BY NATALIE GOLDBERG AND HAYAT AYDIN
Skilled students took to the stage on February 17 at the OBHS Talent Show. Mrs. Czysz, one of the two Junior Class Advisors who organized the event, expressed about the event, ‘’I see it just being a nice, fun night out for the entire school community.’’
Due to COVID-19, the talent show did not take place last year. It has now returned as an annual event hosted by students in the junior class. ‘’It has been a long time since we could do an event like this, so it [was] nice to have it,’’ said Mrs. Czysz.
In this year’s show, eleven acts performed, including dancing, color guard routines, individual singers, and a band performance. Junior Host Byron Forson commented on the band’s performance: ‘’I really liked the Apocalypse performance; they were tough.’’
In addition to being a fun event for the audience, the talent show provided students with a place to share their many different abilities with their peers and teachers. Nicholas Cleary, one of four members of the band Apocalypse, shared, “It’s our dream to perform in front of people of decent sizes and this is our first step to getting there.” Nicholas, alongside band members Nathan Pitts, Issac Goldin, and Daniel Goldin, performed in front of an audience for the first time.
In order to ensure that everything went according to plan, a dress rehearsal took place during 8th period on Thursday, the day of the show. Mrs. Czysz and Mrs. Mackey decided to run though the music a few times and ensure that the performers felt comfortable with everything, since most of them would be performing in front of a live audience for the first time. Kayleigh Pitts, who sang at the show, said, ‘’No matter how many times I go out onstage, it’s always nerve-wracking and kind of scary to go out, no matter how large the crowd is.’’
The four juniors who hosted the show, Xuraya Boykins, Byron Forson, Alexa Pizzuli and Cesar Silva, took charge as they welcomed the contestants on stage and tried to set a fun tone. Byron, shared, ‘’I feel happy for [the contestants] because to perform in front of that many people or people in general is nerve-wracking.’’
All the different gifts and abilities that the students shared made for an amazing show and left the entire audience in awe. Once all the performers were done, the panel of judges, which consisted of Ms. Todaro, Mrs. Mondano, Ms. Tosonotti, Mr. Donaghue, Mrs. Alspach and Mrs. Tuckman took all the different acts into consideration and decided on the winner. Ms. Tosonotti shared, “the judges had a hard time deciding who should win since the acts were all so awesome!”
After some deliberation by the judges, Camryn Smith, who sang an original song called ‘’Had to be More’’ won first place. Smith, who won a gift card to Via Sposito, expressed, ‘’I did not expect to win, and after the act of winning, I was overjoyed and my mom buying me ice-cream was definitely a big contributor.”
All the performers received a round of applause and at the end of the night, each contestant got congratulated for their hard work. Mrs. Mondano shared, ‘’Each performer engaged the audience and the audience was very supportive.’’
Overall, this year’s show proved to be a huge success as the audience cheered for each performance on stage. Margaret Conklin attended the event and said, ‘’It was so fun seeing everyone excited and cheering on their peers.”
Posted on 3/2/22
Photos by Hayat Aydin, Kaden Buchalter and Natalie Goldberg
Knight Life 