Monday, March 02, 2009

Stars are born at talent show

By Beth Rickers Worthington Daily Globe
WORTHINGTON — Many young stars shined brightly Saturday night on the stage at Memorial Auditorium Performing Arts Center.

Twenty-seven area students — in 20 different acts — took part in the annual Youth Talent show — demonstrating their abilities to sing, dance, play instruments and even read dramatically.

Sponsorship for the event changed this year from District 518 Community Education to the Nobles County Integration Collaborative, which opened the event up to include students from Worthington and the surrounding school districts of Adrian, Ellsworth, Fulda, and Round-Lake Brewster.

“We only had a few audition from the other school districts,” noted NCIC Director Sharon Johnson, “but there were a few and, hopefully, we can get more in the future. … We have a lot of first-time talent this year and a few returnees. There’s also a good variety of ages, from grades 3 to 12.”

One of those first-timers was Jennifer Nguyen, 10, a fifth-grader from Worthington, who played “Hard Rock Blues” on her trumpet. She was slated to be among the first performers.

Despite being new to the stage and only playing the trumpet for a short time, Nguyen professed to “not really” being nervous.

“I just wanted a chance to be on the stage by myself, performing,” she said about why she tried out for the show.

Another newcomer to the talent show was Logan Wajer, 11, of Brewster. Wajer was one of eight vocalists taking part, and he chose an unusual selection for his debut — a Romanian song called “Numa, Numa,” that he found on the Internet.

Was he nervous about standing in front of an audience and singing for the first time?

“Maybe,” he admitted, “but one thing is sure — I know the song very well, especially since it’s in a different language.”

Wajer was inspired to try out for the talent show to “mostly figure out that my talent is very special,” he said, explaining that he only began singing last summer, “and to know that other people have good talents as well.”

More used to being in the spotlight were the members of a rock band, From Day One, which performed the song, “Reinventing Your Exit” on Saturday night. Michael Benitez, 16, Wesley Berger, 17, and Connor Tripp, 18 — all students at Worthington High School — have been playing together and performing for a couple of years. Benitez plays guitar; Berger is on bass guitar and does lead vocals; and Tripp handles the drums. Usually they are joined by another guitarist, Chris Schwebach, but he was unable to be at the talent show.

The three teens had all previously participated in the talent show, but in separate numbers.

“From last summer to this point, we’ve been through a number of shows, so the jitters are starting to disappear,” said Berger. “The anticipation is still there, but now I want to fill these people with anticipation rather than just do good myself.”

The band practices as often as their schedules allow, sometimes twice a week. For the talent show, their chosen number was a cover of an Underoath tune.

“If we’d had our second guitar, it would have been all original,” noted Benitez.

While the guys of From Day One were ready to rock the house, another Worthington High School, Nicole Ektnitphong, 15, was preparing for a more classical number. Wearing ballet shoes and a filmy dress, Ektnitphong would present an original dance.

“I’m on the dance team at WHS, and my dance team season inspired me to show my dancing skills,” she explained. “I’m doing what I call a lyrical dance. It has some of my dance team skills in it, some leaps and turns. I’m nervous, but I think it’ll be fun. It’s just something different from what I do with the team.”

In addition to the talent in front of the curtain, some other area youths used their skills to keep things organized behind the scenes.

“We have youths from three different groups — Six Steps Hip Hop, Youth Diversity Corps and Dynamic 507 — who are making this event happen,” credited Johnson. “We view this as both a youth leadership development event and a civic engagement experience for these high school students.”

Volunteer judges for the event were John Nordell, Aileen Gonzalez, Sandie Ryan, Tony Singsaath and Yuri Arauz. At the end of the evening, the winners of the talent competition were announced:

ELEMENTARY: First place, Joshua Stephenson, break dance solo; second, Logan Wajer, vocal solo; third, Ivan Rodriguez, Angie Alvarado, Patricia Marin and Arleny Flores, hip hop group dance.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: First place, tie, Maer Abella, hip hop solo, Tori Knudtson, piano solo; Tracy Prins and Rachel Drietz, dance duet placed second, and Gordy Moore, piano solo place third.

HIGH SCHOOL: First place, Nicole Ektnitphong, lyrical dance; second, From Day One, Michael Benitez, Connor Tripp and Wesley Berger.

Cameron Jensen plays the cello during the Youth Talent Contest Saturday at Memorial Auditorium in Worthington. (Brian Korthals/Daily Globe)