Approximately 100 attendees paid tribute to Star Wars by participating in celebration in the Library Courtyard on May 4.

A passionate fanfare

Students passionate about Star Wars partnered with the Sanctity of Life club to host a Star Wars celebration. The event included a live band, trivia contests, costume competitions and an art contest. All proceeds were donated to the Whittier Pregnancy Care Clinic.

“We’d like a majority of [the proceeds] to be used by the care clinic because they offer so much for women in terms of basic stuff like pregnancy verification, and even counseling services for women who suffer with crisis pregnancies,” said Eddie Gallardo, senior political science major and president of the Sanctity of Life club. “It’s about reaching out to people that are actually doing good work and people that actually get paid to help lives.”

The brass ensemble from the Conservatory of Music played songs from various Star Wars films, including the cantina song played in “Star Wars: A New Hope.”

“They asked a brass wind quintet to play Star Wars music for the event. So, I was here playing and I got some raffle tickets,” said Jorden Davis, freshman music composition major and member of the brass ensemble.

Dinner and a party

Event organizers provided dinner and placed tables for guests to enjoy. The audience played trivia games using the app Kahoot!, where guests answered the question on the projector screen via their phones.

“We’ve been having raffles and trivia and we’re going to have a costume contest and art contest. We also have been having Chick-Fil-A catering and people are just coming and mingling and there’s live music. It’s been really fun,” said Alex Loeber, freshman business administration major and emcee for the event.

Three finalists competed for the best costumes of the night by listening for the loudest cheers to determine the winner. Sophomore sociology major Naomi Hidalgo won first place dressed as Princess Leia, freshman business major Megan Henry won second place dressed as R2-D2 and freshman media art major Selah Crisp won third dressed as C-3PO. Henry did the makeup of most of the students with costumes at the event.

“I am R2-D2. I have these forms on my face, specifically on my right eye. He has all sorts of knobs on him that make him distinctive so I pulled out some of his shapes and put them on my face so that it was identifiable as R2-D2,” Henry said.

Better than expected

The night culminated as freshman studio art major Micah Nickerson won an award for the best Star Wars art piece.

“I created a scene from ‘Rogue One’ when we first see Darth Vader attacking the rebels. It’s called ‘Vader’s Arrival,’ so that’s the scene I painted,” Nickerson said. “I would argue that I’m the biggest Star Wars fan at Biola. I have the largest memorabilia collection at home.”

After planning and working on the event for three months, the evening went better than the group of coordinators expected.

“It’s turned out surprisingly well and we’ve gotten a much better turnout than I originally thought we would,” said Danielle Kobelin, senior theatre major, assistant director and project manager for the event.