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Eliana Mann

VULNERABLE TALENT. For the second act of the show, Freshman January Cook shared an original poem. Each line was thoughtful and self-reflective, such as “On Wednesdays you can’t get out of bed because you’re too paralyzed by your own thoughts.”

During X-period on Wednesday, students and faculty gathered in the Huss Center for the annual Homecoming talent show. The talent show is an opportunity for performers to showcase their unique skills and passions in front of an audience of their peers. There were a variety of different acts this year, but each one was wildly entertaining and met with raucous applause from the packed audience.

The Student Activities Committee is responsible for planning the entire event, which involved organizing the lineup of performers and producing emcees to lead the show. Freshman emcee Florence Barrera expressed that this was the first activity she had been involved in as a new member of SAC. She said, “I just don’t want to mess up my lines.”

SAC continues to hold this event each year because of its popularity and the opportunity for self-expression it provides to the student body. Freshman emcee Tallulah Dogwill said, “I think [the talent show]… helps the students feel comfortable expressing their own opinions and talents.”

The opening act of the show was senior Henry Hilton delivering an unconventional combination of stand-up comedy and poetry. The ending of his performance included the appearance of someone wearing a chicken costume, which sent the crowd into a fit of laughter.

Following Hilton, freshman January Cook shared an original poem. Each line was thoughtful and self-reflective, such as “On Wednesdays you can’t get out of bed because you’re too paralyzed by your own thoughts.”

The third act of the afternoon was freshman Bella Moet singing part of “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo, a popular pop song and the first of numerous vocal performances.

Next was senior Oliver Zhu, who utilized the auditorium’s screen and projector to display the music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. Zhu proudly sang alongside Astley, and even snuck some breakdancing into his performance.

After this came a fan-favorite act: junior Adam Ebert playing the video game Octodad: Dadliest Catch. This game features an octopus dressed hilariously as a human who completes a variety of challenges in the different levels. Ebert has played Octodad in the talent show several years in a row.

Following Ebert was another veteran performer and past talent show winner, junior Ellie Putaski. She sang a unique, original song while playing the ukelele. The song was about what Putaski imagined the aftermath of the popular nursery rhyme “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” would look like.

Next up was sophomore Violet Pitcher, who also gave a vocal performance. Pitcher sang “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish, a song popularized from the recently released Barbie movie.

Finally, the last “surprise” act was a band of four teachers, which sent the audience into a roar after they were revealed on stage from behind the curtain. Orchestra director Almut Engelhardt played the violin, science teacher Scot Hovan sang and played the piano, Spanish teacher Peter Daniels played the drums, and French teacher Aimeric Lajuzan played the electric guitar. The quartet delivered a memorable performance to end the show.

Stay tuned for more homecoming events later this week.