Lights are bright and the audience is set as students take the stage to show off their talents.
The Student Council and Fine Arts Department presented the annual Bowie’s Got Talent showcase on Saturday, March 1. The event planning was led by choir teachers Aaron Bourgeois and Randy Cantu, as well as history teacher and Student Council sponsor Alejandro Garcia.
“One of the biggest things that Mr. Cantu, Mr. Bourgeois, and I really wanted to emphasize is how big Bowie’s Got Talent was in prior years, and how big it can still grow to be,” Garcia said. “These past two years of Bowie’s Got Talent have been fantastic and it looks like it’s going to be here to stay. That makes not just us teachers, but also the students very excited.”
Bowie’s Got Talent (BGT) started in the early 2000’s, but went on pause after 2020 due to COVID before making its way back on stage in 2024. BGT was previously called Bowie Idol after American Idol. It was then changed in 2024 to Bowie’s Got Talent to emphasize the many talents other than singing that are included in the show.
“I’m really happy that this year we had a good amount of singers, but we also had people from the band, guitar, and orchestra programs audition,” Bourgeois said. “There were also talents like dancing, different types of choreo, and other talents people wouldn’t even necessarily think about.”
Auditions were held on Wednesday, February 19. Many people missed this audition day, so another day of auditions was added to give opportunities to everyone who wanted to show their talents. A total of 39 students and acts auditioned for BGT, 17 made the final cut. One act that auditioned was the singing barbershop quartet group that included Dylan Shahid-Russell, Aidan Schexnaydre, Spencer Findley, and Gavin Sewell.
“We went into the audition for fun and it didn’t matter to us if we made the final cut or not,” Shahid-Russel said. “We just knew how we’d prepared, and we knew that whatever happened, we were gonna be okay with it.”
Students auditioned for the talent show for a variety of reasons. Whether it was to overcome stage fright, bring their talents to the stage, or to share their original music. Sophomore Adelita Velasquez has been creating their own original songs for the past two years with their ukulele.
“I wanted to audition for Bowie’s Got Talent this year because last year I had so much fun being able to share my own music for the first time in front of an audience,” Velasquez said. “It’s always been a dream of mine to grow up to be a singer and a songwriter.”
Bowie’s Got Talent’s comeback in 2024 has allowed many students to show what they are interested in and talents they kept to themselves for a while. Sophomore Mattox Adams decided to share his passion for Star Wars by performing a lightsaber show for an audience for the first time since he was in middle school.
“I used to do a thing called Talent Tuesday in middle school with lightsabers, and everyone was so excited about it until the school shut it down,” Adams said. “I thought, why not give another shot at a talent show at Bowie, and I think I did really well.”
Many elements go into the production of Bowie’s Got Talent besides the talent. These include lights, practice, and may include costumes. Shahid-Russel and the other members of The Barbershop Quartet had the idea to enhance their act by wearing traditional barbershop quartet costumes.
“I think that it definitely kind of ties it together, the combination of the style of music we’re singing with the addition to the costumes,” Shahid-Russel said. “It definitely just brings a different kind of connotation than if we were to just wear normal clothes.”
Bowie’s Got Talent brings a spotlight to many passionate students and highlights the amount of effort they can put into showing their talents. The students walking in the halls that people may assume to be like everyone else, can end up having the most unique talents.
“I hope that everyone sees that there are so many different talents that people have here at Bowie,” junior Louis Olemeda said. “I hope more people will sign up next year to share their talents and get the fun experience of being a part of this show.”
