The fifth annual Talented 100 competition took place last Friday in Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium. The event is a result of the collaborative effort between the I.D.E.A.L Woman program, Men of Excellence and the Residence Hall Association. 
  The event’s name was inspired by W.E.B Dubois’ Talented 100 essay. In his essay, Dubois argues that only 10 percent of the minority population is exceptional. The competition aims to recognize the talents of all students on campus. 
 
Adonis McCullum, junior psychology major who has worked closely with the event’s coordinator, said this year’s competition has several changes to keep it interesting for the audience.
   “For the fifth annual, we changed some things up,” McCullum said. “Tradition is great, but it’s also good to be innovative. This year we had judges, and  they picked the top five and then the audience picked the winner. We incorporated judges to make it different and have something new for this year’s event.” 
    Several students attended the competition and said they appreciated the diversity of talents.
  Diana Gordon, junior biomedical engineering major who serves as the programming and activities director for RHA, said this was her first year to attend the event and it was better than she expected. 
   Gordon said she attended all of the auditions and the performers did really well in the show.
    “With all of the auditions I served as a judge to represent our organization,” Gordon said. “I made sure with someone from another organization to make sure that the show ran smoothly, made sure everyone knew what to do and were at their respective places.”
   Spencer Thompson, event coordinator for Men of Excellence, said the event was a success that drew in at least 500 students. 
    Thompson said a highlight from the evening was seeing all the talent that may usually go unnoticed.
   “Just to showcase students’ talents that aren’t athletes is a good thing,” Thompson said. “There are so many talents on campus that go unnoticed. Having an event like this allows students to showcase their talents off the field, off the court or off the diamond.” 
  Thompson said more diversity within the event, even though this event is put on by minorities and the HCDC office, will advance next year’s show by reaching out to everybody and making it more inclusive. 
In the competition, the first place winner was awarded $500, second place $300 and third place $200. 
    Avery Daniels, sophomore music education major, placed 3rd and played the piano while singing “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Tank.
      Marvin Blackmon, junior criminology major, placed 2nd and sang “Love” by Musiq Soulchild.
   Lanecha Turner, senior communication major, from New Orleans, Louisiana won the competition and sang He Loves Me by Jill Scott. 
    Turner said preparing for the competition brought an opportunity to get to know her musician Daniels better. 
   “He plays for the choir that I sing in but I’ve never performed with him one on one,” Turner said. “It was like he knew where to take the piano when I was singing. Most of my performance was free style, even though we practiced all of the time, I was comfortable with going up there knowing that he could follow me anywhere I wanted to take my performance.”
   Daniels said through the performance, he learned to accept himself and appreciate what makes him different.
   “I recently learned that my voice is kind of different from a lot of people and I learned that it’s okay to be different,” Daniels said. “Friday night was like a stamp that it’s okay to be yourself.” 
   Isaac Lias, Jr., junior educational psychology major and the president of Men of Excellence, said the Talented 100 competition goal was to represent the inclusivity that MSU strives for and also how the show involved Black History Month. 
  “The picture is painted of different people from different backgrounds coming together on stage expressing their talents. At that point, nobody is focusing on if they are an African-American male or a Caucasian female performing, they’re more so paying attention to something that we would like to have, which is that cultural aspect. 
“That’s what this month is about, bringing in that cultural aspect of Black History Month and also finding ways that relates and differentiates amongst other people,” Lias said.