Everyone loves a good a capella performance and everyone loves charity, so combining the two is a logical choice.

This is exactly what happened in Hoff Theater on Nov. 4 when the Beta Psi Omega professional biology fraternity held its second Annual American Cancer Society Benefit Concert.

The UMD Generics kicked off the night with upbeat renditions of “Don’t Ya” by Brett Eldredge and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt.

Before each group performed, a member would read out a fact about cancer.

“Twenty-five percent of cancers are due to infections,” read one member of the Treblemakers, the university’s only all-female a capella group, before their performances of “Walking on Broken Glass” and “10,000 Emerald Pools.”

Other a capella groups that performed were PandemoniUM, Anokha, and DaCadence. Dance teams Prima Dolls and Revolutions Dance Ensemble also performed at the concert.

Faux Paz, UMD’s first ever co-ed a cappella group, ended the night with renditions of “La La La” by Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith and “Our Own House” by the Misterwives. Faux Paz also performed “La La La” at the ICCA Finals, the a capella competition featured in Pitch Perfect.

All of the proceeds from the event went to the American Cancer Society, an organization that focuses on cancer research and bills itself as the “Official Sponsor of Birthdays.”

As of fall 2015, there are only two chapters of Beta Psi Omega in the whole nation: the alpha chapter at this university and the beta chapter at California State University, Fullerton. There are plans to start a third chapter at the University of Delaware.

The fraternity only has 46 members, according to Beta Psi Omega president Audrea Bose, a senior neurobiology and physiology major who double majors in psychology.

“We’ve really tried to keep it small,” Nicole Haggerty, the fraternity’s historian and a senior community health major, said.

When the UMD chapter held the benefit concert last year, they did not require tickets and relied solely on donations to make a profit. Several members of the executive board agreed this was a poor decision, which is why this year all who attended paid $5 to get in.

Bose has been involved in the fraternity since her freshman year. She held the positions of pledge master and secretary before becoming president. In the four years she’s been with the fraternity, she said she has seen it grow tremendously.

“A lot of people didn’t know about it,” Bose said. “A lot of people are starting to know who we are [and] what we stand for.”

She cited the fraternity’s Five Pillars of Excellence (Intellect, Service, Unity, Diversity, and Proactivity) as the main source of their growth.

“Our dedication to all of those aspects have definitely strengthened us,” Bose said.

The benefit concert was the third of five events the fraternity hosts each semester in accordance with the five pillars. The two held earlier in the year were a trivia night and yoga out on the mall.

Featured Photo Credit: Featured is an a capella performance inside of Hoff Theater to support breast cancer. (Josh Loock/Bloc Reporter)

Rosie Brown is a junior journalism major and can be reached at rosie.a.brown@gmail.com.