Longwood’s Got Talent is a talent show held in the Jarman Auditorium of Longwood University each year as the campus wide program for the Cox Hall and Wheeler Hall residential buildings. Each year, the event has a different theme. For the show that was held this past Friday, the theme was diversity. Students performed various talents that had to deal with politics, current events, and the representation of under-served communities.
The winners of the event were the dance trio Good Girls Gone Bad, who won the grand prize of an iPhone X. The second place prize went to Liam Schofield, who showed off his talent as a vocalist. The third place prize was awarded to Kelli Hedgepeth. Kristen Swisher was determined to be the crowd favorite for her poem about her “addiction” to sugar.
This Charles Opoku-Amoako’s second year as a resident assistant in Cox and Wheeler Halls, and so this is also his second year hosting Longwood’s Got Talent. He was joined by his co-host, Jahnay Davis, who is also a resident assistant for Cox and Wheeler. This is her first year in the position, and so it is also her first year as a host of this talent show.
"We wanted to kind of … highlight the international aspect of things that were (happening) on Longwood's campus and how we can be more aware of that,” Opoku-Amoako said on the topic the night’s theme. He also added that it is important to “just think about that and be a part of that."
Davis sees the inspiration for this year’s diversity theme as coming from past Longwood’s Got Talent performances from years gone by, as well current events that are relevant to discussions of diversity.
“I think we kind of looked at other things in the past from Longwood's Got Talent and also thought about recent activities in the world,” she said. “Different things going on in the world, whether it be negative or positive, we all are celebrating diversity ... It just ties a lot into what's going on today in the world, so we just thought it was really appropriate."
The acts represented a wide variety of social justice issues, such as racial discrimination and hostility towards the LGBT community.
Davis smiled as she said that "All of our acts were diverse and different, so we really wanted to highlight that, as well. We didn't have any single act that was the same as another one."
The event filled Jarman Auditorium, and such a large event takes time to plan. Eight months, to be exact. Davis said that she, Opoku-Amoako and the rest of the seven total Cox and Wheeler staff had been working on this since August.
Unlike many other performing arts events, such as those done by the theatre and music departments, Longwood’s Got Talent does not have an audition. Instead, potential performers simply can fill out an online form or talk to a Cox and Wheeler staff member at a table in the Dorrill Dining Hall or out on Brock Commons. Hopeful performers can fill out an application with their name and talent. Often, number of performers will have to be narrowed down in order to fit within the hour and a half running time, but they did not need to do that this year, as the original pool of applicants was only about 12 or 13 people, according to Davis. This was eventually shrunk to the final 10 acts as performers left due to their own personal reasons.
Both Davis and Opoku-Amoako were very proud of the accomplishments of all involved.
“It's really incredible to think that from seven people who are put together every year, maybe one or two that are the same from last year,” Opoku-Amoako said, “That we're capable of putting on something like this that really just excites the Longwood community, and that also engages the entire Farmville community, as well.”
Davis said that working on this project has given her a new appreciation for the projects that others host on campus.
“I don't think a lot of people realize the hard work that we do,” she said. “So whenever I got to events on campus, I'm thinking, 'Wow, this probably took a lot of work.’”
Each residence building puts on its own community and campus wide events over the course of the school year, so students that missed this one can find another around the corner soon.
