Iowa State’s Student Union Board hosted an AfterDark event from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday with plenty of activities. There was karaoke, bingo, board games and bowling all around the Memorial Union, but the big show-stoppers were guests Noah Sonie and Brenda Song.

Noah Sonie is a comedic magician from Minneapolis who specializes in magic acts, mind reading and hypnosis. Sonie performed many tricks for the crowd, including multiple disappearing tricks, mind reading and hypnotizing two people on stage.

Brenda Song was the second guest of the night at the Memorial Union. Song is a well-known actress who has starred in multiple children’s shows and is best known for her role as London Tipton in “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and her role as Wendy Wu in “Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior.” 

During the show, Song explained what her home life was like before becoming an actress and how she got discovered for the first time. 

“My mom had me at 17, my dad was still in college, my grandma was a housekeeper. We didn’t have the money to do this,” Song said, referring to starting a modeling job. “I would not stop talking about it. I was obsessed, and a few weeks later, I got really, really sick and I wouldn’t take my Robitussin or whatever, and my mom was like, ‘Ok, well, if you take your medicine, we’ll take you to this modeling school.’” 

Song went on to say how her mom believed she would forget her mother’s promise about modeling school because she was so young, but Song did not let it go. Eventually, Song’s grandmother took all of her money out of her savings account to take Song to a beginner modeling school.

Song also talked about her hobbies, her struggles, her role models and her favorite and least favorite memories from her career. Song ended the talk by sharing some advice she had for Iowa State students.

 “It’s ok to not have a plan, and it’s ok to have a plan and not be sure of it… because life is always changing, and I think the most important thing to understand is that you’re always changing,” Song said.

With karaoke, bingo and bowling buzzing all night, and crowds at both Sonie’s and Song’s showings, AfterDark attracted many students. Part of the success of the event can be attributed to the planning and behind-the-scenes work for the event.

“We get a list of celebrities in our budget range, and it’s based off of what we get for the academic year, and we just choose who we think would be a very big draw to the students,” Poni Okene, special events coordinator for the Student Union Board, said. “We thought Brenda Song, with the nostalgia factor, she would be a huge draw and so far, it’s been a draw.”

“My favorite part [of AfterDark] I think, has been being able to meet so many people, but then also running an event that’s like successful,” Piper Vinz, president of the AfterDark team, said. “And you watch people, and how they just really get involved, they enjoy coming, and then you see them again later.”

The last AfterDark of the semester is scheduled for Nov. 8 in the Memorial Union.