LGBT-Straight Alliance Sponsors Fall Talent Show

Fall Talent Show Contestants

On December 4th, JCU’s LGBT-Straight Alliance Club hosted John Cabot’s Fall Talent Show in partnership with the Multicultural Club and the Matthew.

The show, which was part of JCU’s first LGBT Awareness Week, was dedicated to Andrea, a young Italian boy who recently committed suicide after he was bullied for being gay. The Alliance hopes to spread awareness by highlighting this tragic event in order to fight against harassment of LGBT people around the world.

The show could count on a super-entertaining host, Alexandria Maloney, student and president of the Women’s Leadership Initiative. The contestants sang, danced, played instruments, and acted in front of a crowd of 150 people between staff, students, faculty, and guests. The panel of judges was composed of JCU’s Chief of staff Kathryne Fedele, Student Services Associate Aislinn Morton, and English and Drama Professor Daniel Connelly.

Kathryne Fedele, who is the LGBT Alliance’s advisor says, “It was so difficult to choose the winners. Not only are JCU student multicultural, they are incredibly multi-talented as well!”

The panel awarded:
1st place to Annamaria Borelli, from New Jersey, singing Con Te Partirò, a song made famous by Andrea Bocelli
2nd place to Ramzi El Rifai, from Lebanon and the UAE, singing and playing guitar to a medley of pop-rock songs
3rd place to Luigia and Lucio D’Alessandro, a brother and sister team from Pescara, Italy, dancing to a mash-up of songs ranging from tango to hip-hop

Club Reps Anna Prosvetova from the Matthew, John Casselberry from the LGBT-Straight Aliance, and Dareen Al-Rashid from the Multicultural Club, greeted the crowd and thanked everyone for their participation and support.