Saint Anselm community members packed into the Dana Center’s Koonz Theater to watch students compete in this year’s St. A’s Got Talent. There were 10 performances, as well as a guest performer: last year’s competition winner, Emerald Karic.

There were three judges of the competition: Nicholas Stevenson, Sean Racine, and Bertrand Ouellette. The judges were chosen by the Anselmian Abbey Players Membership board, a group of students elected annually to run the behind-the-scenes of the Abbey Players events. Ouellette was a returning judge, while the other two were first-timers. The judges promoted Saint Anselm arts by telling students to get involved in the school’s a cappella group, the Abbey Players, or the choir.

The competition was MCed by Emily Schomp ’18 and Kelsey Warner ’19. They gave brief commentary and introduced each performer. The judges gave comments after each performance, making notes about emotion, effort, connection with the audience, and selection of music and/or talent.

Many of the competitors sang and some played instruments including the guitar, piano, and violin. Caroline Joyce ’18 danced to “Awake My Soul” by Mumford and Sons; Jake Miller ’18 performed stand-up comedy; and one young woman, Lauren Rose ‘18, even sang a cappella. Each performance brought great talent and emotion to the stage. It was truly something extraordinary to watch.

This year’s first place winners were Jordan Levesque, Stephanie Modrak, and Matthew Bettinelli. Levesque and Modrak sang “All I Want” by Kodaline while Bettinelli played guitar. This was a wonderfully emotional performance. The young ladies who sang created a riveting and captivating experience.

Taking second place were Jillian Heatley, Emma Saltsman, Sarah Gleason, and Cole Crusciel who performed “Four Chords Song” by the Axis of Awesome. Crusciel played guitar while the others sang. This was a very interesting and nontraditional song, but was executed wonderfully. This group brought great fun to their performance, making it a joy to watch.

Taking third place was senior, Millie Bache. She played guitar and sang “Yellow” by Coldplay. Bache’s performance was light-hearted and left the audience with a feeling of happiness.

Although there were only three winners, every performance was fantastic and enjoyable. It was a great reminder of how much talent we have on our college campus, and this was only a small portion of the student population.