Last Saturday, the Student Center Ballroom was filled with students ready to witness the first ever Seawolves Got Talent. The show mimicked the format of some of the popular and long-lasting TV shows, such as “X-Factor” or “American Idol”.
 The show kicked off with an introduction of the judges and a quick explanation of the prize money by host and Associated Student Productions director, Gabe Duran. He then jumped right in to kicking off the show with the first performer.
 The show started off with a series of solo performers sharing their singing and guitar playing with the audience. Tyler Perez, a senior kinesiology major, was the first to take the stage and performed an original song titled “Drunk on Your Touch”. A melody about falling in love and and trying to navigate what’s going on around you.
 Next was Jennifer Johnston, a sophomore involved in both Residential Life and JUMP, who performed a cover of the song “Not Pretty Enough” by Australian singer Kasey Chambers.
 After Johnston was Marisa Wax, a freshman Early Childhood Studies major, who performed three original songs that are on her recently released EP. Wax has been writing music since she was six years old and her experience definitely showed. After the first four performances, the tone of the show began to switch.
“They did a really good job of putting on the show, and I like how it started off calm and ended with everyone hyped up,” said sophomore Allana Peerce.
 Changing gears, the next performance was Vita Rodriquez, a fifth year environmental studies with an emphasis in conservation and restoration major, who did a comedy routine the audience really enjoyed. Her bit surrounded some of the struggles she has gone through being a lesbian in a Mexican family. She also joked about her experience being a waitress at the popular restaurant Sherri’s.
 Keeping the upbeat pace, the next performer was Bobby Ramirez, a junior sociology major, who performed two rap songs from his album, “Last of the Mexica”.  
 “ASP did a nice job of getting everything together and once the show got started I thought everything went smoothly,” sophomore Mackenzie Roche said. There were no delays between the acts and Duran kept the show moving quickly.
 The next performer was Sebastian Cardona, a jazz major with an emphasis on piano. He performed an original song on the guitar about a girl who could not fall asleep and travels into the city to be comforted by the liveliness. The song was beautiful and awed the audience. He then pumped up the crowd by singing the Beyoncé classic, “Love on Top.”
 The following act was a rock band called One Armed Joey. They performed two original songs from their EP. A third song was on a collaboration album for suicide awareness. The crowd clapped along and jammed out to the boys’ performance.
 The next act was a dance performance by two guys who call themselves The Funk Regimen. They performed on the floor due to the band equipment on the stage. The guys urged everyone to get out of their seats and come close so that everyone can see.
 “The only change to the show that I would make would have been instead of a wide stage, I would have liked it to branch out towards the audience more to allow performers without equipment to be able to easily move on the stage,” said junior Megan Carvalho.
 The last performance of the night was the band Hot Start. They had the crowd stand in front of the stage and brought the night to an end on a high note.
 While the scores were being tallied, the host Gabe sang for the audience and blew everyone away with his talent.
 Third place with a $50 prize was Sebastian Cardona, second place with a $100 prize was The Funk Regimen and finally at first place with a $250 prize was One Armed Joey.
 “I thought it was cool to see how talented Sonoma [State] students are,” Allana Peerce said. When the lights dimmed and the spotlight fell on the performer, the audience seemed to be quickly grow captivated. “If they did this in the future I will definitely be attending,” Megan Carvalho said.
 Showcasing student talent is a popular phenomenon at Sonoma State. From open-mic nights at Lobo’s and now with “Seawolves Got Talent”, students have the opportunity to show off and share personal, and original material.