At the second annual Grand Rapids Community College talent show, hosted by the Black Africana Student Union, 12 students showcased a range of talents, including singing, rapping, reciting poetry, dancing, animal impressions and improv drawing a comic.
First place was taken home by KC Rabacal, who played the electric guitar while singing “Corduroy Dreams” by Rex Orange County and “From the Start” by Laufey.
“(I’m) really surprised,” Rabacal said. “I can’t believe that I won. I did this for fun.”
During their performance, in addition to singing and playing the guitar, Rabacal also whistled and played the mouth trumpet.
Second place was taken by Paul Kuchnick, who wowed the audience with his animal impersonation skills. His performance had audience participation, as he had the audience guess what animal he was impersonating while a jungle backtrack played. He impersonated a warthog, lion, crocodile, bear and hippo among other animals in addition to taking audience suggestions and sharing his interpretation of what certain dinosaurs would have sounded like.
Kuchnick said he’s been doing animal impersonations since before he could talk and it stems from his love of dinosaurs.
Third place went to Kanejia Conner who recited her own original poetry. She told the audience she has been writing poetry since she was 14 years old.
“If I loved myself I would give me the world and then some only because I know my heart will not be bleeding to unsee eyes,” she said. “I would see the places I was broken and instead of always trying to be the fixer I would ask me how I needed to fix myself. I would tell myself I’m beautiful.”
The winners were decided by a panel of three judges as well as audience participation. First place received a $40 Visa card, second place received a $30 Visa and third place received a $20 Visa.
GRCC student and musician Jalen Melvile performed three original songs during Thursday’s event.
“This was my third time ever performing, so it was nice to have that… chance to perform,” he said. “…I was able to showcase some of the stuff I’ve been working on for a while now so I’m super happy about that.”
Melville shared that he has an album coming out sometime this summer. His music is available on streaming services at JayMel the Rage God.
President of BASU, Evodie Djunga, said she was happy with how the event turned out and proud of the talents shown by the students. Her favorite talent of the night was the animal impressions, “that was just crazy, my mouth was just dropped the entire time.
“When we say GRCC’s got talent, believe us, because we’ve got talent,” Djunga said.
Managing editor Vanessa Hewitt contributed to this article.
