Chapeltonix wins big at annual talent show

Last Saturday featured the Student Activities Committee’s annual Really Big Talent Show. A total of nine acts competed to win free textbooks for the fall semester. The competitors, ranging from freshmen to seniors, gave it their all in front of a cheering audience in the Bultman Student Center Great Room. The first act was Andrew Prieskorn (’22), who kept the audience on their toes with his elaborate jump rope routine. Next up was the first of two magic acts for the night. Jayden Ware (’20) performed a magic trick in which he used a dark blue cloth and a yellow bandana, or a banana in his case. He had the audience filled with laughter as he made the folded banana disappear. Next up was Natalie Brunner (’21) with her vocal and ukulele performance of “wish you were gay” by Billie Eilish. Brunner left the crowd wishing for an encore and in awe of how similar the performance was to Eilish’s.

Then came the second magic act of the evening. Tim Hwang (’20), card expert and mentalist, performed three different card tricks using volunteers from the audience. Blade Gates (’22) performed the first original song of the evening. He played the piano and sang his song “Follow the Lead” for his act. He wrote the song throughout his first year at Hope. Mallory Shinn (’21) followed suit and performed her original song “Better Left Unsaid” while playing the guitar. This was her second original song and also her second time competing in the talent show. Audrey McDonald (’19) was next and left nothing unsaid during her stand-up comedy act. Her material addressed many parts of Hope’s culture, including the men, or lack thereof. Eliseo Bustillos (’22) was next, showing the audience his skills in beat boxing and singing as he performed Ne-Yo’s song “Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself).” The final act was last year’s winner Chapeltonix, an a cappella group featuring the vocal talents of Grace Thompson (’19), Noah Helmus (’20), Jillian Wade (’20), Scott Corman (’21) and Pano Stavropoulos (’21). They wowed the audience with their rendition of Pentatonix’s a cappella arrangement of the song “Hallelujah.”

The audience was then given the opportunity to vote for their favorite act. Third place went to Mallory Shinn and her original song. Andrew Prieskorn was awarded second place for his impressive jump rope routine. The winner of this year’s talent show, for the second year in a row, was Chapeltonix for their incredible a cappella performance. The five members of the group were awarded free textbooks for next semester from SAC.