A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community. The word fest is Middle English, derived from the Middle French/Latin word festivus.

From President Gaskin’s April 30th, Monday Morning Update:

“We had an amazingly successful Gala this past Saturday evening. Over 300 attendees enjoyed dining al fresco in front of the theater while being entertained with our student jazz ensemble (thanks Gus Kambeitz), Peter Anning’s thrilling wine toss extravaganza (you’re so great Peter!), a Broadway trivia quiz, opportunity drawings, and great conversation with friends of WVC! Following dinner, we were awed with the spectacular performance of Pippin.

The purpose of putting forth the tremendous effort to host this annual Gala is to (1) showcase the talents of our students; and (2) build a WVC spirit within our community. This second annual Gala accomplished these goals and so much more. The student performers (including our very own Robie Berlani) were a multi-talented cadre of actors, dancers, and singers. They wowed the audience with their performance of Pippin. Kudos to faculty – Brad Weisberg (theater), Sandra Bengochea (music), Lou De La Rosa (music), and Ann Malmuth-Onn (dance) for being the “wind beneath the students’ wings.”

The success of this event rests with so many people: Gerald Carter (for his “can do” approach to everything), Kurt Hibner and his always supportive and wonderful staff who went above and beyond to assist with setup and tear down, Carl Jones (great artwork as usual), Bill Taylor and his terrific grounds staff, Brenda Rogers and Kim Aufhauser (our experts in wine who did all the pouring), and our hardworking AGS students (many of whom were there all day helping with the myriad tasks and details it takes to pull of something of this magnitude), Christine De La Rosa (Lou’s daughter, who was our right hand person), and our photography students who gained experience being event photographers.

The dreamers behind this Gala were my co-coordinators, Debby Rice (community member and fellow Rotarian) and Anna Harrison (associate faculty in Interior Design), and our student volunteer coordinator, Lucile Glessner. These three extraordinary individuals envisioned a spectacular event and worked so very hard to pull it off with style, grace, and much success.”

And thank you Dr. Gaskin!