It’s one thing to sing to a room full of strangers, but a whole different picture when the seats are filled with friends.
Lander’s Got Talent offers a chance for students at the University to showcase talents to their classmates and the community – whether it is singing, playing an instrument or spoken word poetry.
“We have 11 acts, which is the most that we’ve had in a while,” said Dr. Demario Watts, interim executive director for Student Life and Engagement.
During the April 3rd talent show, judges chose a singing duo who literally lit up the crowd - inspiring them to wave flashlights to the beat of the music - as winners of the competition.
The duo consisted of Isaiah Groves, a junior business major from Anderson, and Braxton Tolbert, a junior marketing management major from Beaufort.
It was Groves’ second time doing the talent show, but the first for Tolbert. He said he and Groves have been singing together for about a year now, and Groves convinced him to do the talent show this year.
It wasn’t Tolbert’s first time performing, he had done that as a chorus member before, but said it was his first time performing in front of a bunch of people he knows, so he was a bit nervous ahead of the start of the show.
“It’s a little different,” he said. “I feel like once the music starts playing, my nerves will calm down and I’ll just get in the groove of things, but when those curtains open, I’m going to be shocked.”
The runner up, Betserai Magarire, is a freshman computer information systems major from Zimbabwe, who performed a poem he wrote that drew both gasps and cheers from the audience.
Vivian LeBron, a freshman nursing major from Blythewood, was excited to get on stage, but knew there would be a lot of friends in the crowd. “I feel it’s easier to sing in front of a bunch of people that you don’t necessarily know, whereas here, I know a lot of people who are going to be in the audience - so it’s a little bit nerve-wracking. But at the same time, it’s exciting,” she said.
One performer will carry his memories of Lander’s Got Talent with him as he graduates in a few short weeks. Chukwuzam Idehen, a senior cybersecurity major from Fort Mill, played the saxophone as his talent.
“It’ll be something memorable for me, especially toward the tail end of the semester now that it’s almost over,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to adding something to my experiences at Lander.”