Riverbend High School’s talent show took place on Friday, February 23rd at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Tryouts were held on January 23rd after school. This determined who was qualified for the school’s talent show, which would take place a month later.
The night started off with a cover by the band, Beyond Sound, whose performers were Carrissa Bergeron, a junior at Riverbend, with Holly Haus, Maverick Dishman, Alexa Rivas, and Jordan Keeley who are all students at Chancellor High School. These students met at church, eventually became friends over their love of music, and have been playing together for over a year. For the talent show, they performed a cover of Panic! At The Disco’s “LA Devotee.”
Michael Mullen, a.k.a. “Big Mike”, a junior at Riverbend, performed a rap that he wrote about society today, and how his thoughts on the world make him angry. Ever since he was twelve years old, he wanted to become more involved in the music industry. He said, “When I first started, I wasn’t necessarily considered a rapper, as my personality was different than a lot of others. I never told anyone about my passion and talent for writing, but when I heard about the talent show for this year, I felt I had taken enough pressure to put myself out there and show everyone what I can do; that there was more to me than what meets the eye. So I tried out, and at first, I thought I wasn’t going to make it, as I didn’t really know how the judges would feel. Turns out, they really loved it, and the rest is just history writing itself,” stated Mullen.
Victoria Coefield, senior, performed “Comptine D’un autre ete” by Yann Tiersen on the piano. She has been playing the piano since she was five years old and when she learned “Comptine D’un autre ete,” she figured the talent show was the perfect time to showcase her talent. This was her first time performing in school, but she has had recitals for other audiences in the past. She said, “What I learned from this experience is that I shouldn’t be afraid to showcase my talents, because as I saw on Friday, there are so many people who are supportive of everyone.”
Another student who was surprised by all the support from students was Nina Maliszewski, a junior who recently transferred to Riverbend this past year. For her performance, she sang “Never Enough” from the movie The Greatest Showman. She has been performing on-stage for 10 years and since freshman year, she has been performing in the talent show at her old school. Maliszewski stated, “The whole thing was awesome, especially to see all the support from people who don’t even know me that well.”
Overall, the talent show was a great experience for anybody who went, especially for the performers who were willing to show their talents in front of all their peers. This was a job well done. Go Bears!