Hope College will host its 76th annual Nykerk Cup competition on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. at the Holland Civic Center, located at 150 W. Eighth St.

The event, one of a variety of activities scheduled during the college's Family Weekend, will feature more than 200 members of the freshman and sophomore classes competing in song, plays and oration. The participating classes this year are the freshman Class of '14 and the sophomore Class of '13.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

The competition, first held on March 16, 1936, is named in honor of the originator of the program, John Nykerk, a professor, college dean and founder of the Hope College department of music. The event is continuously staged before a large audience.

The oration theme is "Depth: Live Deeply, Stand Strong, Be Your Favorite Song."  The sophomore orator is Zoann Wissner of Sebewaing, whose coaches are Jeanine DeJong of Plainfield, Ill., and Sara Saavedra of Holland.  The freshman orator is Jordan Ippolito of Ocean City, N.J., whose coaches are Jordan Walters of Austin, Texas, and Karli Rowe of Rockford.

The sophomore play is "Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite."  The coaches are Mary Cantor of Flint and Kara Weaver of Granger, Ind. The morale coaches are Nicholas Rebhan of Holland; Ronald Radcliffe of Mount Prospect, Ill.; and Spencer Warn of Ortonville.

The freshman play is "Scooby Doo and the Haunted Orientation."  The coaches are Allie Theune of Sheboygan, Wis., and Katie Garrett of Byron Center.  The morale coaches are Doyle Lewis of Madison Heights; Michael Naughton of Prospect Heights, Ill.; and Patrick Lutz of Canton.

The sophomore song is "The Wizard of Oz Choral Revue."  The coaches are Shannon Brenneman of Wadsworth, Ohio, and Kelsey Hawkins of Williamsburg.  The morale coaches are Colin Zoellner of Eastpointe, and Trevor Coeling of Hudsonville.

The freshman song is "I Just Can't Wait To Be King."  The coaches are Amber Lyn Scheeringa of Schererville, Ind., and Andrea Converse or Lowell.  The morale coaches are Brent Smith of Owosso; Marc Tori of Pinckney; and Matt Hartwell of Brighton.

During the event's intermission, the song sections will perform "Viva La Vida," arranged by Mark Brymer.

The members of the Nykerk executive board this year are: Beverly Newey of LaGrange Park, Ill., general chair; Molly Vass of Valparaiso, Ind., chair-elect; Bethany Stripp of Richland, secretary; Aimée Barigian of Fresno, Calif., senior publicity; Caitlin Seay of Grandville, junior publicity; Meaghan Igel of Westlake, Ohio, senior production; Heather Gill of Rockford, Ill., junior production; Sarah Fraser of Crystal Lake, Ill., senior spotlight; Kelsey Davis of Wheaton, Ill., junior spotlight; Lauren Zahn of Saline, senior treasurer; and Brittany Konfara of Farmington Hills, junior treasurer.

The weekend will feature a variety of other performances and presentations in addition to the Nykerk Cup competition.

The De Pree Art Center is featuring the exhibition "Katherine Sullivan:  The Docile Body" through Friday, Nov. 19.  The gallery is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Admission is free.

The college's biology, physics and chemistry seminar series will each feature events on Friday, Nov. 5.  The biology series will feature the address "Population Genetic Structure of a Broadly Distributed Social Wasp: Investigating the Roles of Selection, Drift and Historical Contingency with Microsatellite Data" at 3 p.m. in room 1019 of the A. Paul Schaap Science Center.  The physics series will feature a presentation by Josh Vanderhill of the University of Texas at Dallas at 3 p.m. in room 104 of VanderWerf Hall.  The chemistry series will feature a showcase of research by the department's students at 4 p.m. in room 1000 of the A. Paul Schaap Science Center.  Admission is free to all three presentations.

The college's Wind Ensemble will perform on Friday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.  Admission is free.

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams will host Olivet College on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 1 p.m. in the Dow Center's Kresge Nautatorium.  Admission is free.

The three-day Family Weekend, running Friday-Sunday, Nov. 5-7, will also feature activities geared toward parents of current students specifically, including a variety of open classes and discussion sessions focused on various aspects of college life.  Additional information about the weekend is available online at:

www.hope.edu/parents/familyweekend/index.html

The De Pree Art Center is located at 160 E. 12th St., on Columbia Avenue at 12th Street.  Dimnent Memorial Chapel is located at 277 College Ave., on College Avenue at 12th Street.  The Dow Center is located at 168 E. 13th St., on 13th Street at Columbia Avenue.  The Holland Civic Center is located at 150 W. Eighth St., on Eighth St. west of Pine Avenue.  The A. Paul Schaap Science Center is located at 35 E. 12th St., at 12th Street and College Avenue.  VanderWerf Hall is located at 27 Graves Place, between 10th Street and Graves Place (11th Street) and Central and College avenues.