‘Southern Miss’s Got Talent’ entertains students

For one night, some of the University of Southern Mississippi’s students gathered in Bennett Auditorium to show off their talent for the audience and judges.

Southern Miss’s Got Talent, a talent show put on by the Southern Miss Activities Council and sponsored by Best Buy, had a packed audience this Tuesday. Frantz

Salomon, SMAC’s president, believes part of that success can be attributed to SMAC opening up the contest to more people.

“Attendance was at least double what we had last year for Southern Miss Idol,” Salomon said. “We had a wide variety of people who came and auditioned because we expanded the realm from just singers to other types of talent. There was a definite increase in participation this year.”

SMAC’s advisor, Joel Hughes, estimates there was somewhere between 300 – 400 people for the American Idol-esque contest last year. Due to the success this year, Salomon says it’s safe to say the format isn’t going to change back any time soon. Instead of just taking inspiration from the ultra-popular karaoke contest,

Southern Miss’s Got Talent more closely resembled another much-watched television talent show this year: “America’s Got Talent.”

This year’s winner was Cody Schlagel, who impressed the judges with his spoken word poetry. Casey Taggert sang a Michael Bublé song and was the runner up. In all, 20 students participated in the talent show this year. Amanda McDaniel, one of those participants, enjoyed her time on stage even though she was nervous.

“It was very exciting. I’m pursuing my music but there’s nothing like being in front of all of your peers and performing. It’s a humbling experience,” McDaniel said.

A panel of three judges judged McDaniel and other contestants with the help of the audience. When the contest was over, the audience voted by texting the number of their favorite performer from their cell phone. Kim McAfee, a USM senior speech pathology major and audience member, said she was happy to see so many people take part in the contest.

“I came out tonight to show support for SMAC and for the students in general. It’s nice to see everyone participating and having a good time,” McAfee said.

 Contest judge and psychology professor, David Echevarria, was also pleased with the participation.

“This was fantastic. There was so much talent and so much diversity. I thought the crowd was great,” Echevarria said. “There were a lot of first time performers and I was happy the crowd was so supportive. “

Students like Eli Willlingham, a junior psychology major, came out to lend support for someone they knew in the contest.

“It was a good variety of entertainment but I came to see my friend, Sara Davis, singing an Adele song, which I actually sent to her,” Willingham said. “She didn’t know about the song before, and after I showed it to her she ended up picking it to sing in the contest. She did a really good job.”

The first place winner won a high definition FLIP video camera. An iPod shuffle was the second place prize. The master of ceremonies was Student Government Association president, J.R. Robinson.