Chad Sumen wins Talent Show held by ASB

By Krista Roberts
Staff Writer

Freshman Chad Sumen won the annual Mira Costa Talent Show held by the Associated Student Body on Feb. 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the auditorium.

The show consisted of 24 acts starring students from all grades in a variety of performances. Sumen placed first for his aerial arts performance, Timpanic Membrain (consisting of seniors Bryan Afzali, Ryan Kay and Riley Thomasson, and junior Ari Stern) placed second for their percussion performance, and senior Justin Filbrich placed third for his classical vocal rendition of “Grenada” by Placido Domingo.

“I entered the talent show just to perform, not for the fact that I would win anything. I practice every day except for Sundays for one hour each day,” Sumen said. “There were more people cheering for me than I thought there would be. It feels good to win; I definitely didn’t expect it.”

Student Government held open try outs on Jan. 19, 20 and 21 to pick the best 26 acts for the show. Approximately 50 acts auditioned for the show.

“Originally we let 26 acts into the show, but two dropped out at the last minute. So we settled with 24,” Student Government advisor Lisa Claypoole said.

Senior class President Chloe Kojima and senior class Vice President Samantha Curry spent two months planning the event. Student body Vice President Sierra Bloodgood and Secretary/Treasurer Ally Jordan emceed the show. The two introduced each performance throughout the night, while the theater management class ran the lights, music and microphones.

“It was a group effort from everyone. We all put in a lot of time and worked really hard to produce a flawless talent show,” Kojima said.

Seven staff members judged the show based on performer talent, audience reaction and originality using a scale from one to 10 for talent and reaction, and one to five for originality.

Science aide Karen Cunningham, math teacher Dan Debevec, Spanish teacher Nancy Geczi, English teacher Debbie Hofreiter, math teacher Jason Robertson, Vice Principal Jaime Mancilla and Spanish teacher Anita Rossell evaluated the performances.

“The talent here at Mira Costa is just beyond belief. The singing, the music, the dancing, it’s all awesome. I wish I would have paid for my ticket because that would have made me feel better as a judge. But it came down to our grading criteria,” Debevec said.

Tickets were sold pre-sale for $3 and at the door for $5. The money raised will help fund various ASB projects such as school dances, spirit days and other school-sponsored events.

“I am very impressed by the variety of talent we have at our school. It was definitely the best Talent Show we’ve ever had,” said Kojima.