For the first time in years, Wando High School hosted a talent show on the night of April 10, showcasing various talents found within the Wando community.

Culinary teacher Molly Gordon and her students worked to organize the event.

“Wando’s Got Talent is a talent show that is sponsored by FCCLA (Family Career and Community Leaders of America), but it’s unique in the fact that it’s not only student talent, but also teacher talent as well,” Gordon said. “FCCLA does a lot of different fundraisers, but we were trying to think of an opportunity that wasn’t currently offered at Wando. So talent shows have been really fun, a lot of the students have them in middle school…  and that’s how we … settled on a talent show.”

Tickets to the show were five dollars, and the funds go to an important cause for the FCCLA students.

“The money raised is going to our FCCLA organization account, and mostly the money is going to be our summer National Leadership Conference, where students have to qualify to compete on the national stage,” Gordon said.

Of course, putting on a show like this requires a lot of preparation.

“Starting at the beginning of the year, around January and February, we recruited the talent, so we posted on our social media and we put some posters up to have auditions, just because you want to make sure that you’re we wanted to make sure that we were showcasing the best of the best, so we had auditions, and then the students that were accepted were emailed to let them know about their acceptance, and then that’s when they started honing their talent. They showed us 60 seconds during the audition, and… the snippets that we saw were really, really great. So I’m excited to see the full-blown acts,” Gordon said.

One such act is Sophomore Audrey Gray, with the talent of singing.

“I’ve been singing since as long as I can remember… and I started chorus in the third grade,” Gray said. “I love to sing because it’s just, it’s so… expressive. It’s really fun… it’s like feelings and emotion and stuff like that… I like to perform because… it gives me a chance to show what I’ve been working really hard for, what I’ve been doing for such a long time, putting so much effort into, and it gives me a good chance to, like, show everyone that.”

Gray is also in Wando Choir and Wando Theatre, but the difference in this performance is that she is onstage alone.

“It will be very different because I’m not singing with a group of people. It’s just going to be me standing on that stage, and it’s a little nerve-wracking. But… I get really excited,” Gray said.

Despite nerves, it can be seen as a good thing for an individual to stand out from the crowd.

“I think that it very rarely comes in life where you have the opportunity of the stage for yourself. And you know, Wando’s all about community… we wanted to do something to uplift our community in a spot where maybe someone hasn’t had the opportunity to be showcased,” Gordon said. 

Even those students who have had a chance to be showcased often have not been able to show off their talents alone.

“It’s really fulfilling to be a part of a big group, but sometimes you’re kind of hidden, you’re just one part in a big symphony. This is gonna’ give someone the opportunity to… all eyes on them, all the praise,” Gordon said. “So I think just kind of battling that nervousness with bravery and just kind of overcoming that for the… ultimate prize. And I think that once you come over that challenge, just being on the stage, and hearing the applause it’s gonna’ be more than enough.”