Story by Abigail Kim
Staff Writer
Photos by Kaitlyn Lee, Sunny Choi, Emiko Essmiller, & Zoe Chen
Staff Photographers
ASB held their annual talent show assembly on Friday, Feb. 9, showcasing seven student acts. The auditorium welcomed students with a variety of classical pieces, filling the auditorium with music as students trickled in.
Jones introduced the first act, The Vaxscene, a student band composed of seniors Jay Kim, Cici Cartland, and Yunha Bae, and juniors Finn Santana and Felix McFerrin. They performed a rendition of “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure. This performance was followed by a violin and viola duet by senior Yuuto Izumi and sophomore Yusei Izumi.
Sophomore Lindsay Zhu performed a piano cover of the Interstellar theme song for the third act of the assembly. After her performance, Jones introduced the judges of the show: freshmen Itusi Yoshioka and Angela Wang, sophomores Annie DeMaine and Taavi Sirota, juniors Vanessa Rolufs and Jacob Noveman, seniors Mason Sohn and Phoebe Ho, and teachers Courtney Cheney, Andrew McGough, Diane Shires, and Shane Mills. Third place won a prize of $25, second place won a prize of $50, and finally, the first place winner won $100.
Rebecca Rivera then performed a dance to RUNAWAY by half·alive. Junior William Chang performed Your Song by Elton John on the piano, and senior Vivian Yu also sang a Chinese pop song on the piano. The song title roughly translates to “Fly to the Top of the Clouds.”
The peer mediators announced the opening of the new wellness center in a video touring the new space. The video also introduced Natasha Stebbins, the school’s Train Your Brain social worker. The wellness center will host a grand opening on Thursday, Feb. 15 with brownies and tea.
A performance by student band Love, Magnolia, composed of seniors Jonah Lau and Brandon Goldman, and Aidan Jackson and freshman Campbell Carey, closed out the assembly. They performed two original songs, Magnolia and Social Convolution.
“Our performers were absolutely spectacular and each of them was so talented. They all stepped up and went through the nerve-wracking and difficult process of signing themselves up, auditioning, rehearsing, and in the end performing on stage,” Jones said. “They all deserve some serious praise for that.”
