Freshmen Fanfare is in full swing once again, and this year the freshmen will be showing off their new college knowledge with the theme “Friends.”
The directors for this year’s Fanfare performance are sophomores Colby Lauxman and Peyton Belt.
“We were just watching ‘Friends’ on Netflix and were like, well they’re all new college kids in a new place,” Lauxman said. “We thought, well why not get together and do ‘Friends?’”
The Sept. 25-26 performance will be celebrating the 26th anniversary of the creation of Freshmen Fanfare.
“It’s been fun,” freshman Josh Clements said. “Trying to perfect all the movements, you really have to communicate with others and you get to know people pretty well that way.”
Bob Lashley, executive director of alumni relations, said 26 years ago he decided something else needed to help carry the excitement over from the Earn Your Wings program into the school year.
“He saw that there just needed to be a little something extra for the first couple of weeks, just to keep the energy from Earn Your Wings,” Director of Freshmen Experience Amy Roberts said. “So they continued it on with this very quick performance.”
Through preparing for the show, the 175 freshmen participants learned the ins and outs of college life, the dreaded curfew and the infamous ring by spring.
“My favorite thing about Fanfare is probably just getting to know others,” Clements said. “Whenever you have to do crazy things with other people you get to know them pretty well and it’s pretty fun.”
The Fanfare performance will feature humorous men and women’s separate performances. The guys will perform a rendition of Fountain of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom” while the girls will perform a parody of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.”
Lauxman said both the opening and closing songs, versions of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and Hannah Montana’s “Nobody’s Perfect,” are also something to look forward to seeing at the show.
This year’s Freshmen Fanfare performance will also include unique feature acts throughout the show that differ from past performances.
“More so than ever we have some very nontraditional acts,” Roberts said. “I would consider traditional acts to being singing, or playing an instrument, and this year we have a violin player, a tumbler, a spoken word performance and just lots of different things that aren’t traditional.”
According to Roberts, one of the many reasons Freshmen Fanfare is beneficial to freshmen students is that it helps students get connected with one another beyond the classroom setting.
Freshman Paige Arter said she has always loved watching the show throughout the years and as a current participant, she has enjoyed meeting new people.
“What I enjoy most about Fanfare is probably just the friendships that I’ve made with the people who are around me,” Arter said.
Roberts said making connections with one another is one of the keys to students succeeding at colleges, and at Oklahoma Christian one of the ways the Freshmen Experience team helps freshmen students form connections is through Freshmen Fanfare.
“It’s a way for them to have a little fun outside the academic realm and get to know classmates,” Roberts said. “It helps them just let loose and have a good time.”
The directors and student participants have been preparing for tomorrow performance for the past four weeks.
“I have loved directing Fanfare,” Lauxman said. “This group is really talented, this group listens really well and they’re hardworking, so it’s been fun to get to work with them.”
This year’s performances will be on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.
Oklahoma Christian faculty and staff will get in free with an Oklahoma Christian ID, and students will get in free with a student ID. Tickets are also available for $7 and can be purchased at the box office.
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