Haemi Kim – Staff Writer

Saturday, March 30: Decorated with ice-skating shoes, hockey uniforms, Canadian flags, Canadian sweets and Canadian maple syrup, students were welcomed into 55th by students from Canada. Held by the Business Club, Canada Night gave students an opportunity to learn more about Canada through presentations, trivia questions, games and performances.

Photos by Haemi Kim

The two emcees for the night were Canadian sophomores Jake Thorsteinson and Janaya Hirsch. They started off the event by sharing short facts about the different provinces in Canada and shooting off trivia questions and giving out Canadian sweets to those who answered correctly.

“I was honored to be asked by the Business Club to emcee the night,” Hirsch said. “It was a cool opportunity to see the joy we were able to bring, along with the many talents that were shared to the students of Dordt College.”

After trivia, students came up to the stage and performed talents from Canada beginning with senior Ian Smit rapping his original song, “Canada, Eh.”

“Canada Night was awesome,” Smit said. “It was such a good time gathering a bunch of Canadians together to celebrate our heritage and our country.”

Emcee Thorsteinson and freshman Hannah Burgsma performed “Under the Snow,” a parody of The Little Mermaid song, “Under the Sea.”

“I loved when a bunch of Canadians decided to sing ‘The Hockey Song’ together on stage. It’s such a classic, and I remember listening to it growing up, so with the nostalgia and the patriotism, I think that made it my favorite,” Thorsteinson said.

There were also non-Canadian students who performed songs by Canadian artists. Juniors Ally Visser and Abby Smith performed “Lost Boy” by Ruth B., “Hotline Bling” by Drake, and “Baby” by Justin Bieber, where students sang together with Visser and Smith during their performance.

Other performances included senior Kylie Van Wyhe and junior Andrea Veldman performing “The Summer of 69” by Bryan Adams and “My Heart Will Go On” by Céline Dion on the piano and violin.

The night continued with games.

First was the Maple Syrup Shot: four contestants drink Canadian maple syrup in four shot-sized cups and, after drinking each shot, flip the cup upside-down to right-side-up from the edge of the table. Sophomore Colton Ott won by not only finishing the game in first place, but also drinking the last drop of maple syrup that another contestant had given him.

“I really enjoyed the syrup challenge.” Ott said. “I felt a little jittery afterwards, but I enjoyed the concept.”

After a round of the Maple Syrup Shot, the trivia questions continued, but this time, two contestants had to come up and answer three questions to win. When both of the students got stuck on a question, they got some hints or phoned a friend. This didn’t always help the contestants, but it gave the students an enjoyable night.

The night ended with Burgsma back up on stage, this time playing “O Canada,” when all the students stood up and sang together with the Canadian students.

“It was so cool to see a bunch of students coming to celebrate a country that may or may not be where they are from,” Hirsch said. “I believe that it was a great event to hold; it added to the community at Dordt, as many students across all grade levels came to share talents, loads of laughter and Canadian trivia.”