also learn about the importance of corporate social responsibility and going beyond than just compliance with laws and regulations.”
Pacelli went on to say that she hopes that DSB graduates remember the school’s week of service and continue the movement of giving back in the future.
The final results ended up with McLaughlin and Hollenshead coming in first place, with DeBiase and her backup dancers coming in second place.
Senior Anthony Pope, one of the Week of Service planning committee members, assisted with organizing the Lip Sync Battle. “Last year we initiated this event because we really wanted to pull both the students and teachers out of the classroom and get them together for a fun event. That’s exactly what we did and it had such a great response that we brought it back this year,” said Pope.
“In terms of Week of Service, it’s a great program because the business students do such a great job in the classrooms and it’s a great way to pull students’ heads out of the textbooks and really give back to the world. Fairfield has given us so many opportunities, so it’s time for us to give back to the community and this is just one way of doing that,” Pope added.
Additionally, Pope noted that his family’s charity, the Generoso Pope Foundation, based in Tuckahoe, New York, contributed by donating the trophies awarded and printing flyers. However, the vast majority of the event was organized and funded by the students and faculty involved.
According to the foundation’s website, “The Generoso Pope Foundation is a private foundation, which responds to requests for funding from education, health, cultural, human service and civic organizations.”
The charity which received the donations from the event, nOURish Bridgeport, is an organization that seeks to help the community through English language classes, supplying food for the hungry, as well as providing shelter for the homeless — particularly in the midst of freezing temperatures.
“We have different programs… we have a Thursday night dinner that we do, and a food pantry on Wednesday nights,” said Mary Jane Athenson, one of the board members for nOURish Bridgeport. Athenson also went on to highlight the English as a Second Language program that they host in order to facilitate learning of the English language.
“With the ESL program, there’s two classes that we teach now… we have a beginners class and a higher level class and it’s all types of nationalities, not only Spanish. It’s the only program that’s in the evening that provides child care and meals,” said Kimberly Cordova, a member of the board for nOURish Bridgeport.
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