The Mishawaka High School student council held its annual Talent Show on Friday night. Approximately 150 people came to enjoy this year’s 11 acts. The acts included a wide range of musical talents and the first ever stand-up comedy sets. Seniors David Milhander and John Zylstra won overall crowd favorite with their rendition of Roll Away Your Stone by Mumford & Sons. The jazz group, The Jazz Cats, were a close second, followed by Victoria Tiller’s musical performance of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.
Student council advisor Mike Breske was tasked with the responsibility of organizing the event. According to Breske, the Talent Show is an eight year tradition at MHS. “The talent show is one of my favorite events that the council is involved in. All types of students become involved and it gives them the ability to show off special talents. This event is important in that it gives non-athletes an opportunity to show off their skills in front of an audience. I truly believe that for some performers, the event will be a memory that will last a lifetime,” said Breske.
Junior Sara Meyers is an experienced Talent Show singer. “I did the talent show every year in elementary school and I did theatre in middle school,” said Meyers. This year Meyers performed Vincent by Don McLean. Before her performance, Meyers expressed nervousness and fear of making mistakes. “With work and school I didn’t practice so much as I’d like. But I was already preparing for it before the talent show was announced,” said Meyers.
Meyers expressed positive sentiments after the show while her friends, family, and peers congratula
ted her. “I hope this year was well and the years to come! I love seeing people from our school show off talents! It’s such a fun thing [that] I think more people should get involved in. Many people love it and hope it stays that way,” said Meyers.
Not everyone had such positive beliefs about the school community’s response to the talent show, however. Milhander felt that the talent show, and other small scale events like it, are highly undervalued at MHS. “I think most of the school doesn't care about the talent show. I think it's really fun to showcase talents that aren't always supported by the school [community]. That's the real talent that can't be taught by school, so the school should try to align with it as much as possible,” said Milhander.
MHS Attendance Coordinator Jenifer Fisher had a similar opinion. “I feel like the things that are already on the calendar, like the choir concerts, are already highly valued because we know about them already. It’s those others things that come up during the year that are harder to keep track of,” said Fisher, “I do think we should spend more time on those things, like the talent show, because it is important for those kids that may not be involved in academic clubs and athletics to be recognized.”