Biola University’s Student Programming and Activities (SPA) hosted the first installation of “Punk ‘n Pie in the Park,” Biola’s annual school-wide talent show on Friday, Oct. 23 on McNally Field. Formerly known as just “Punk n’ Pie,” the show had previously been held in Chase Gym. Students, parents and alumni were invited to bring their own lawn chairs and blankets to “Punk ‘n Pie in the Park” to watch the show.

Since it's Biola Weekend, we want to create an atmosphere that is fun and comfortable for people of all ages while adding in some fun changes to make the talents and overall show more memorable for everyone,” said Shaylynn Knuppe, senior psychology major and SPA social events coordinator.

SPA is working hard to continue improving the event each year. Moving Punk ‘n Pie to the lawn addressed multiple issues — attendees were able to skip long admission lines and more people could attend, said Knuppe. In addition, they decided to cut down the number of performances, shortening the length of the show to two hours.

Zac Alsens, communication studies major, and Emily Browning, cinema and media arts major served as the event emcees. This year's faculty judges were Stephanie Sanford, director of Global Student Programs & Development, Matthew Weathers, applied instructional technology administrator, and Chris Grace, psychology professor and director of the Center for Marriage and Relationships.


Thirty-two acts auditioned but only 10 could compete for the top three prizes. Sanford, Weathers and Grace announced that they would narrow down the top five performances, and allow the audience to text in their votes to determine the winners of the $100 third-place prize, $300 second-place prize and $500 first-place prize.


It was a very hard decision, especially for the musical acts since we always get so many talented individuals/groups each year, but we are confident we picked a great group of students for this year's show,” said Knuppe.


The Dog Snatchers, a band comprised of business major DJ Cortez, art major Nico Hernandez and art major Chris Rasmussen, kicked off the show with Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Going Down.” Their performance was followed by Peter Ingraham, business major, who played violin.


Other acts included music performances by communication disorders major Lauren Krippner, Bible major Bumjoo Huh, biological science major Hailey Mayweather and band, and a duo dubbed NotBach, comprised of music major Justin Sinclair and music performance major Jessica Stein.

The show also featured a spoken word performance from biological science major Alaina Pekary, a performance by dance crew XOPOC, a magic performance from psychology major Hudson Lee, and a “mixed media art collective” from Heat Speaks, a group comprised of four residents of Hart Hall.


Sanford, Weathers and Grace announced the top five performers and the audience texted to vote for the top three performers. Aslens and Browning awarded the third place prize to NotBach and second place to Ingraham. Heat Speaks, comprised of psychology major Michael Grieb, english major Brendan Ashley, cinema and media arts major Nolan Anderson, music performance major Cary Santana and art major Jacob Lucca took first place.


The attendees enjoyed free pumpkin pie and apple cider after the show, courtesy of SPA.


Written by Angelene Wong. For more information, contact Jenna Loumagne, media relations specialist, at (562) 777-4061 or jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu.