The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
Happy holiday party
UMRA’s first-ever December holiday party was truly festive and well attended. The Campus Club West Wing Dining Room provided a beautiful, panoramic view of the wintry Minneapolis skyline, backlit by the setting sun, as more than 70 UMRA members, spouses, and friends arrived to share time together socializing, sampling the appetizer buffet, and enjoying a wonderfully upbeat performance by members of 7Days A Capella, an impressive group of University of Minnesota students drawn together by their love of music and performance.
UMRA President Bill Donohue—who deserves credit for coming up with the idea for the party—spoke briefly before introducing the choir. He encouraged attendees to complete a 10-item UMRA quiz to make some predictions for the coming year, and presented a special award to UMRA Webmaster Cathy Lee Gierke for her invaluable service to our association. He also thanked President-elect Frank Cerra and Past-president Jerry Rinehart for the work they did to produce the party.
The half-hour performance by 7Days A Capella featured a delightful range of seasonal and not-so-seasonal music, beginning with the modern Christmas classic Mary, Did You Know? Before starting, the 13 singers each introduced themselves, identifying their academic majors, schools, and/or colleges—and were cheered and applauded by their affiliates in the UMRA audience: CLA, Carlson, Applied Economics, Biochemisty, etc.
A Pentatonix arrangement of Little Drummer Boy, featuring 7Days’ vocal percussionist Ethan Gormong, a third-year chemistry PhD student from Spooner, Wisconsin, “beatboxing” the rhythm line, was a special treat.
The students received a standing ovation as they concluded their performance, and, clearly, a good time was had by all.
—Kristine Mortensen, editor
December Holiday Party
Thu, December 19 2019, 4pm
Campus Club 4th Floor, West Wing Dining Room
Join the fun as UMRA hosts its very first Holiday Party from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 17, in the Campus Club West Wing Dining Room.
The festivities will begin with an appetizer buffet and cash bar. After a short program, members of the U of M student choir 7Days A Cappella will perform from 5 to 5:30 p.m. We will then invite everyone to make some predictions for the coming year, to test our futurist skills. The predictions will be compiled and published on the UMRA website.
All UMRA members, spouses, partners, and friends are welcome to attend!
Tickets for the event are $25 per person and the reservation deadline is December 10.
You can make your reservation(s) immediately via the UMRA website, or by sending a check payable to ‘UMRA’ to Mary Ford at 1147 Ivy Hill Drive, Mendota Heights, MN 55118. Please note Holiday Party on the memo line.
Don’t delay! Our November luncheon was sold out
—Frank Cerra and Bill Donohue
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