Middle school students perform just for fun in 8th-graders’ send-off

By Jon Moffett

For the past 15 years, the student council adviser has organized the talent show.

CANFIELD — A focused and determined Ashley Haley took the stage for the final time in her middle school career.

As she had done each of the previous three years, the 14-year-old eighth-grader waited patiently for the curtain to open and the music to start.

When it did, she and five of her friends began step-dancing to Irish music.

“I like just going out there, having fun and doing something that’s different than everything else,” Haley said.

Haley and the group were just one of the many acts to showcase their abilities at a schoolwide talent show at Canfield Village Middle School on Tuesday. Acts included singing, dancing, comedy routines, bands and a unicycle rider.

C.J. Frost, 11 and a fifth-grader, participated by riding his unicycle across the stage. He provided comic relief for eighth-graders Domenic Reinthaler, Tommy Kaleel and Sean Connolly, who sang a rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” while pretending to play guitar with a controller from the Guitar Hero video game.

“Everyone is pretty talented, but this makes me feel unique,” Frost said.

Patty Machingo, a student council adviser, has organized the event for the past 15 years.

She said the show allows others to see how talented the students are outside the classroom.

“The talent here is very good,” Machingo said. “I think the arts are very vibrant and alive here in the middle school. ... We’ve always encouraged the kids to be open.”

She added that students are required to participate in art classes at the school.

“Fifth and sixth grade are required to take band and choir,” Machingo said. “When they get to seventh and eighth grade, they can choose to take music appreciation, which is not performance but is more learning about the music end of it.”

She added that there are arts-related electives in the high school if the students wish to continue their eduction of the arts.

Haley, an Irish step-dancer for seven years, said the school has a lot of hidden talents, and the show gives students the chance to express their abilities to an eager audience.

“We have a high talent level here,” Haley said. “We’re all very unique and everybody loves to watch the show.”

Students in grades five through eight signed up and auditioned their acts for the one-hour show, Machingo said.

Ronald Infante, principal of the fifth and sixth grades, said the show was a good way to show the diversity in talent of the roughly 1,000 students at the school.

Machingo said even though the eighth-graders are usually given priority, all students are welcome to try out and hopefully perform.

A band of four sixth-graders, Autumn’s Age, opened the show.

But though each act was unique, Haley said her act was special to her because it will be her final performance before she moves on to high school in the fall.

“I’m going to remember how fun these were and how exciting it can be,” she said. “Your adrenaline starts to rush and everyone claps. It’s very rewarding.”

She added that she will also miss the teachers at the middle school but is excited to be going to high school.

The show also featured a slide show of activities in which the students participated throughout the year.

“It’s just something we do at the end of the year as sort of a send-off to our eighth-grade class,” Machingo said.

jmoffett@vindy.com