Seth Mecklenburg | Arts & Life Co-Editor

“Beaver Idol” is a big part of family weekend, an event that invites students’ families to campus to visit, this year from April 25-26. The event’s name is inspired by the long running Fox hit series American Idol. Students from Buena Vista University’s (BVU) campus recently auditioned for their chance at the title.

Cooperate Communication and Spanish double major Kayla Lohse was appointed Vice President of traditions by the Student Activities Board (SAB) this year. This means she is in charge of events such as coronation and Family Weekend.

“The next step is the finale, which is the Saturday of Family Weekend, April 26 from 2-4 p.m. in the Pierce-White Atrium, which is a new location,” Lohse said.

Lohse has been preparing for the event for a while, making sure students knew about the competition and when students would be able to audition.

“We started advertising two weeks beforehand, but even before that I contacted those who I thought would be good judges. Then advertise through our social media, Twitter and Facebook, and students could sign up for those two weeks,” Lohse said.

“They are given a five minute time slots, but it doesn’t necessarily take that long. They get to sing a thirty-second piece with no accompaniment. Then the judges give a little bit of feedback. This year the judges are Dr. Stan Ullerich, Dale Scully, and Dr. Merrin Guice,” Lohse said.

After everyone who signed up tried out, there was a thirty-minute time slot for walk-ins, so anybody who missed the sign up could come and audition. The judges then met and selected the top ten, who will be the ones preforming at the finale.

“The judges get a ballet, and on the ballet it has like tone quality, and just different areas that you would look for in a good signer. There are six different areas, each worth five points, so everyone is based off of thirty points each,” Lohse said.

The judges will be at the finale to give feedback again; however, they are not the ones who decide the winner. Text voting actually decides the winner; the poll opens up after all the contestants have performed, which means it is in the contestants best interest to invite their friends and family.

“For the finale, they can sing anything they want; they can accompany themselves or have another person accompany them. If they want they could have an mp3 track; it’s really up to them,” Lohse said.

One of the future contestants is freshman Digital Media major Spencer Bottorof. He has been in choir for many years and is excited about performing on his own.

“I saw posters up around campus, and I sang a lot in high school, but not a lot of solo things, so I thought it would be nice to try it,” Bottorff said.

Bottorff sang, “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong, though he isn’t sure what he is going to sing for the actual event. He does have some ideas, but Bottorff is just happy to have made it into the competition.

“It was nerve-racking, usually it doesn’t bother me, I’m used to being in front of crowds. But I didn’t prepare as much for this, so I was nervous about messing up. I wasn’t sure what everyone thought of my performance. So I was just happy to have made it,” Bottorff said.

Bottorff is looking forward to the event and is hoping some of his family and friends show up. He’s not too worried about it, as his main priority is to have fun and gain some experience.

“I think it will be interesting hearing everyone else, I mean, it makes me nervous as well. It makes me go ‘crap, they’re better than me.’ But I look forward to it,” Bottorff said.

Beaver Idol will take place on April 26 in the Pierce-White Atrium from 2-4 p.m. Below is a list of the ten students that will be preforming.

Video by Tyson Domingo