Hot off back-to-back Sing Song victories, the men of the fraternity Gamma Sigma Phi will look for their third consecutive win after months of hard work and growth as brothers.
Jaden West, senior finance major from Snyder, will be directing the GSP act this year, following in the footsteps of Mason Hejl, senior management major from Pflugerville, who directed the Willy Wonka-themed act in 2024.
“When I got into GSP, Sing Song was always something I was looking forward to,” West said. “As a young kid around ACU, I always thought it’d be cool to do it one day.”
West was a member of the Willy Wonka act in 2024 and said he had a lot of fun getting to know guys while also learning he wanted to lead an act in the future.
“It’s where you get to know a lot of guys in club,” West said. “I had ideas and thoughts of ways I could maybe do it differently or better.”
With a Church of Christ background, West was more than familiar with music and wanted to use that to his advantage.
“Music is always something I’ve loved; writing, singing, whatever,” West said. “That’s how I knew I wanted to be a director. I ran for it in the fall and it’s been a grind ever since.”
The 2025 GSP Act will tell the story of ice harvesting, something Hejl, the current club president, is excited about.
“People don’t really know what ice harvesters do,” Hejl said. “That’s what makes Sing Song so great. We get to tell stories that are easily understood by the audience.”
When it comes to winning three consecutive years, West appreciates the success of the past but wants to be careful of becoming complacent or too confident.
“It was super cool,” West said. “I don’t say it to be cocky, but part of it is tough because some of our guys don’t necessarily know what it’s like to lose. We just have to be careful because we can’t get too confident.”
West also said that his message to his guys about being humble and not being too confident is simple and keeps them focused on their act, rather than what is going on around them.
“I just tell them to stay sharp and remind them that we can only control what we can control,” West said.
However, West’s background playing sports and working as an announcer on campus has caused one issue with fine arts; there is no defense.
“One thing I don’t like about Sing Song or fine arts is you can’t play defense,” West said. “I have no way of controlling what any of the other acts do. I can only control what we do, so I’ve just been focused on that.”
Along with his message about humility and focus, West has also prayed for the club’s performance despite the result.
“Every night at the end of rehearsal we say a prayer,” West said. “One thing I’ve been saying in that prayer is ‘God, our success does not come from Sing Song. Our glory and our place in this world doesn’t come from winning this competition. It comes from you.’ I think that’s important to remember because as bad as I want to win and as bad as other people want to win, that’s not where our success in this life comes from.”
With Sing Song around the corner, West and the men of GSP have continued to work as they inch closer and closer to the opportunity to harvest their third consecutive win.
