The annual Community High School Talent Show presented by the BSU (Black Student Union) was held on October 13, 2009. Not only do all the proceeds made at the door go to charity, they go to the charity of winning forum’s choice. This good-natured competition also rewards the forum that wins first place with 50 dollars, second place with 30 dollars and third place with 15 dollars. Three teachers are appointed as judges.
This year the judges appointed were Jason McKnight, Nat Powell, and Jen Hein. They all took on their roles after the first performance. Nat as Randy Jackson, Jason as Paula Abdul, and Dean Jen as Simon Cowel.
The entire event was high energy and fun for everyone involved, whether they were in the audience or on the stage. Although the Craft Theatre was completely packed and there wasn’t much room to move, students still enjoyed themselves.
Senior Quentin Long said, “It was pretty entertaining, I had a good time.”
When asked what his favorite performance he said, “Well, the ‘Single Ladies’ dance was certainly very funny and entertaining. Which made it perhaps my favorite, and well deserving of first place. But, I thought that some of the other performances had more actual talent, ha-ha. Meaning the break-dancing one.” Long went on to say, “The BSU does not really have control over how much effort the forums put into the show. I think that if it was changed into a Community individual talent show, with more time to prepare, more organization and better prizes or some other incentive, that the talent show would improve. However, I think that the talent show right now is an interesting mix of comedic, full forum skits and actual talent, usually from just individuals. It’s entertaining but no forum is motivated enough to ever make it into a serious event.”
Although the event itself was fun, most forums weren’t very enthusiastic about the talent show. And for many forums, not much serious preparation occurred. This could be because “as it currently stands, the forum talent show is not a strong enough tradition for it to become a great event,” said Long. This could also be because of how busy students are, and how little time there actually was to prepare. In any case, the actual show turned out quite well and made over 170 dollars in donations.
The forum that won first place was the Mosher forum, winning over the crowd with their own version of ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyoncé.
