Elon students filled McKinnon Hall Feb. 9 in anticipation of a showcase of unique talents by their peers.
Campus Outreach, a collegiate Christian organization, hosted the first-ever Elon’s Got Talent competition. Members of Campus Outreach wanted to connect with different majors, sports teams, Greek organizations and others and decided the best way would be to host a talent show.
“The purpose of the event is to serve Elon’s campus by putting on a fun event, getting to know students that we might not usually connect with and starting to build more relationships with different people across campus,” said senior Katy Gale, who helped with the advertising and promotion of the show. “We hadn’t done a ‘big crowd’ type of event in a while, and with all the talent Elon students have to offer, this event was born.”
Auditions for Elon’s Got Talent were held prior to the event and open to everybody.
Approximately 25 students signed up for auditions and 10 individuals or groups were accepted to perform.
President Leo Lambert, President Emeritus Earl Danieley and Michael Williams, director of Campus Center operations and conferences, were present at the event to offer their opinions on each performer.
[quote]When I was waiting for the curtains to open, you could hear my heart beating so loud and I hoped the mic wasn’t picking it up.[/quote]
“Much like in ‘America’s Got Talent,’ the judges will function as celebrity commentators, simply offering their assessment of each performance as prompted by questions from our hosts,” said Artie Van Sciver, adviser to Campus Outreach, prior to the show. “We’re hoping to see some of the judges’ personalities on display.”
Junior Gavin Billings and sophomore Jimmy Stevenson hosted the show and introduced each new talent.
“While all of the talent can be categorized either as a musical performance or dance performance, there is a wide variety within each of those subsets,” Van Sciver said.
The performers ranged from freshmen to seniors, with talents stretching from Irish step dance to singing. There were several group performances, such as the Christian hip-hop dance group Urgent Message, in addition to many solo acts.
In order to select a winner, the audience voted via text message. Each performance had a specific number and the audience could text for their favorite. After voting, the winner was announced.
Freshman singer Mackenzie Roberts swept the competition with 47 percent of the vote. Her jazz performance produced outbreaks of applause mid-song. But like many others, the nerves hit Roberts before her performance.
“When I was waiting for the curtains to open, you could hear my heart beating so loud and I hoped the mic wasn’t picking it up,” she said.
Freshman Liz Bargamian was one of many students who came out to support peers in the show.
“It was great to see people do things that you know they loved and had a great time with,” she said.
Freshman Corinne Haywood, a friend of Roberts’, agreed it was a pleasant surprise to see the performances.
“I personally had a lot of friends that were in it and I thought that everybody had amazing talent,” Haywood said. “I didn’t even know they could do that"