On Friday, April 3, the high school put on a virtual talent show as a way to connect with students during this time of isolation amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show turned out to be a huge success. With over 800 viewers, it was a unique way for students to admire the talents of their peers and a great way to spark conversation amongst friends during this otherwise dull time.

“I loved watching all of the acts and the banter between the emcees,” Caroline Estella said. “Of course nothing beats a live talent show, but it was refreshing to see some familiar faces perform awesome acts.”

Principal Bishop was disappointed that the class of 2020 wouldn’t be able to put on their final talent show scheduled in April, but he was determined to make it happen virtually.

“On Tuesday, March 31 Ms. Murray reached out to some of us who had been involved with talent shows in the past,” senior Meghan Sullivan said. “She asked for help with publicizing and facilitating the show.”

Alex Tannenbaum helped with the technological logistics of the show, including figuring out how to play clips of acts while having the emcees and judges on a Google Hangout. He also contacted HCAM to stream the show and post it on their Youtube channel to reach more people.

“Alex was a huge help. Us emcees were happy to help with the show but didn’t know much about the technology side. Thankfully, Alex reached out to Ms. Murray and offered to help because we couldn’t have done it without him,” Hannah Ianelli said.

Submissions started coming in on Tuesday and ended on Friday. There were fourteen acts from students and five from teachers.

“I was super excited that a lot of people were willing to participate. I feel like it could be even more nerve-wracking submitting an act online than performing it in person,” Meghan Sullivan said.

The show was live-streamed from Google Hangouts on Friday at 8 PM. Although only clips of the acts were shown on the live stream, students were sent a link to watch the full acts.

Tim Fargiano and his brother Ben Fargiano ended up winning the talent show with their rendition of John Mayer’s “Stop This Train”.

“Tim and Ben won, but really everyone who was a part of the show was a winner. All of the acts were amazing. The administration and teachers were super happy that we were able to pull off such a great show,” Hannah Ianelli said.

The student council had a Zoom meeting on Tuesday to discuss new ideas for virtual events in the future.

“The show was definitely a success, and we would love to put on something similar in the future. We really just want to give students opportunities to connect as much as possible in this time,” Student Council President Luke MacDonald said.