Pasadena College Student Asks for Hometown Votes in Nationwide Competition

A Pasadena native is a part of a 16-member a cappella group at Cal State Northridge is looking to win a nationwide competition by belting out the best cover version of Lady Gaga’s Oscar-nominated song “Till It Happens To You,” about the singer’s assault to raise awareness of violence against women.

“We are currently in the second round of the competition and in order to continue to the next round we need to make it to the top 3,” said Pasadena resident and PHS alum Luna Trejo, who is a member of Acasola. “We would love to continue on to the next round and it would be amazing if you could vote for us.”

Cast a vote, which ends on noon Friday, to http://www.thehuntinggroundfilm.com/contest/acasola/ to decide the three finalists.

An all-star panel of judges, which include LL Cool J, Diane Warren, Pentatonix and David Foster — and Cynthia Germanotta, Lady Gaga’ mother, will decide the winner.

To view Acasola’s entry into the competition go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnzj3p0s4Rc

The competition, which includes entries from universities and colleges in New York and Oregon to Arizona and California, is being managed by the team behind the documentary, “The Hunting Ground,” a film that exposes the epidemic of sexual assault across campuses in North American and how institutions have often sided with or protected the perpetrator. The film is on Nexflix.

And Association of American Universities found last year that 23 percent of female students have experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact.

Specifically, Trejo said 26 cases of violence against women has been reported at Cal State Northridge in the five years.