On Friday, Feb. 27, ASB hosted MV’s Got Talent in the Auditorium from 7 to 9 p.m., featuring acts including slam poetry, musical performances, mental math tricks and cultural dances. Leadership students hosted trivia games and sold snacks during the 10 minute intermission, and junior Christina Ong and Assistant Principal Mike White led a round of Simon Says before the announcement of final awards to entertain the crowd. Final winners were decided by judges White and librarian Maria Pangelina along with tallying votes from audiences through a Google Form. Sophomore Janmejay Khandelwal won first place for mental math, senior Jayden Tang and junior Richie Yu came in second with their musical duet, and junior Eddie Fan claimed third for his rap.
Khandelwal earned a commemorative plaque and selected a two-week front-of-the-line pass for the cafeteria as his prize. He says that he chose to participate in MVGT with math tricks simply because he was free when auditions were held during lunch. Khandelwal says that he came into the experience without expecting to win, and that his biggest takeaway from the show is to just be yourself.
“I was like, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose,’” Khandelwal said. “It was amazing. I enjoy math. I learned math tricks, and that’s how I got here.”
Sophomore Saesha Koka sang an a cappella rendition of Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” during MVGT. Koka says that she decided to participate in MVGT to showcase her singing talent, and that she values the show’s positive and encouraging atmosphere.
“The environment was really amazing, and the audience clapping and singing along was really fun,” Koka said. “With everyone’s encouragement, I was really happy. I’ve been able to showcase something that not a lot of people know about, and I’ve made a lot of new friends.”
For White, the success of MVGT auditions and the wide variety of acts featured throughout showed him that the MVHS community was receptive to innovative school events. During show preparations, White says that ASB was nervous about a potential lack of turnout — and while, according to White, it’s been around 10 years since the last talent show was hosted, more students auditioned than needed. White adds that due to the success of MVGT, he hopes to see ASB host more creative school events to raise school spirit.
“My biggest takeaway is that we can do something new and it’ll be fun, and people will show up,” White said. “We need to try and strive to do events to attract different people to come to MVHS and have spirit. We need to do more things like this, not just a talent show.”
