Three students from NDA participated in the Talent Jam competition held downtown at the Meyer Theatre on Saturday, November 21.

 Both Ella Hunt and Antonio Salerno performed in the competition.

Mrs. Christine Salerno, music teacher at NDA, told Ella about the audition for the competition.

“Ella Hunt is a very talented vocalist who can capture an audience with the beauty of her voice.  She has wonderful stage presence as well, which contributes to her overall performance,” said Salerno.

Evidently the audience and judges agreed with Salerno. Voting was done via text at the show. Out of the thirteen acts, she came out on top.

“I made a mash-up of the songs ‘Valerie,’ ‘This Will Be,’ ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘Let’s Get It On.’ It seems like a lot of songs to do at once, but I only sang less than a minute of each,” said Hunt.

With winning the competition, she also won one thousand dollars.

“It was a huge honor to win because everyone participating was so good and talented,” said the winner. “It was very fun to be a part of!”

Charlie Urick won last year, making it the second year in a row that someone from NDA won. Since he won last year, he was not allowed to compete this year. However, the competition did let him come back to play a few songs.

He performed an original song and received tremendous support from everyone, including the audience.

“It was super fun coming back because the atmosphere at the Meyer is awesome,” he said. “The big crowd is also great.”

“Given the fact that I started my public music career a few years ago, I had not really had the chance to play at a large venue such as the Meyer until the competition,” he stated.

For him, playing at the Meyer Theatre was an experience that he will remember for the rest of his life.