The many talents of Massapequa ninth graders were on display at the Discovery Den’s first-ever talent show on May 26. The club launched this year at the high school’s Ames Campus as a way for students to discover new interests and hobbies by learning from their peers.
Adviser Kathleen Wegener said that Discovery Den is a truly a student-driven extracurricular activity. Students made vision boards at the beginning of the year to chart a course for the club and a common suggestion was an end-of-year talent show.
Students sang, played instruments, did card tricks and more during the program, which featured 20 participants in 10 acts. There was also a grand finale, with the entire group coming on stage to sing “Summer Nights,” a well-known song from “Grease.”
“This experience was really great,” Discovery Den President Aiden Nilsen said. “It let all of us express our talents. I enjoyed how we all came together.”
Many of the participants were students from the Career and Community Connections program and their buddies, but Discovery Den is open to all Ames students. Ms. Wegener said she was grateful to have strong interest in the club’s first year and the activities over the last several months were wide-ranging, from a slime-making session to a cake decorating contest to karaoke.
The culminating talent show benefitted the students, she said, because they stepped out of their comfort zone to perform in front of others. Being on stage helps build confidence, Ms. Wegener explained, and prepares them for other experiences in high school with public speaking and performance.
“It was exciting to see the talents of students that we didn’t know some of them even had,” Ms. Wegener said.
Students practiced for the talent show for several months, often giving up lunch periods and time after school. It was planned and organized entirely by students as they came up with the acts, selected the music and created the slideshow.