The semester is closing out, and for some, it is their last semester at Stockton University. With finals approaching, most students don’t have much time left for extracurriculars and events, but there’s always something for students who have a little bit of free time in their schedule.

Stockton’s Theatre Club hosted a small, but fun event, perfect for letting out the stress and strife of academics, at the Lodge at Lakeside called “Stockton’s Got Talent.” The location was convenient for residential students to simply take a short walk from their dorms to attend, and maybe grab some dinner while they watched the great talents step up on stage.

The club had students sign up to showcase their singing chops, whether they had experience or not, and it provided a medley of fun and recognizable songs that had the audience dancing in their seats and mouthing along to the lyrics. Songs from musicals like “The Greatest Showman” and “Mamma Mia,” Disney movies like “Tangled,” and famous voices like Ed Sheeran were among the bunch. Once the performances were over, the audience voted for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-placing singers who received Amazon gift cards as prizes.

One performer, Hayden, won second place by singing Ed Sheeran’s “Happier” while juggling, impressing the audience with the dual skill. Singing while concentrating on another task is a difficult feat to manage, and Hayden did so very well. The first-placer, however, shocked the audience with her emotional rendition of ABBA’S “The Winner Takes It All,” showcasing both her singing and acting skills. Despite the notorious difficulty of the song, Laura Gallas did it justice, dropping jaws with her high notes.

Gallas said, “I did it last Fall, but I [had just gotten] over being sick, so I wasn’t doing good; so [I said], ‘I need to do it again’. I love Theatre Club, and I’ve been in it the past three years. They were looking for acts up until the last minute, so I thought, ‘I’ll do it, why not?'” Gallas is a junior Health Science major, but has always held a deep love, passion, and appreciation for theatre and music.

Dominic Holly, the Treasurer of Theatre Club, was the creator and host of the event. Holly recounted, “The way it happened was: last semester, I became the Treasurer of Theatre Club, and I was thinking of something fun we could do. We always have other events like Disney Karaokes going on, so I thought, ‘What if we did an event where everyone [can] come up and sing, and show off what they can do?’, and then I said, ‘Wait a minute, that’s just a talent show!'” After bringing the idea to the Theatre Club’s former President, Julie Morell, she loved the idea, and the club created the new event in Fall 2024, hoping to make it a semestral or annual tradition. “We got the Campus Center Theatre, and we put on a show. The turnout was pretty good, it was a lot of fun, so I figured, ‘We still have the budget for it, so why don’t we do it a second time?'” Holly followed.

Holly is a Senior double major in Math and Computer Science, making this his last semester, and the Talent Show creation is a great way to finish off a great four years at Stockton. “I’ve always loved Theatre, but I’m also a very big numbers guy,” Holly concluded.