True talent: Students take the stage

The Campus Activities Board held the Vaquero’s Got Talent show March 28 in the PlainsCapital Bank Theater on the Edinburg campus, which included performances in opera singing, a Native American dance and instrument playing.

Thirteen participants performed in two categories, singles and groups. There were three prizes for the singles category.

First place received a 32-inch TCL Smart Android TV, the second place winner received Apple AirPods and third place won 50 Vbucks. The winning group received 150 Vbucks.

Jessica Yudith Moreno, a music education freshman, won first place. Her talent was mariachi singing and she performed the song “Los Laureles” by Linda Ronstadt.

“I perform all the time, but even after all these years of performing, I still get super-duper nervous and shaky,” Moreno said. “I even thought about dropping out five minutes before I came [on].”

She also said the talent show brings an opportunity to be involved on campus.

“It’s my freshman year and I feel like I haven’t done much in being involved in anything,” Moreno said. “I saw the opportunity and I was like, ‘Why not?’”

Alondra Peña, an accounting junior, won second place with her opera singing. Peña performed the song, “Think of Me,” from the movie “Phantom of the Opera.”

She said she felt nervous about showing her talent.

“I already knew how to sing the song, but I still felt nervous, and I didn’t want to mess up,” Peña said. “So, I still practiced. When I got here, my legs were still shaking, but by the time I had reached the stage, I was feeling a bit better.”   

She said the Vaquero’s Got Talent show was an opportunity to break out of her shell.

“I’ve always been shy, and I didn’t really like the idea of showing off a talent, but then I realized, ‘you know what, there’s nothing wrong in showing people a gift that you were given,’” Peña said.

The opera singer expressed her gratitude toward the event’s organizers.

“I’d just like to give thanks to everyone that organized this and worked and helped to make this a reality,” Peña said.

Jeremy Cadena, a mechanical engineering junior, won third place with a performance of his own synthwave songs.

The winner for the group category was a duo composed of Juan Davila, a history junior, and Anuschka Mai, a cyber security and history sophomore, who performed “There She Goes” by Josh Fudge. 

Rebecca Gadson, dean of students’; Emerald Mason (Butterfly Gem), Student Activities administrative assistant; and Sara Hernandez Mendez, associate athletic director for Marketing and Strategic Initiatives, judged the show. 

Adamari Hernandez Ramirez, Campus Activities Board Pop Culture Committee chair, and Audrey Solis, Road Trips chair, co-hosted the talent show.

“[Campus Activities Board] have done it before, but it was not like this,” Ramirez said.

She explained how this time, the difference was that the event was better organized.

In addition, Ramirez said she will not be the Pop Culture Committee chair next year, so she decided to organize the event before leaving her position.

“When I first applied to be a chair, [Campus Activities Board] made us do a mock-up event, and my mock-up event was to do a talent show,” she said. “So, while I am still a chair, I needed to do this.”