MOORHEAD – From a compilation of viral dances performed by sophomore Malik Smith to on-campus bands such as Last Minute Dream and GG and the Groove, Concordia’s annual talent show, Cobbers Got Talent (CGT), succeeded in providing a night full of entertainment for students on Thursday, Sep 27.
The event was planned and coordinated by the CGT Homecoming sub-committee, whose members included Concordia students Jesus Gonzales, Brooke Jennison, Abby Lysne and Emma Ravnaas. Lysne and Ravnaas hosted CGT, performing skits as aliens during the outer-space themed event.
“My experiences (working on Homecoming) have been amazing. It’s such a fun group of people, and the chairs this year and the whole exec board have all been through it a few times, and they’re just so helpful and understanding. It’s just such a team of people who are all here to make homecoming the best it can be, right?” Ravnaas, a sophomore at Concordia, said.
Preparing for an event of this scale can be a large task for students, especially as they get settled into the new school year. However, performers often enjoy this process, as the end result is an opportunity to present the outcome of their hard work to their peers.
When asked why he decided to participate in CGT this year, Smith said:
“From what I remember, I was a favorite in the crowd last year. They ate me up so badly, and it was just very good vibes. And I kind of decided, weirdly, to kind of make it like a tradition for myself, to do it every year to showcase that I’m that good. It’s just like something that I just wanted to keep doing because I had so much fun doing it last year, and I got so much love. And I’m really excited for this year, because I’ll have a lot more people seeing me.”
Behind the scenes, the CGT committee also puts in large amounts of work to make the event not only happen, but succeed. When students interview for Homecoming, they are asked to rank their preferences for sub-committees, one of which is CGT. Then, based on students’ information and rankings, the interviewers place them in the best fitting sub-committees, according to Ravnaas, whose first choice for sub-committee was CGT.
“There’s just so much talent and potential here on campus that students having the ability to go and show that off to their peers is just so important because you can’t really value something like that unless you see it, and not all of us are able to see, you know, the talented singers singing out in like the middle of Hvidsten or the dancers just busting it down on Olin Hill. So, to have a venue where people can do that is super important,” Ravnaas said.
“I love performing in front of people and just getting the love and the feedback. And I have, like, a lot of people in the audience that will record it for me, and then I can post it on TikTok. My last the one I performed for Cobbers Got Talent last year got 3,891 views,” Smith said.
Other highlights of the well-attended event included a rendition of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked performed by Jacob Penny, a few touching duets, and ended with rousing perfomances of popular songs by the aforementioned on-campus bands that encouraged students to get up and sing along.
