Ran by SMFHS Drama Club, Stow Idol was held on Saturday, December 3rd. Cassie Strittmatter was especially thanked for organizing the event. In order to be able to perform, one had to attend auditions that were held the Wednesday prior.

 Juniors Katie Tritten and Kayla Duckworth hosted the event. The judges included Helmick,  Sandman, and Monte Washington, a sophomore who won Stow Idol last year.

 First to perform was sophomore, Emily Moore who sang “Scars to your beautiful” by Alessia Cara. Then,  sophomore, Nick Moeller singing “Home” by Michael Buble.

 After both Moore and Moeller performed, Ashley Briggs sang “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals. Sophomore, Megan Shrinker then performed “Burn” by Hamilton.

 Almost halfway through the first round of performances, freshman Sam Culver sang “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine.

    Sandman, impressed by his vocals said, “Being a freshman and having that much confidence to go up there is amazing.”

Continuing through the show, freshman Mackenzie Anderson performed “House of Gold” by Twenty One Pilots.

“I think you have a smooth and peaceful voice. It was such a good piece and I think it really flowed,” Helmick said.

Sophomore Cassie Strittmatter then sang “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers ft. Dave.

“I think you were really feeling the music. You really locked in on those vocals, good vocals,” Helmick said about Strittmatter. 

Following Strittmatter, Bailey Mosley performed “Let Her Go” by Passenger.

Helmick told Mosley,” You have that sparkle in your eye, never lose that sparkle.”

While the judges were deciding which contestants that were going to move onto the next round, Washington performed “Hurt” by Christina Aguilera. The judges chose four contestants to move onto the next round, and the audience were able to save one person in the form of donations to their name.

The four contestants that the judges chose were: Culver, Briggs, Shrinker, and Tritten. The one person that got voted in was Strittmatter.

Even though only five were voted to the second round, every contestant was still able to perform their second song.

Culver performed “Shake It Out” by Florence and the Machine. Briggs sang “Alphabet Aerobics” by Blackilicious.

Shrinker sang “Everything I Know by In the Heights”. After Shrinker, Tritten performed “Only Exception” by Paramore. Strittmatter than sang “How To Save a Life” by The Fray.

Moore sang her second song, “Dear John” by Taylor Swift. Mosley performed “Thousand Years” by Christina Perri.

Continuing, Mackenzie Anderson sang “Decode” by Paramore. Finally, Moeller then performed her second song, “Rodeo” by Garth Brooks.

After the contestants performed, the judges revealed the top three. Culver came in third place. Strittmatter came in second place, and Briggs came in first place. Briggs also got the privilege of judging next year’s Stow Idol.

All the contestants sang “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey with the help of the audience to end off the show.