Harriton Shows Off Talents

From original songs to a cover of "Teach Me How to Dougie" to a Bollywood dance to beatboxing, Harriton High School students put together a show called "Harriton's Got Talent."

Seniors Megan Rubenstein and Selin Sakarcan said there hadn't been a talent show in their four years at the school, and they wanted to see one. Some students had tried to put one together last year, but it fell through.

This year, the school's chapter of the National Honor Society, for which Rubenstein serves as president and Sakarcan serves as historian, organized the event.

"I was surprised about the big turnout," Rubenstein said, referring to the mostly full auditorium. "It turned out better than I thought it would."

While Rubenstein's favorite part was student Elliot Levy's spoken word poetry about his last Halloween, Sakarcan said she enjoyed spending more time with the National Honor Society officers, and they had fun emceeing the event and dancing behind the scenes during the different performances.

"It brings out the students who don't take part in the play, and they get to perform," Sakarcan said.

The proceeds from the event were donated to a foundation called Water for Waslala, which works to bring viable water systems to Waslala, Nicaragua.  The talent show is just one of the fundraisers the National Honor Society will use this year, in addition to a Thanksgiving food drive and a student/faculty basketball game.

While they were trying to make flyers for the event, one student asked Sakarcan to come up with a slogan. She said "Harriton's Got Talent," and it stuck.

Freshmen Bailey Ebby, Lindsey Barrison and Talia Siegler came out to support their school even though they didn't know anyone in the show.

"Some kids, I never would have thought they could do those things," Barrison said. "You get to know people."

The variety of talents was interesting to see, they said, and they thought it was nice that so many students attended the show  to support each other.

"I'm pleasantly surprised," said Andy Derrow, the father of emcee Eli Derrow. "There's no one I've felt bad for, and there's a few that are quite good. It's fun."

While he said that the money raised for the show going to charity was nice but that it wasn't the most important aspect.

"The main thing is, it's a chance to get together and have some fun," Derrow said. "These kids all have a lot of pressure in school, and the fact that they can take some time and all get together and have some fun—that's what I'm interested in."