At 6 P.M. on Friday, Aug. 24, the UNI Varsity Men’s Glee Club will perform their fourth annual Welcome Home concert. The concert will be  held in Lang Auditorium and last approximately one hour.

“We like to think of the Welcome Home concert as a sort of pep rally for students here at UNI,” said Daniel Hanson, a senior history major who serves as chairman of the Glee Club Council. “We sing a lot of the classic songs like the “Alma Mater” and “The Fight Song,” “Victory March,” and all of that good stuff. But then we add in a little bit of comedy and stuff like that. We do interactions with the crowd. We play games. We just like to give people a really good time, get people excited to be back at UNI for the year. That’s our whole goal with it.”

Sam King is a member of the Glee Club and a senior majoring in digital media leadership.

“As the name suggests, it’s welcome home,” said King. “We basically put on this little fun show to try to make everyone feel a little bit more at home at UNI.”

Under the direction of Dr. John Wiles, the concert will feature not only returning Glee Club members, but also freshmen who just finished their first week at UNI. Many of these freshmen were recruited during UNI’s Traditions Week on August 16 to 18, when freshmen had the chance to meet returning Glee Club members and learn some of the new music ahead of the Glee Club’s regularly scheduled practice times.

“In terms of what we do with the crowd or what the emcees say and do, we mix it up a little bit there, but for the most part it stays pretty similar,” Hanson said. “We like to keep it the same because then for the freshmen it’s easier for them to come in and learn the eight songs. Because on top of classes and getting used to college, we’re like, ‘Learn eight songs in a week!’”

While the concert is free, there is a suggested donation of $3. Profits go to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. Although this organization helps fight hunger in 16 Iowa counties, the proceeds from the concert will help those who are food insecure in Black Hawk County specifically. The Glee Club has partnered with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank for all four years of the Welcome Home concert.

Students can get involved with the Glee Club at any time during the semester by contacting Hanson or Dr. Wiles. No audition is necessary.

For King, the Glee Club was UNI’s major selling point.

“I’m not actually 100 percent [sure] I would be here at UNI if the Glee Club didn’t exist,” King said. “It’s been so amazing to be surrounded by such a good group of people for my four years of college. [. . .] I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever had a bad experience in the Glee Club.”