Have the post-break blahs gotten to you yet? Are you searching for a cheap way to have a good time during the boring month of November? Look no further than the RSC mini-gym every Friday night from November 7 to 21, as ten Northwestern students compete for the favor of their peers (and $500 in prize money) in the Student Activity Council’s “NWC Idol.”
“NWC Idol is our own version of ‘American Idol’ and it works pretty much the same way,” explained SAC president Emilee Severson. “Idol” begins with thirty-six people auditioning for ten available slots.
The competition for those slots, which took place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights of this week, will pare the list of contestants down to ten from the original thirty-six. After making it through this preliminary round, all ten “Idol” contestants will meet the night of Nov. 7 at 10:00pm in the Mini-Gym and will come to the contest prepared to sing one song in front of an audience of their peers.
“Once they’ve all sung, the contest will end for that nigh and students can vote online atwww.nwciowa.edu/idol to narrow the group down from ten to five,” said Severson.
In week two, all ten original members will take the stage as the previous weeks’ five will be announced. The victors will again perform for their student audience, and at the show’s end, the student body can vote for the final two contestants. The third week will feature the two finalists in direct head-to-head competition. Only on this third and final night will actual judges be used; the winner will be announced shortly after the competition ends.
Director of Student Activities Lori Couch added, “The nice thing about ‘Idol’ is that the students get to pick the winner.” The SAC hopes that the website will be set up so students can click on pictures of contestants, see a portion of the event, and vote even if they missed that Friday’s show. “Of course,” Couch continued with a grin, “the website will ask for a login, so students can only vote once.”
The “Idol” project was born late last spring in an SAC meeting as “just another one of the ideas we brainstormed,” said Severson. It received approval, and work has been ongoing for roughly the past two months. Much of this work was invested in the construction of the NWC Idol site itself.
Added Couch, “We [of the SAC] would just like to praise Dan Robinson for all the hard work that he’s done on the Idol website.” The online student voting system may be “Idol”’s most distinguishing feature.
Both SAC leaders eagerly await the campus’ reaction to the project. “We are really excited for NWC Idol and what people will do with it,” said Couch. “We (the SAC) are really going out on a limb—this isn’t something that we usually do, so we’re pretty excited to see the result.”
Severson agreed. “It’ll be a great way to show hidden talent on campus. A lot of the people who signed up aren’t the type you would expect to sign up for something like this.”
The “NWC Idol” contest will take place at 10:00 pm, every Friday from Nov. 7 to 21. Admission to “Idol” is free.
