The Korean American Student Association gathered on Friday night in the Mandela Room for its annual “K-Night: Masked Singer” event, inspired by the Korean show “King of Masked Singer.”

This year’s theme, “Be Our Guest,” was centered around Disney. Decorations were handmade and included a banner of the iconic Disney castle that served as the backdrop for the photo booth, with dim blue lighting and fairy lights guiding guests toward the stage.

At the center sat three main judges, including Ellie Shin, KASA’s president and a junior majoring in biology. The preparations began at the start of the semester, involving countless rehearsals and practices, even recordings to track the singer’s progress. This event extended far beyond KASA, bringing together organizations like the Asian Student Union, Taiwanese American Student Coalition and Vietnamese Student Association, all in attendance to support one another.

“My favorite part about the event is the ability to see the talent across Binghamton,” Shin said. “A lot of our smaller events don’t have as big of a turnout and it’s usually just our E-Board and our friends. But with this bigger event, we’re able to connect a lot with our general body, show off the hard work and talent among our E-Board but then also see what Binghamton has to offer.”

To start off the night, the audience watched an upbeat photo montage featuring the organization’s E-Board and interns. The montage gave insight into their personalities with clips of them in various locations around campus, showcasing the close-knit community they have built. The formal attire added to the elegance of the night, serving to differentiate it from their smaller events.

The event was led by two emcees and structured into four opening rounds, all centered around Disney songs and costumes. Esther Park, an emcee, one of KASA’s senior advisors and a senior majoring in business administration, discussed a highlight of K-Night.

“My favorite moment of the event is when it’s over and we’re all cleaning up together,” Park said. “And we all have this shared sense of accomplishment. So, even though, obviously, during the event, it’s so much fun, I think the camaraderie we built throughout the event and the whole execution of it is the best part.”

Each contestant first faced off in a duet, covering popular Disney songs like “Aladdin’s” “A Whole New World” and “Tangled’s” “I See The Light.” Each performance was enhanced by changing the stage lights.

The contestants wore endearing handmade costumes to bring their characters based on Disney films to life, from Chef Mousey’s cardboard headpiece and Raven’s masquerade mask to Stitches’s blue hat, adding a memorable quality to each performance. Audience members voted for their favorite contestants by scanning a QR code displayed on screen. One of the two contestants were eventually voted out at the end of each round, while the remaining singer moved on to the semifinals.

Participants ranged from students across different organizations, like the Korean American Christian Fellowship and KASA itself. The opportunity to be a contestant was open to all students across Binghamton University’s campus. As each contestant unveiled themselves one by one, they were greeted by explosive applause from the audience.

The event was highly interactive, with audience members participating in activities during the intermissions, like a scavenger hunt, “finish the lyrics” game and a photo booth with decorative props as a memento for the night. The night built up to two semifinal rounds to determine the winner, which was narrowed down to Flounder and Steamed Dumpling.

Charlene Cheng, the second-place runner-up, a member of TASC, Paradox and a sophomore majoring in music, shared her experience performing.

“[My favorite part was] definitely the time I’m on stage, because I haven’t sang for a while because I was busy, but this is the time I can express myself more,” Cheng said.

Following an intermission for snacks and drinks, KASA’s E-Board performed a lively K-pop dance routine.

The night concluded with a raffle featuring prizes from sponsors and a heartfelt tribute to the graduating seniors, who were surprised with bouquets of flowers.

Shin described the environment that KASA’s community offers.

“We’re able to put in good work that we’re all proud of and support each other, even if it gets hard because we’re college students, the semester can get difficult,” Shin said. “But especially as president, I’m able to see everyone’s initial goals really follow through and I’m able to help them with that. So, for me, I’ve just been really proud to see all the hard work that our people put in, whether it’s this event or their individual smaller events, fundraisers, anything like that. Being part of KASA has genuinely given me a space where I can celebrate my Korean American identity.”