By Natalie DeFord, A&E Writer
Donations and fundraisers sent HERmonic flying to Californiaās Pomona College for the semifinals, concluding this yearās International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) journey.
Junior Lauren Searls, a first-year in HERmonic, said the group performed in the quarterfinals at Pacific Lutheran University because it just wanted to compete and have fun.
āWe didnāt expect weād be going to semi-finals, and we didnāt have the money,ā Searls said. āWe were just doing it for fun.ā
But, she said the group was still thrilled when they won the quarterfinals.
āWe were very excited to move on when it was announced,ā Searls said.
Fundraising began right away, as the trip cost for all members was a combined total of $5,000.
HERmonic’s only major fundraiser was a flapjack fundraiser at Applebeeās. The girls sang and served as waitresses and hostesses, earning a part of the profits for the HERmonic ICCA fund.
The group also collected donations through various methods, including creating a GoFundMe account, which is a crowdfunding and fundraising website.Ā PLU helped out as well by contributing all tips from Dining and Culinary Services and campus cafes.
āWe had a lot of help from the PLU community, and we put a lot of work into fundraising,ā Searls said. In three weeks, HERmonic was able to raise the necessary amount for the trip.
āEveryone just poured in donations,ā junior Sarah-lynn Bennett, a first-year member of HERmonic, said. āWe were able to go without paying for anything through the help of donations and fundraisers.ā
Searls also said the competition at semifinals was really high caliber, with groups from the entire west coast trying to move on to nationals. There were 10 groups ā two from each region or quarter final.
āWe knew it would be competitive, but half the group [HERmonic] was new, and we didnāt really expect how competitive it would actually be,ā Searls said.
HERmonic had been rehearsing the set they took to the ICCA since the beginning of the school year, Searls said.
āOur semifinals’ best moment was doing sound check with a cumulative group of people watching on the sides,ā Bennett said. āEveryone was like, āwho are they?ā and it was really cool to show them what we could do.ā
The set had three arrangements and three soloists. But during semifinals, each of the HERmonic members got to hold a solo mic.Ā This was new, as only the bass, vocal percussionists and soloists had used mics before.
āIt added new spontaneity,ā Searls said.
Bennett agreed having these microphones in hand altered the performance.
āWe had to change choreography on the spot,ā Bennett said.
Searls said semifinals were a lot of fun, because while they get to see each other every week, traveling was a good way to get to know each other outside of rehearsal.
Everything the singers did, Bennett said, they did as a group.
āWe just want to perform, because thatās what we do, thatās what makes us happy and we hope to make others happy from our performance,ā Bennett said. āThatās what we did we had fun on stage.ā
The group will not be moving on to nationals this year.
āWe had a lot of fun, [had] some learning experiences and hopefully next year we can go again and move on to nationals,ā Searls said.
HERmonic will be singing at Relay for Life tonight from 7:45-8:15 p.m. PLUtonic will be performing as well.
There is also an upcoming concert with PLUtonic, PLU’s all-male a cappella group, in the amphitheater that is free to the public May 17.
Bennett said HERmonic looks forward to working with PLUtonic again.
āWeāre very āgirl power,ā but weāre very collective with PLUtonic and HERmonic,ā she said. āWhen they succeed we succeed, when we succeed they succeed and weāre very supportive of each other.ā