Lights, camera, action! On January 31st, Hutchison hosted its annual Heart and Soul Talent Show, an event that not only allows Hutchison students to display their wide variety of talents but to also raise awareness and funds for the Le Bonheur Heart Institution.
This year, the talent show had 20 acts ranging from students in first grade to seniors in high school. Many of the acts involved dancing, singing, and playing a variety of instruments. Something that made the show unique this year was that Adela Calzada’s performance is part of her myExperience project. When asked about her project, Adela said, “I choreographed this dance because of how Hutchison has impacted me and shaped me into the person I have become, and I wanted it to be about how Hutchison is my home away from home! I performed it in the talent show, and afterward, I filmed it all around Hutchison and created a film of my dance with all the places important to me at Hutchison and included videos of me when I was younger dancing on the Hutchison stage! Since Hutchison has truly shaped me into the dancer and person I am now!”
What makes the Heart and Soul Talent Show special is that it is always run by a group of seniors every year. This year, Blair Mellone, Gracie Wilkinson, Corinne Rhodes, Ann Grier Johnston, Maddie Lee, and Zelia Cedeno-Avila all hosted the talent show and supervised a separate section of the event.
Gracie and Blair, Arts Council president and vice president, overlooked the girls auditioning and ensured that the talent show was able to display the best acts possible. Ann Grier and Corinne, service learning president and vice president, oversaw the donation aspect of the talent show and brought senior Mary Ross Whipple on stage, a student who was admitted to Le Bonheur Hospital for open heart surgery. Her story allowed the audience to see why it is integral to donate to the hospital because it can help save patients just like her.
Zelia Cedeno-Avila and Maddie Lee, technology council president and vice president, worked on everything backstage and oversaw the lighting and audio of the show. Although they often go unnoticed, Zelia and Maddie had one of the most important roles in the show, making sure that each act had the correct audio and that the spotlight was always at the right place.
The Heart and Soul Talent Show is often a widely favored event by many students across Memphis, and people expect next year’s show to be even better. Because people from a variety of different schools all come to see students display their talents, this event unifies students from Memphis to all come together and support a beneficial cause. While talking about the talent show, senior Hira Janjua said, “I love the Heart and Soul Talent Show because I love supporting my peers and helping Le Bonheur Heart Institute.”
