Rewind to Elliv 2024: oh what a night!

By Bella Agnello

Nuns, Post Malone’s, oompa loompas and Miss Americas pressed against each other, waiting for the doors to open and Elliv to begin. Though the show started at 7 p.m., students started staking out the lines well before 5 p.m.

Elliv is Cedarville University’s big end-of-the-year event the weekend before finals. The night is full of numerous singing acts and skits. Multiple awards are announced throughout the evening, given to pre-elected students and to the best dressed audience members.

This year’s theme was Rewind, hosted by graduate student Noah Buresh. “Eye of the Tiger” kicked off the night with an 80s-style band and flocks of students crowding around the front of the stage. The show took audience members as far back as the 70s – to ABBA’s show-stopping songs “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen” – and the acts went as recent as this past summer, paying homage to Taylor Swift’s “Long Live” from her Eras Tour.

The majority of the songs in the setlist came from the early 2000s. Emma Vosen, a junior Special Education major, and five other students performed “Good Time” by Owl City.

After going back and forth on auditioning for a year, Vosen decided in January that this was the year to audition for Elliv. When she found out that she made it, Emily Campbell (‘24) and Hannah Yost (‘24) – the music directors this year – assigned her to a song and a group of students that worked well together based on vocal talents.

Vosen said rehearsals began almost right away, starting in mid January. The group took inspiration from Owl City’s original music video, but they also added their own personal touches with an additional bridge to lead into two solos for the keyboards.

Now having experienced performing at Elliv, Vosen is ready to audition for Elliv 2025.

“I am very glad I did it,” Vosen said. “Now I’ve done it once, there’s no way I can’t do it again.”

One of the biggest awards given out during Elliv is the Costume award. Students dressed up as oompa loompas, Dune characters, bachelorettes and more, hoping to catch the attention of the judges. In third place was Holidays. In second place was Mob Boss – a group of Bob Ross impersonators. Coming in first place was Moses and the Israelites, which included four students coming together to create a camel.

Besides the Costume award, there were several other awards presented that evening. This year’s winners of the Salt and Light awards were Emma Hurley (‘24) and Nate Weidner (‘26); the Library Loiterer award went to Kyle Mobed (‘24); the Sleepless Beauty award went to Karis White (‘25); the Video award went to Megan Frieling (‘26); and the Intramural Icon award went to Ben Vincent (‘24).  

Ben Vincent, a Molecular Biology major, is also one of two Resident Assistants (RA’s) at Faith Hall. On top of being a Molecular Biology major and RA, Vincent also participated in several intramurals during his time at Cedarville: basketball, soccer, volleyball, flag football, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, pickleball, spikeball, ping pong, and sand volleyball.

At Elliv, he sat next to his sister and fellow Faith Hall RA Sam Randall in the front left of the auditorium to watch his other sister, Gabbi Vincent (‘24), play piano in one of the bands. When Mark Matthews, director of Campus Recreation, announced the winner of the Intramural Icon award, Vincent ran up to receive his award decked out in full nerd attire: a “Kick me” sign strapped into his suspenders, fun socks and tape wrapped around the bridge of his glasses.

“I wanted to counterbalance the stereotype that I was just an athlete because I wanted to show my nerdy side,” Vincent said.

Vincent reflected on the evening and the unique purpose of Elliv.

“The performances were outstanding and just the way they highlighted so many different people showcased a lot of the talents our students have here,” Vincent said. “To be included in one of those awards is an extremely high honor.”

Elliv 2024 was a night to remember. As students prepared to enter finals week and head off to the summer, they shared one last memory with the rest of the campus in a night of fun and celebration of the university and its community.

Bella Agnello is a freshman Broadcasting major with a concentration in Journalism. She enjoys thrifting, listening to records and reading classic Russian literature in her spare time.

Photos Courtesy of Cedarville University