The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science hosted its first annual talent show on Friday, April 21. MSMS’ Got Talent was hosted by Frazer Hall RA’s James Jourdan and Christian Bradley in Nissan Auditorium.

Many MSMS students participated to compete for the first place award. A variety of skills were shown through vocal, string, comedy and piano performances.

The talent show judges awarded first place to Claudia Vial, who sang and played the ukulele. Vial said that in the moment she wasn’t nervous. “During the performance I just kept looking around the audience and seeing everyone smiling back at me like they really were enjoying it.” 

Vial explained that the hardest part was preparing for the event. “The hardest thing for me was choosing a song. I spent two days over Easter break learning about 20 different songs on my ukulele and some on the piano and playing them for my family to see which one I should choose,” she said.

Second place was awarded to Lilian Fulgham while the students voted Cody Welborn the people’s choice. Fulgham performed on the violin and Welborn sang and played guitar.

For Vial, the night will stick with her a long time. “It was incredible to look out and see this MSMS family supporting me in something I love to do. Through the whole experience I feel like I accomplished something I’ve wanted to do since coming to MSMS. I’ve gotten the opportunity to perform through Sites and Sounds and Tales from the Crypt, but I think this performance showcased me more than any other I’ve done at MSMS, so I’m super thankful I got to do something like this before graduating!”