By Kayla Valera | Staff Writer

Within only two weeks of each other, KCC will be hosting two talent shows: one exclusively for faculty and staff on Friday, September 30, and then one that mostly features students on Monday, October 10. The two culminating events may serve different platforms but both will showcase the unknown talent of KCC.

Veronica Ogata, campus chair coordinator of the first talent show on Friday, shared how she was given knowledge of the event as of early August and had since been arranging different acts to perform for the UH systems’ first talent show, which will run from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. in Ohia Cafeteria.

“Every year for the longest time we always had a softball game and we raised money through that,” said Ogata. “But this year, the UH system said no we’re not having a softball game, we’re gonna do a talent show. So every campus was asked to put on a talent show to raise money for AUW (Aloha United Way).”

Friday’s KCC Talent Show will feature seven performances from 13 members of the faculty and staff. Interim Chancellor Louise Pagotto is planning to lip sync to “Higher and Higher,” while others will be singing and dancing.

Though recently UH Manoa, along with the other 8 campuses of the UH system, decided that they weren’t going to do the show due to there being a shortage of performers. The reason being that AUW’s criteria only allowed for faculty and staff to participate. This has left KCC to be the only campus going through with the event.

 Another conflict with finding participants was that those who are from a specific department couldn’t do an act that they already specialize in.

KCC’s perseverance to continuing the Talent Show can be attributed to its goal in having 30% of faculty donate through payroll contributions and redeem themselves from having the least amount of donations (at 5%) amongst the other 10 UH campuses despite being one of the largest in terms of community colleges.

All proceeds from the $1 scripts (used to vote for an act) go to AUW. The overall winner of the talent show is determined by whoever procures the most scripts once all acts have finished.

“So say you buy $50 worth of scripts and you have seven performances, you can put seven here or seven there to vote for them,” Ogata explained. “I didn’t want to judge them because I think everyone is a winner and they all came out for a good cause. But after that, I don’t know when but the chancellor will have a mahalo reception for all the people that participated.”

There will also be a silent auction called “Twice as Nice,” along with a bake sale that will be happening at the same time of the talent show. This auction will feature gently used, donated items, though the item that Ogata believes will generate the most money is the reserved parking space for a semester.

Another event to look out for is the upcoming KCC student talent show on Oct. 10. The Board of Student Activities, or BOSA, is the group that is planning this talent show that will take place in Ohia Cafeteria less than two weeks after the AUW talent show.

“So what we’re planning on doing is that where those green dividers are, we’re planning on getting rid of them and setting up our stage in front of the chalkboard wall,” said Board of Student Affairs member Doug, if the talent show were to happen at the latter of the two options.

In comparison to the AUW talent show, the Office of Student Activities’ organized student talent show has been around for many years now. When asked about the different acts that have won before in earlier shows, the OSA advisor, Alfie Gonzales, detailed the acts done by former winning performers.

“We had one guy do riflery, break dancing group one year, martial arts, singers, piano players,” he said. “So we’ve seen it all.”

Sign up for the BOSA talent show (click here) is open until the end of Monday, Oct. 3.

The prize for the overall winner of the BOSA talent show is a gift card to the school bookstore. The judges to determine the winner will be the student leaders as well as two or more members of the music department.

To learn more about the AUW campaign visit the 2016 Aloha United Way Campaign website. For further details on the BOSA talent show for students, you can contact BOSA chairperson Vanessa Ranon at vjranon@hawaii.edu.