Of all the students who performed in Sister to Sister’s “Rock’s Got Talent,” talent show Tuesday, one contestant took first prize after performing an original rap.
The winner of ROCK’s Got Talent was fine arts major Tyler Sing, who presented rapping as his talent, and the runner-up was freshman communication major Kennedy Randall, who presented her talent of spoken word.
Sister to Sister’s talent show, ROCK’s Got Talent, featured a beatboxer, contortionist, unicyclist, musicians, members from Rock Cheer, singers, dancers, members of Jam Rock, comedians and many others Tuesday night in the Smith Student Center Ballroom. ARHS (Association of Residence Hall Students) also helped fund the event.
Sister to Sister is an organization that was founded in 2002 which seeks to provide an equal opportunity for all women to express themselves in a supportive and non-judgmental environment.
“One common misconception is that Sister to Sister is only for women, but we encourage men to attend our meetings so we can hear both points of view,” said Shannon Pitcairn, a sophomore public relations major who put together the ROCK’s Got Talent event.
“As college students, we know how hard it can be when you don’t have money to attend on campus events,” Pitcairn said. “During one of my class assignments, I learned that 85 percent of college students feel stressed on a daily basis. I believe that the talent show is a great way for students to take a break and come together with their peers.”
For the talent show, the judges dressed up and acted like celebrities of their choice. The event was meant to be a parody on “America’s Got Talent,” but because of scheduling conflicts, some of the judges took on celebrity personas from outside of the NBC talent competition. The panel included celebrities like Oprah, Big Sean, Howard Stern and Emma Stone.
Second place winner, Randall, spoke about her brother who has passed on saying, “God, I was wondering why you take away the people we love? Why you let us get so attached and intertwine thoughts with these people, and twist our words together to make plot lines to this story, then take them away from us.”
“Why was that cop’s purpose to stop my brother’s purpose and take him away from us? The day after Easter before the crack of dawn, my brother was gone,” Randall said in her spoken word presentation.
Students were given the opportunity to take time away from studious activities to watch their fellow classmates showcase their talents. Along with Sing and Randall, there were 15 other acts with a halftime performance from selected dancers from JamRock.
Early childhood and special education major Erminia Spinelli, said that she thoroughly enjoyed the event, and she additionally helped set up the event last minute with social work and professional studies with an emphasis in non-profit management major Maria Montaro, criminology major Unika Rivera, communication major Malika Fields, and education major Jasmine Thompson.
“Sister to Sister put this on because we felt that students needed some way to take a break, and get a stress reliever,” Pitcairn said. “I feel like this semester not too many clubs had free events tailored to giving students a break, and I felt like we should step up to the plate.”
Students have already begun asking Pitcairn if there will be another talent show next semester, and based off of the attendance from Tuesday night’s event. She is already thinking about hosting ROCK’s Got Talent again.
“I certainly was not expecting there to be the amount of people that came tonight, I was thinking that we’d get 20 people or 30,” Pitcairn said. “I definitely hope there is one next year because I think it went well.”
Sophomore dance major Kaila Belinda dances alongside dance group Jam Rock.
