By Naomi Gish
Peninsula’s Got Talent was held Feb. 26 and entertained the nearly full-house of students and community members.
The performances were judged by Dan Maguire, director of the Juan de Fuca Foundation; Sam Calhoun, director of Arts Northwest; along with President Luke Robbins, and Associate VP of programming Kennady Whitehead.
The judges took turns in between performers, commenting on the quality of each performance.
Master of Ceremonies Jeremiah Hobbs introduced the evening with the classic “Relax and enjoy the wonderful talent that is Peninsula College.”
Let’s get it started
Gospel Singers from the East Side of Washington, the Delano Clan opened up the night with a fun a cappella piece.
Marcus Delano of the Delano Clan said, “As both a spectator and person with talent, I like watching and proving joy. It provides locational appreciation: to see the people you are around and the place you are in.”
Breaking the ice
“Everyone survive midterms?” asked Britainy Gurr of The Buccy’s duo, while on stage with Chris Urquia. Chuckles were heard from the audience as she went on to say, “We didn’t get to practice a lot because of said midterms.” The Buccy’s went on to perform an acoustic version of “XO” by Beyonce.
Vibrant non-vocals
There were only two non-vocal performances. A color guard solo by Sequim high school twirler Samantha Tatman and a Cello performance. Sierra Sax opened Cello Suite No. 1 by Bach saying that “we’ve heard music that is a little more modern and I’m going to take you back a couple hundred years.” . These added variety to the show.
Jukebox Hero
Hobbs, making comments and plugging future school events between contestants, provided a personal anecdote, introducing rapper and fellow-basketball player Dimitri Amos as someone he’d grown very close to.
Amos provided an original song called “Jukebox” in which Judge and Council member Kennady Whitehead offered after hearing the song, “If I wasn’t so white, I’d probably have gotten into it.”
Heartfelt performance
The evening included a moving cover performance of “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” by nursing student Lauren Piper. “You may not remember me, but please remember this song, It’s about making sure you don’t take things for granted. My husband is recovering from his second brain surgery. It’s just a reminder that life can change so fast,” Piper said.
Can you imagine?
Rapper Mike Drake, aka Panic, performed “Imagine” an hip-hop song that he wrote. Drake said, “The feeling I got while onstage, was one of a kind. I’ll never forget it.”
Raising her game
Yohanna Alverina, an international student from Indonesia, performed the soaring ballad “You Raise Me Up” and won the third place, and took home a $200 scholarship.
Beatboxing brilliance
Ivan Sitohang, also of Indonesia, beat-boxed his way into second-place receiving the $300 scholarship. As a crowd favorite from the beginning of his vocal percussion performance, Sitohang was one of the few performers to boast a fan section in the audience.
Saving the best for last
The final performance of the night, by Hadassah Winters, left audience breathless after she graced the full house with her original Tidepools magazine award-winning piece, “Bittersweet.”
Winters was awarded the first place position, a $500 scholarship and will perform at the 2016 Juan de Fuca Festival this May.
Prefacing her performance with an introduction to her original song, Winters said “[Graduation] is not about walking across that stage and getting that piece of paper, it’s about the journey that led you there. This song is about making the most of these moments while you have them and while they last.
This time won’t last forever and it’s really bittersweet.”
In conclusion, President Robbins said, “It’s great to see all our students get up and sharing their talents with us.”