World’s Got Talent takes the stage for season two

Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU) fosters such a diverse population of students from around the world and it deserves to be lauded for that, but it becomes astonishing when these students reveal their talents to the audience. The World’s Got Talent (WGT), a talent show organized and hosted at MNSU, has been doing an impressive job to acknowledge these gifted people by giving them a platform to display their talents. On Nov. 15, The International Student Association (ISA) and Kearney International Center successfully hosted the show calling it “World’s Got Talent Season 2.”

This year, 19 students participated in the show. Attendees were a mix of international and domestic students, but interestingly, the majority of participants were international students of different nationalities. The show began with a warm welcome by the hosts followed by the introduction of judges, Dr. Paul Hustoles (Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance), Dr. Habib Abo (Professor of Accounting and Business Law), and Dr. Stephanie Thorpe (Assistant Professor in the Department of Music) who also stepped forward to contribute the prizes to reward the winners.

“I am excited about this event. I like the diversity of this show as we get to see variety in the acts and performances performed by participants from different cultures,” said Yuketun Cisneros, an undergrad in Biology at MNSU.

“It is fun to be here today. Also, the crowed is huge. I was expecting to see less people because it’s Tuesday, but there are a lot of people here today,” said Linh Hoang, a freshman in Psychology.

Indeed, the crowd was bigger than expected as the show was organized on a weekday. But, the crowd seemed very excited and was having fun which hugely contributed to making the competition a success.

There were 19 different performances throughout the show, beginning with a well synchronized and energetic hip-hop dance performance by Mankato Dance, followed by a performance from Priscilla Nabatanzi who beautifully sang the song “Hallelujah.” Margret Bones showed her skills doing a prop dance. Then came the Everest Crew to perform a Nepali cultural dance act about teasing but also impressing the girls. “Bharatanatyam,” an Indian cultural dance, (also renowned as one of the toughest dances) was beautifully put on by Bhavyaka & Neelima. But these are only a few among all the mesmerizing performances that occured one after another.

One thing that made it a real talent show was because it was not limited to just the songs and dances. For example, one contestant from India named Pavan played a short movie giving a social message. Another act was about doing nail art in three minutes. And there was a musical performance by DJ Ernest (Ernest Norris).

Finally, the participants were voted by the audience and a decision was passed by the judges. The winning ranks were categorized into 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Sneha and Biswan, from Nepal, won first with their dance fusion of Bollywood and western, followed by Mai Xee Vang who won second for her dance on Bollywood music, and then third place was won by Bhavyaka & Neelima for their performance on Bharatnatyam (Indian cultural dance).

The show also had criteria such as “Best Cultural Act,” won by the Everest crew for their Nepali cultural dance; “The Best Unique Act,” won by the Lucky Little Paws for their performance about a dragon; “Best Performance with a Social Message,” won by Pavan for his social message he gave through a short movie; and for the “Best Outfit” the winner was Lisa Zennah.

Overall, the show was a great success, and although it was tough to decide the winners from such talents, the decision had to be made and now we have the winners of World’s Got Talent Season 2. Let’s hope that events like this will continue to be organized at MNSU to find the talented people and give them a platform to shine among the crowd.