Under the soft glow of hanging lights and the faint sound of rain, the student body sat enraptured by the performances of their fellow classmates during AUSA’s The Nest. This past Saturday night in the tent in front of Marsh Hall, AUSA held its bi-annual event: The Nest. The Nest is a musical showcase in which anyone can perform and showcase their talents. People can sing, rap, play music, read original poetry, or even do stand up comedy. Through AUSA’s hard work, this event was still able to take place, despite the restrictions.
Heeyun Oh (junior, biology), AUSA student services director, says, “It is the midterm period and I know everyone is stressed out. I planned this event so that the student body could have some space to just breathe, relax, and enjoy some music. Also, I wanted to help the freshmen to get to know AUSA better and have kind of a late welcoming event for the freshmen.”
The performances consisted of mainly vocal performances with some people singing duets while others were solo or with an accompanist. There were several duets such as Kristin Ferrer (senior, biology/public-health) and Jeremy Ahn (senior, engineering, music) singing “Without You” by AJ Rafael, and soloists such as Julio Santana (freshman, theology, vocal performance) singing “Regret'' by Yang Da ll and Megan Napod (junior, speech-language pathology and audiology) singing “Unbothered” by Tori Kelly with Dave Cosejo (sophomore, pre-physical therapy) accompanying on guitar.
Julio says, “I’m fairly confident when it comes to music, but it was a different setting so I decided to just go for it, and it was great to be able to perform with my friend. I hope this influences people to shine in their own department and display their talents.”
Despite the cold and the rain, many students showed up to watch and support the performers with the tent being at its capacity of 100 people. It was a chance for students to take a break and to see wonderful displays of talent.
Janelle An (senior, biology) says, “I have never come to The Nest before but I felt like this year there was a really nice vibe. I liked this location, it reminded me of a barn house or harvest festival. It was nice to talk to friends and listen to the music; it was exciting to support and cheer people that I knew and to hear people I didn’t know and be blown away by their talent.”
The evening’s event was successful and helped to relieve the student body of some of their stress, if even for only one day. Make sure to keep a look out for the next AUSA event.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.