Exonians Display Their Talents at StuCo Talent Show

Senior Kantapon "Pum" Wiboonsakaskul and the dance group Beat of Asia shared a first place victory and a $20 gift certificate to Orange Leaf after their stellar performances at the talent show last Friday. Prep Maya Perkins won third place for her singing performance, which was the first performance of the night to receive a score of 9.9.

Showcasing talents, scored by judges

The talent show was hosted by Student Council to provide an opportunity for students to showcase a variety of talents, which were scored by each of the five judges. The judging panel included seniors Joon Yang, Ainsley Fahey and Okunlola Odusote, as well as Dean Russell Weatherspoon and Day Student Program Coordinator Jan Truman.

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Scores ranged between 6 and 10.2 with most scores averaging above 7.5. Some felt that the scoring was too generous. "I enjoyed all of the performances. They were all pretty good, but I think that most of the scores that the judges gave were way too high," upper Jack Bright said.

Lower Yusuke Agata agreed, attributing the high scoring to the success of previous performances. "I definitely feel that the judges could have been a little harsher. After one good performance, like the third or fourth one, when the judges all gave good scores, they felt obliged to continue to give high scores."

Senior Ainsley Fahey was one of the judges at the show. "I really liked being a judge because it was fun to get to say my opinion in front of the school and have fun watching the performances. It was also kind of nerve-wracking because, as I found out the hard way, you could say something dumb or wrong and the crowd will not respond well," she said.

Not an easy decision

Choosing the winners was not an easy decision. Dean Weatherspoon had stated that, unlike in past years, every performer exhibited exceptional talent.

"Marco should’ve won. His charisma is crazy and I really enjoyed his performance," lower Palmer Jordan said. Other high-scoring performances included the trio of lowers Sabrina Movitz, Tori Dakin and Elsa Chinburg and a solo dance performance by Jess Hebl.

Fahey enjoyed the wide range of performances. "I was really impressed with the guts that all of the performers had. It is not easy to get up in front of a crowd that is as judgmental as Exeter students are, so I really respected them for that," she said.

"There were a lot of performances and most, if not all, were well done," prep Frank Dwyer said. "There’s a lot of artistic talent we never see at Exeter, and it was cool to see that on display."

Senior Serena Sun recently joined Beat of Asia and explained that the act took at least two weeks of practice. "I’m glad I joined. I’m so thankful I got to be a part of it my senior spring. The other members are some of the most dedicated and kind-hearted people I’ve met here!" she said.

A different turnout -- "more upperclassman?"

Though the show was quite entertaining, some were expecting a slightly different turnout. Surprisingly, most of the performers who shared their talents were underclassmen. "For the next talent show, I think it would be great if we could have more upperclassmen performing. Most of the performances were by lowerclassmen and while that’s great, it’s only half the school," said Fahey.

All of the talents seen were either singing or dancing. "I suppose that I would have wanted to see non-singing/dancing performances, but it would be hard to think of something other than a singing or dancing number, especially in the Assembly Hall," Dwyer said.

"It was really interesting to see the wide variety of talent Exonians have to offer, and the courage many people had to go up in front of peers and perform," prep Rex Bone said.