Warren’s Got Talent
Submitted by Shannon Regan
Warren Middle School (WMS) students have created their own spin-off of the popular television show, America’s Got Talent. Warren’s Got Talent is a student-designed and student-driven activity that has taken off with popularity by one 8th-grade class.
Student’s in Mrs. Dannine Albanese’s and Mrs. Christine Cirrotti’s homeroom proposed the idea of a friendly competition between classmates which included students in the classroom as well as students learning from home to help bridge the gap between them.
Warren’s Got Talent takes place during morning meeting, 3-4 times per week from 8:10 a.m. to 8:25 a.m. Morning meeting is a short allotment of time before the first period of the day where teachers can take attendance and get their students on track for a successful learning experience.
WMS student Zachary Esposito created the contest rules and invited his classmates to submit a 2-5 minute video of themselves showcasing their talent for the class to view. Esposito provided examples for his peers such as singing, stand-up comedy, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, spoken word, and competitive eating! Esposito’s classmate, Dravid George takes care of scheduling each student’s performance.
Warren’s Got Talent started on November 18. So far, the class has seen a number of different talents such as Diabolo, sometimes known as the Chinese yo-yo, from Ryan Sapoff. Aryan Nair submitted a piece titled The LA Rap where he describes his class and teachers. Amy Aschoff submitted a video of herself demonstrating backflips and clips from cheerleading competitions. Benjamin Phan played a live acoustic guitar version of Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams).
Just as the judges on America’s Got Talent give feedback to contestants, the students along with Albanese and Cirrotti share words of encouragement and praise at the end of each student’s video. Oftentimes the contestants will be asked questions about their performance along with a round of applause from everyone.
According to Cirrotti and Albanese, this competition is giving their student’s the opportunity to get to know their classmates, safely socialize, and showcase something that they can be proud of. Cirrotti added, “Even some of our more quiet students have taken this opportunity to come out of their shell and shine for their classmates.”
Following the schools’ Winter Break, the class will vote on the winner of Warren’s Got Talent!
