During the weeks leading up to the talent show on Nov. 17, the performers started to shed their shyness, and a whole new side to people in our school began to emerge.

Starting off the show, the cheerleading squad welcomed the crowd with a quick cheer and went directly into a dance routine the crowd went wild for. As the cheers faded out, the emcee  of the night, Jordan McNeal, senior, brought out the coordinator of the evening, Dorthea Nevils, English teacher, for her to introduce the the next few acts. The show featured a variety of acts consisting of singing, spoken word, piano playing, dancing and more.

“The best part of the night was that even if you think you did bad, everyone clapped for you like you did the best,” Aliyah Mitchell, sophomore, said.

Most people prepped for weeks before the night but McNeal felt comfortable winging it.

“I did it last year and it was easy to go out and do what I needed to do,” McNeal said.

Mitchell got to perform on her birthday, determined to  showcase her natural singing voice.  After practice once a week, and drinking tons of water, she felt ready to step out on the stage. Even with mic troubles, she delivered her rendition of ‘The Weekend’ by SZA saying,

“I switched it the day of to go higher [in her vocal range],” said Mitchell.

Mitchell felt confident since “everyone was cheering the whole time” and she just wanted to give a great performance.

Marquess Pearson is usually all in the moment but for this tribute dance he made sure to “showcase [his] versatility and talents.”

Knowing that he wanted to test himself, he mashed up 4 songs and danced a different style to each beat; styles included krumping, popping and locking, hip-hop and animation. His only wish was that for the final song, he wanted to work on that one more and wished it looked as good as the practice, or maybe have better stamina.

Although there was no first place or prizes, every performer felt like a winner when the crowd went wild after each act.

“It felt like I had a lot of support” Mitchell said, “it got me out of my comfort zone and [being in the talent show] led me to figure out what I want to do after high school .”