On Feb. 4, Campus Programming and Relations hosted its second Open Talent Night. CPR renamed the Open Mic event to Open Talent to allow students to showcase a wider variety of talents. The event took place in the Pioneer Haus in the Markee Pioneer Student Center.
Open Talent Night was hosted by Olivia Millerschin, a Detroit native, who was a quarter finalist on NBC’s America’s Got Talent.
Millerschin has toured across the nation with artists including Teddy Geiger, Tyler Hilton, Ryan Cabrera, and Howie Day.
“I went on my first tour with them when I was sixteen,” said Millerschin. “They kind of mentored me. At that point, I loved what I was doing, but I didn’t realize how hard it was to tour. You really have to have the stamina and the desire to do it.”
Millerschin was asked to audition for America’s Got Talent at age 18.
“It was like a whirlwind. It was really good exposure,” Millerschin said.
Numerous students signed up to showcase their talents, including sophomore mechanical engineering major Adrian Kaiser and sophomore reclamation major Andrew Waldo, who performed an acoustic set together.
Waldo also performed in a trio with freshman business and marketing major Austin Wiese and freshman software engineering major Justin Schininger. They performed “I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.
“I really enjoyed Adrian and Andrew’s duet. I have a soft spot for acoustic sets, and the bongos were a nice addition,” sophomore biology major Olivia Nottestad said.