What is the heart of Liberty? Is it the community? Is it sports or academics? No, the heart of Liberty is the excellence of each and every one of the students here. Every student has something that makes them unique and stand out, and the school only hones that excellence and molds it into something that will impact the world.
Sponsored by Key Club on Feb. 13 in the auditorium, the annual Talent Show hosted many talents, which showed the community that ordinary students are not as ordinary as they seem.
Before the show, as talents were getting ready, the atmosphere was charged with a mixture between nerves and confidence. Everyone shuffled around, practicing, checking lights, making sure the sound was good. Crew and talents alike were all in a headspace that could only produce greatness. Another perspective of the show is the seniors wanting to end off with a night of memories that they will remember in the future.
“It feels like ending my high school career with something good,” one of the hosts, Rathi Thiagarajan (12), states.
Many talents report on not being nervous at all, in fact, performing in front of people is what they are looking forward to.
“As much as I love performing, I always get those like pre-show jitters. It’s not like a lot, but it’s not like a little,” Nancy Badwan (9) states in relation to her performance.
Nerves are obviously just a part of the night; in almost every case, talents report on average a 45/100 on the “nervousness meter.” Of course some talents will be more nervous than others (i.e. freshmen, people who haven’t performed in talent shows before), but in general talents were confident in their skills and abilities.
The first act wasn’t a single person, but rather a performance of the song “Oklahoma” from the cast of this year’s musical of the same name. Every cast member banded together in the performance and showed just a bit of the spring musical.
Directly after, Malieya Williams (9) performed a dreamlike rendition of “While You Are Sleeping” by Laufey. Williams performs deep, emotional vocals that are anchored by a lullaby adjacent rhythm. Every note was hit and every feeling was conveyed.
The next talent was Brielle Vassel (11) who performed her own original song named “I Can’t Do This Anymore.” She performed moving lyrics that are relatable to almost every teen at least once in their high school career. The tune of the ukulele is also performed by Vassel.
Alex Dunavan (12) performed next with a loud and powerful rock song. These feelings of pain were conveyed with each lyric, which perfectly encapsulates the essence of the genre.
Next was Alexis Hull (9) performing her rendition of “Last Lullaby Pt. 1” from the show “Centaurworld.” Her vocals mixed with the soothing beat and rhythm that the song already had really sounded angelic and serene.
Lorelei Wise (12) performed next with her own original rap “Digest.” In this she performs an impressive fast-paced lyrical performance but also with a moving message that was powerfully executed and beautifully composed.
The next act, despite only having two of the three listed band members, still performed with just as much vigor and energy with a song composed with both ukulele and vocals (Brielle Vassel), as well as bass and vocals (Cameryn Emberton (10)).
After a 10-minute intermission, the next act stuns and leaves the audience in awe with a 70’s adjacent set and rendition of “Leave the Door Open” by Bruno Mars. “Strange Delight” is the name of the band [which is composed of Ellie Force (11), Sam Woollard (10), and Cohen Roach (9)] that left everyone clapping along. The vocals were beyond impressive and the band might as well be on a world tour.
“We took a lot of inspiration from Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye for the aesthetics,” Sam Woollard (10) reports.
With that, the next act really was out of this world (or in this case, out of the farm). Mrs Gehrke performed an oddly hilarious rendition of “Cotton Eyed Joe” with Mr. Datz on the piano. If the monologue wasn’t covering the song it was covering, the whole audience would be in tears over the impressive acting skills of the drama teacher.
Next, a band [composed of Jack Galloway (12), Will Albers, Sebastian Tabers (12), and Sam Varga (10)] performed a powerful and energetic playing of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen that flawlessly executed the feeling of desperation in the song. Midway through the band switched to an Ozzy Osbourne tribute of “Crazy Train” which stunned the audience, then turned into an all-out jam session.
TJ Hartnett (9) performed piano next and stunned the audience with his talent. He skillfully played and stood out from other talents which intrigued everyone. Not only was the song perfectly played, the talent of Hartnett alone was enough to have everyone tuned in on him.
Next, Nancy Badwan (9) leaves the audience speechless and in tears over her take on “No Time To Die” by Billie Eilish. Badwan’s Soprano vocals were completely heavenly and left the whole room in awe. The raw emotion mixed with the song’s natural haunting tone leaves the audience with their hearts racing.
Peyton Bemis (9) performed after and connected with the whole audience in her play on the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You” originally performed by Olivia Newton-John in the movie “Grease.” Her rendition not only left the audience in love with her beautiful vocals, but also in love with Bemis’ personality that shined throughout.
Finally, the last act featured a band consisting of Sam Varga (10), Sebastian Tabers, Jack Galloway, and Max Wideman (10). In their act, they performed a lively and intense rendition of “Where is My Mind?” by The Pixies. Tabers’ vocals are nearly identical to the original lead singer of the song. The band ended the annual talent show perfectly.
In the conclusion of the 2026 Talent Show, the audience voted on best performance; after much debate, “Strange Delight” took home the trophy for their performance of “Leave the Door Open,” However, for the band it was never about the trophy.
“It was really cool performing in front of everyone and just sharing, like, what I love to do. It was a really great experience.” Ellie Force (11) explains.
The judges also decided a winner out of the acts, of course this process wasn’t easy at all but a decision had to be made. The judges chose Malieya Williams’ performance of “While you are Sleeping” for their pick as the winner of the Talent Show.
All acts shined in their own ways and left the audience stunned and with an amazing performance on their minds. It’s true that all Liberty students have excellence and that is proven even further when it’s time to perform.
