Iraz煤 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!聽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!

As the biggest folk fest in the world, Oktoberfest is widely loved and celebrated, and, despite the name, typically starts in September. Germans dress up in their finest dirndls and lederhosen, enjoy their favorite cultural foods and drinks, sing songs, and much more.

The event at Elon was held in Carlton Commons and offered a myriad of activities like German themed bingo, a photo-booth, German trivia where participants had a chance to win some great prizes, and a visit from a special guest, Assistant Professor of German Kristin Lange鈥檚 dog, Schnitzel!

Students on the German Club executive team worked diligently cooking up delicious bratwurst for guests to enjoy, along with a plethora of side dishes like sauerkraut, sp盲tzle and of course, pretzels.

This was only 榴莲app官方网站入 second time hosting an Oktoberfest event, but it has still made a mark on the student experience.

Betsy Schlehuber ’25 remarked that she had been looking forward to the event and saw it as a really special day. Coming from a German family, she felt that it was a way to connect with her heritage, something she couldn鈥檛 do as much before college. Along with that, she shared that it made her excited to go abroad to Germany in the future.

When asked what her favorite part of Oktoberfest was, Alex Ingram ’24 simply replied, 鈥�Ich liebe das Essen!鈥� Translation: I love the food!