Divas & Icons karaoke night kicks off the semester
EngiQueers and Degroote Pride's karaoke night builds community through music and laughter for a smooth transition from the holidays into the semester
The McMaster EngiQueers and DeGroote Pride Association collaborated to host Divas & Icons karaoke night on Jan. 10, 2025. The event took place from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. at Emerson 109 Bar where students gathered for karaoke, drinks and food.
Rachel Ord, vice-president social of McMaster EngiQueers, discussed the club's role at McMaster. "Our main goal is to provide a safe space and a welcoming community for queer engineering students. And that involves doing things like outreach activities, fundraisers and planning social events for our community members," said Ord.
Ord shared that the motivation behind hosting a karaoke night was to connect the queer community. "Karaoke or lip syncing to something and dancing and singing to those sorts of songs is a big thing in the queer community, at least with drag race and that sort of thing. So that's where the divas and icons theme came from. You find a lot of queer culture surrounds singing and dancing and performing a lot of self-expression," said Ord.
This unique collaboration was prompted by the DeGroote Pride Association, a new club looking to connect with established groups.
"Being a relatively new club they had a lot of great ideas and they were reaching out to a variety of equity clubs on campus. And so we thought it would be a great idea to collab just because I know that engineering and business isn't something that we see collaborations happen with often. But there's a lot of potential there with people coming together and enjoying themselves," said Ord.
And so we thought it would be a great idea to collab just because I know that engineering and business isn't something that we see collaborations happen with often. But there's a lot of potential there with people coming together and enjoying themselves.
Rachel Ord, Vice-President Social
McMaster EngiQueers
The event allowed attendees to signup to perform a song of their choice by themselves or with a group on stage throughout the entire night. Guests were also able to order food and drinks were available at the bar.
"We do actually have custom drinks available during the evening that are based off of various queer themes . . . it's something that Emerson 109 offers, which is a lot of fun, because it adds like a little extra thing to the event that you wouldn't otherwise get," said Ord.
New students were welcomed at the event as it was a great opportunity to connect with other people and club members. "All the EngiQueer execs are always ready to look out for people who are perhaps sitting alone and provide a welcoming vibe for everybody involved," said Ord.
Ord discussed the importance of creating spaces through fun events like a karaoke night.
"Because when you see people running events like this, like evening events and especially kind of in club atmospheres, as a queer person, you're not always sure that that's someplace you'll be welcomed at . . . I think the importance of creating these spaces kind of speaks to what these spaces can produce, which is friendships and lifelong relationships between other queer students and other members of the queer community," said Ord.
Because when you see people running events like this, like evening events and especially kind of in club atmospheres, as a queer person, you're not always sure that that's someplace you'll be welcomed at.
Rachel Ord, Vice-President Social
McMaster EngiQueers
Looking ahead, Ord discussed the importance of creating queer-friendly spaces for students at McMaster. "Not speaking from a club perspective but speaking from a business perspective, hosting events like this shows that you, as a company or an event space, are willing to support their community and are willing to put effort into creating safe spaces for queer individuals," said Ord.
Ord strongly encouraged students to get involved and engage with people in their own communities at least once before graduating. "You never know what connections you can make and you never know the people you can meet and you never know what you can learn from that and how you can grow from that," said Ord.
Check out McMaster EngiQueers and DeGroote Pride Association on Instagram to stay tuned for more engaging events!