MUNCIE, Ind. — College life often demands endless attention and focus on academics, making it easy for students to lose sight of their personal passions and natural talents.
Campus organization Man2Men hosted a talent show, allowing students to reconnect with their creative sides.
What started as an idea during a board meeting turned into the first of something much larger and impactful — a talent show for singers, dancers and talents of all kinds. Talents range from singing, baton twirling, jump roping, poetry and many more.
Angel Vazquez, director of the student committee for the talent show, felt the contestants should be all-inclusive rather than representative of a group or organization.
“You don't need to represent anyone except yourself; you can just show up with your talent and have your friends come support you, and that is it. I want the barrier of entry to be very low,” he said.
For other members, this was an opportunity to take initiative and be in the front seat. Caleb Roberts is not only the public relations director of the committee, but he also used this show for his first chance to perform a song he created.
“A lot of the events and a lot of stuff we do, I'm just kind of in the background. No,” Roberts said. “This event I’m front and center. Like I'm on the stage, I'm going to be really confident.”
Interactive games were incorporated during the breaks between acts, allowing the audience to feel they were part of the show. Many members of the student committee gave away Man2Men merchandise to the winners of the games.
Gabriel Baker attended the talent show to support Vazquez, but found himself participating in the games unexpectedly.
“I went up on the drip or drown, one and I didn’t know I was going to be on it but I had a great time anyway. It's like, it got everybody like super involved and it kept the energy up,” Baker said.
Those who chose not to participate in the games had no choice but to listen and dance to their favorite jams, passing the vibe check.
Audience members were able to vote on their favorite act, and Student 2 Stars ended the night by awarding the winner, Abigail Moss, whose talent resides in the piano.
This showcase was the first for Man2Men, with 15 performances and over 200 attendees, and they look forward to hosting more events like this in the future.
Man2Men will have one last event to wrap up the semester. Be on the lookout for their end-of-the-year banquet coming up before the school year comes to an end.
Contact Kahmara Munn with comments at kahmara.munn@bsu.edu.
