Summit Charter School held its annual talent show on Friday, Summit’s Got Talent; and singers, musicians, gymnasts, and dancers descended upon the stage at the Community Bible Church to perform in front of a packed house. Whether it was 6th-grader Ansley Hughes and 5th-grader Jaden Bauer singing a duet of “One Day,” or 2nd-grader Charlotte Bumgarner performing a gymnastics routine to the theme song from “Get Smart,” the audience responded to all acts with enthusiastic applause and cheers.
Talent Show Director Tracie Jernigan said she was impressed with the creativity of the young thespians who took the stage.
“All of the acts were amazing, but what’s amazing is they came up with their own ideas,” said Jernigan. “During coaching sessions, we watched their confidence grow performing in front of their peers and in front of the crowd. And while performing they would look to their peers for encouragement.”
Closing the show were Trouble-Making Teachers, and dance number using card-board cutouts of teachers’ faces to mimic a Bobble Head’s movement.
Click below to watch video of Trouble-Making Teachers at Summit’s Got Talent 2019.
“We couldn’t see but we heard people laughing so we knew it was alright,” said 7th-grader Abbie Doerter.
The dancers held the face-cutouts in their mouth by biting onto red Solo Cups taped to the cardboard to keep their hands free for the performance. Jernigan said the troupe practiced the dance ahead of time, but Friday’s performance was the first time they performed using the cutouts.
“I was really nervous, but excited also,” said 7th-grader Riley Logan.
Dancers in the Trouble-Making Teachers held the teacher-face cutouts with their teeth while performing to a compilation of songs.
Fourth-grader Jordyn Borino tore it up on stage with cohorts fourth-graders Mary Travis Boswell and Charlotte Westendorf to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna to Have Fun.” Borino said they chose the song because they didn’t want the only people dancing in the crowd to be kids.
“We wanted parents to get up and dance so we chose an 80s song,” said Borino. “We were kind of nervous to mess up. Every time we practiced we messed up. I messed up once tonight, but I just went with the flow.”
Dancers Charlotte Westendorf, Jordyn Borino, and Mary Travis Boswell perform to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
Things can get spicy on stage when plans go wrong and the unexpected happens, like in the case of Hughes and Bauer when one of their microphones malfunctioned mid-performance. But the singers turned the negative into a positive and the show went on.
“We did pretty good other than the microphone messing up,” said Bauer. “But it actually worked out perfect at the end of the performance when we had to share the one mic, it actually sounded better.”
From left are Ansley Hughes and Jaden Bauer singing “One Day.” The duet had a minor technical mishap mid-performance when they handled a faulty microphone like seasoned pros and the show continued on without a hitch.
This is Summit’s 15th year hosting a talent show and Jernigan said the community has always been supportive.
“The turnout is always great,” said Jernigan. “Parents love it, even kids who aren’t in the show come to watch and support their classmates and cheer them on. People just like to come out and have a good time.”
Rainier Findley plays “Old Joe Clark,” at Summit’s Got Talent on Friday at the Community Bible Church in Highlands.
Fourth-grader Lydia Hughes dances to “Blackbird.”
Emcees for Summit’s Got Talent in no particular order were Kayla Koonts, Chloe Stiwinter, Anna Nichols, and Tyler Stewart-Payne.
Article and photos by Brian O’Shea
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