Senior Planning held their annual Thursday Night Live (TNL) event on Feb. 29 in the auditorium to allow students to show off their talents in front of the school.
The talent show included original songs, group dances and piano improv by senior Charles Liddle. “I liked how there was a lot more diversity in the acts and it wasn’t just singing as it has often been in past years,” Senior Planning sponsor Keith Schwartz said.
The hosts in the first half were seniors John Yi and Jake Silverman, who cracked jokes and announced performers just like hosts on the popular show SNL, which inspired the name for TNL. The show has been a beloved tradition here for years. “TNL has been a tradition for a very long time, tracing back to when I was a student here, and it is important because it gives kids an opportunity to show off their talents,” Schwartz said.
The first half of the show was highlighted by a drag performance from senior Jae Edwards, which got the crowd on their feet. At intermission, attendees were able to buy snacks and beverages outside the auditorium. At the beginning of the second half, the hosts announced that Wootton had just beaten Magruder in the basketball regional semifinals, which led the auditorium to erupt into cheers. Despite the scheduling conflict with the playoff basketball game happening at the same time as TNL, there were still lots of people in attendance. “A lot of students came to watch great talent, considering there was a playoff basketball game at the same time,” senior class president Kelly Ren said.
The end event that people had been waiting for was the faculty masked singer event. The mystery teacher walked out in an inflatable pink unicorn costume and began to sing the lyrics to “Don’t Stop Believing,” by Journey, and as they left the stage guesses began to fly around the auditorium as to who the teacher was, such as Principal Doug Nelson and math teacher Michele Ridge. After a drumroll, statistics teacher Michelle George walked out on the stage. “A student heard Ms. George singing in class one time so we knew she was enthusiastic about it so we asked her,” Schwartz said.
At the end of the event, two awards were given, one for best dance performance, and one for best singing and musical performance. The awards were voted for by special education teacher Lisa Young, poms coach and special education teacher Mia Krawczel and staff development teacher Christy Rice. The winner for best dance performance was given to Edwards for his drag performance. The best singing performance was given to freshmen Hania Zawadka and Nancy Chien for their piano performance.
Organizers and attendees deemed the event a success. “TNL was a lot of fun. I was able to watch students showcase their talent and come alive like never before,” junior Charlie Balian said.
