Southwestern students and faculty alike shuffled into the Alma Thomas Theatre on February 15th, muttering eagerly in anticipation of the night to come. An annual tradition on campus, SING! has long united the Southwestern community through hilarious and lighthearted performances in which the university’s various fraternities and sororities compete against each other. 

This year, students were tasked with creating a skit centered around the theme: “Saturday Morning Cartoons” and would be judged based on their characters, costumes, props, and overall performance. 

The stage lights illuminated seniors Ryan Andrade and William Crain as they opened the show, laying out the various titles the Greek life organizations would be competing for. They were followed by Evan Alexander and Marley Wickersham, the hosts for the night. Throughout the show, the pair would cheerfully burst onto the stage before each performance, announcing the theme with jokes and costumes to match it. 

Act I opened with Alpha Delta Pi and their rendition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Sporting bright green shirts and turtle shells on their backs, their skit followed the ninja turtles on their quest to find a new chapter room after their sewers were taken over by the “Ruter Rats.” Their performance concluded with a final battle with “Shredder Doyle” before the turtles successfully took over his office, leaving the villain to be dragged off the stage by their minions.

They were followed by Zeta Tau Alpha’s Scooby-Doo, in which the Scooby gang investigated the mystery of the changing parking spots on campus. Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby followed the elusive “Captain”, coming face-to-face with some of the fraternities along the way, before setting a trap to uncover their identity. Removing the pirate hat from the Captain, the gang unveiled President Trombley and her plot to steal money from the students. 

Up next was Kappa Sigma’s Regular Show, which followed Mordecai and Rigby as they searched for Benson’s missing floral vase. They journeyed to President Trombley’s mansion and were forced to complete various obstacles to secure their vase. Facing a couple of the fraternities along the way, and a fair share of lighthearted jabs, they finally beat all of Trombley’s trials and acquired the supposed vase. 

Alpha Xi Delta closed out Act I with their rendition of The Magic School Bus. Miss Frizzle and her students are stranded at Southwestern when their school bus is stolen by a group of frat guys. As the ‘kids’ search the campus for their missing bus, they encounter some of the fraternities and sororities before eventually recovering the bus. With a final musical number and a confetti shower, intermission began.

With a brief lightsaber–or rather, broom–battle between two crew members Joshua Gregg and Aidan Balakrishnan as they swept the stage, intermission was a show within itself. Hosts Evan and Marley soon returned to the stage, decked out in vegetable costumes as they announced the next performance. 

Act II began with Alpha Phi Omega’s Veggie Tales. With a few familiar Megaphonian faces, the show followed Asparagus, President Bobley, and Larry on their journey to fix Aparagus’ problems. After searching an empty Academic Mall for other students, joining an on-campus job, and betting against the football team, Asparagus ends in the same place he began, if not a little worse. With a shameless plug of their fraternity, the skit ends with Asparagus joining APO and a final musical number. 

Delta Delta Delta followed with their Powerpuff Girls. The colorful trio helped a Southwestern student as she must complete a few final tasks from Mojo Jojo, her academic advisor, preventing her from graduating. After finishing a missing Spanish credit, paying back the money she owes the Cove, and returning a book from Freshman year, the performance ends with an appropriate musical graduation. 

With a brief interlude by the musical fraternity, Delta Omicron, Julian Felix performed an incredible rendition of the Steven Universe song, “Stronger Than You”. 

The final skit of the night was brought by Pi Kappa Alpha, whose performance was centered around the classic Spongebob Squarepants. Spongebob and Squidward, working at the Crusty Comms, create a new recipe known as “Sweet Surprise” that involves pieing customers in the face. After joking off, they are sent to “Seawestern” University but are quickly kicked out. They return to the Crusty Comms only to discover that the Chum Bucket stole their recipe. The skit concludes when Spongebob creates a new recipe and gains their customers back. 

After a thrilling night full of hilarious performances, the audience had the opportunity to vote for their favorite skits based on a variety of factors. Alpha Xi Delta, or AXiD, swept the People’s Choice Awards, winning Best Props, Best Main Character, Most Nostalgic, and Favorite Performance. Kappa Sigma secured the award for the Funniest Performance. 

The judges’ panel, an assembly of both students and staff, ranked their top performances. In 3rd place was Alpha Phi Omega’s Veggie Tales. In 2nd place was Alpha Xi Delta’s Magic School Bus. And finally, in 1st place and the SING! 2025 Champion was… Zeta Tau Alpha’s Scooby-Doo!

While there were unfortunately no awards presented to the behind-the-scenes stage crew, it’s important to recognize just how much time, energy, and effort went into putting on this show. Not only by the technical crew but by the performers as well. Everyone involved in putting together this year’s SING! deserve credit for their hard work and dedication. 

According to Marley Sensenderfer ‘25, one of the backstage crew, “The hours were long and it was hard to get through and stay focused at times, but I think we pulled off a great show.” She had a great time putting on the show and she enjoyed helping bring other people’s visions to life. She also wants students to know that “every person involved in SING! was an important part of the process.” 

This annual tradition has long been ingrained in Southwestern University’s history. Not only does it provide a comical breath of fresh air during the academic semester, but it also allows students to vent their frustrations and concerns on campus. Some topics of this year’s performances included President Trombley, Britz Katz, the ongoing construction, the mold in the buildings, and much more–while also poking some fun at their fellow Greek Life. This is exactly what makes SING! so special for the Southwestern community and keeps people coming back year after year.