“AU’s Got Talent,” the yearly Andrews University talent show hosted by the Office of Student Involvement, Leadership & Activities, was held on Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Howard Performing Arts Center. Despite the cold weather, a frightful 5 degrees with a light snowfall, the event filled about half the seats of the HPAC’s auditorium. Those who made it were treated to eight performances by their fellow Andrews University students, after which the audience voted to determine who won.
Junior Sean Rogers, a participant, when asked prior to the show how he felt, said, “I’m excited. I’m excited to give the people what they want.”
The lights dimmed, and the show began with Chaplain Simona Mills-Pitcher laying some ground rules, all while dressed as a ship’s captain. “I need you to know that if you boo anyone off this stage, you will walk my plank!” she humorously declared.
The performances kicked off with a rendition of Pachelbel’s Canon by students Juan Benavides, Kurt Dela Paz, Joseph Pelote, and Jasyl Dumaop. The four instrumentalists started out fairly innocuously before shifting into a more enthusiastic routine, standing, squatting, and eventually prancing around the stage, finally ending with an upbeat, plucky coda.
Sophomore Alexander Finnikin, the next act, made sure to inform the audience, “My performance will not be as active as the last one, just letting you guys know.”
Finnikan himself, alongside the following acts, was by no means unimpressive either. He, as well as Stanely Myrtil and Simone Jones, each performed original songs. Other acts included Jordan Emanuel, a bassist who sang “It Takes Everything to Serve the Lord,” Vanessa Rugambo, who covered Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love,” and Elliot Kim’s piano performance of the prelude from Nikolai Kapustin’s “8 Concert Etudes, Op. 40.” Only one act, a video showcasing Micah Segura’s kendama finesse, had no musical component.
The final act was a stirring performance by Sean Rogers and Johnny Schnepp of their dubiously original composition, “Firework by Katy Perry,” with Rogers clarifying, “The ‘By Katy Perry’ is part of the title.”
The pair began with a lengthy introduction, which included tossing plastic Meijer shopping bags into the audience in reference to the opening lines of the song. Their actual performance, backlit by multicolored lights, had the two engaging in exaggerated, comedic choreography, at one point even abandoning the stage to run through the audience, then returning.
At the conclusion of Rogers and Schnepp’s act, a poll was opened for audience members to select the three performances that had most impressed them. Though only open for two minutes, much of the audience voted and allowed for first-, second- and third-place winners to be identified. First prize was $300, second, $200, and third, $100. Placing third was Simone Jones; Benavides, Dela Paz, Pelote, and Dumaop claimed second; and Rogers and Schnepp took home first prize.
After bagging the win, Schnepp reflected on the pair’s performance, saying, “I will say this: it was definitely fun to be up there and stuff. Me and Sean, we had a little prayer in the back before we did the performance… Our ultimate goal was to just make people laugh. Y’know, we lead Bible studies on campus and stuff, so we wanted to make it seem like we’re just some goofy guys. Like, we also have fun!”
When asked how long they had been practicing, Schnepp laughed and replied, “Yesterday.” Rogers followed by clarifying, “Well, actually, Thursday is when we started practicing. Two nights ago.”
Overall, the show was well-received and deemed a success by its organizers. Darius Bridges, assistant dean for SILA, observed, “We got a good amount of people considering the weather,” noting that the turnout was slightly less than the prior year.
Senior Robyn Victoriano, SILA’s student experience coordinator, described the preparations for the show, sharing, “We sent out sign-ups to do performances way before break. I think a week or two before break, so around finals of last semester… This event, compared to all the other bigger events we have, has been one of the easier ones to plan, because people just have to sign up, and then we have to make a program, and then talk with AV about the soundbites and all that. It hasn’t really been too hard.”
Junior Georgia Schulze said, “I think it went well. I really enjoyed the variety of acts, and I also liked the comedy element that several acts brought.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the second- and third-place winners and misspelled Jasyl Dumaop’s name.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.