Elizabeth Pulanco / Winonan

Talent can shine in many different forms, and Winona State University students will get to show off their skillsets during homecoming week, October 9-16, in the talent show held during royalty coronation on October 9 in the Harriet Johnson Auditorium.

Auditions for the “Superheroes Got Talent” talent show took place last week on Monday and Wednesday.

To be eligible for the auditions, students had to preregister the week before the auditions. Out of the 10 individuals who auditioned, four to six will be performing at the talent show where the audience will vote on the top three acts. After placing in the top three, the first place performer will receive $100 in cash, the second place performer will have $75 added to their Purple Pass account and the third place winner will get a $50 gift card at the Winona State Bookstore.

Megan Sticha, who is starting her first year as homecoming chair, was excited to see all the different acts come forward during the auditions.

“We have been looking for talent from students and a variety of acts,” Sticha said. “I’m surprised at all the talent that Winona State has.”

During auditions, members of the homecoming committee saw singers, dancers, guitar and piano players and even an interpretive dancer.

Homecoming committee coronation chair Annie Pendl has been working with the homecoming committee for three years. She hopes the talent show will showcase interesting and unique acts.

“We are looking for crowd engagement, talent and diversity, so it is not the same guitar every single act,” Pendl said.

With the talent show, the homecoming committee is hoping to get more students involved in coronation and bring in more school spirit.

“We are coming together to make coronation a bit more fun this year,” Sticha said.

The talent show will take place alongside the royalty coronations inbetween each crowning. The students in the audience will vote for the winners at the end of the coronation.

According to Pendl, there has never been a homecoming talent show before, and all other talent shows at the university have been coordinated through the athletics department.

“I think the audience will respond to the crowd engagement aspect. We have a lot of people that are very interactive and take suggestions from the audience and put it into their music,” Pendl said.

This year, the homecoming theme is Superhero related, officially named, “A Hero’s Homecoming.” There will be different events going on throughout the week, starting with the coronation and talent show.

The themes are picked and discussed by students, faculty and the homecoming committee.

“We have made a list of all the old themes over the past 50 years and we are trying not to repeat any of them. This is something we haven’t done before,” Pendl said.

For the past two years, Pendl worked with the homecoming committee as the tailgate coordinator and this year she is enthusiastic about participating in homecoming in a different way.

“My favorite thing about being involved with homecoming is being able to see the school spirit start on coronation day and go throughout the whole week. This shows that there is always something people can participate in and show school spirit,” Pendl said. “People can show that they are proud of being on the Winona State campus and that is something that I love doing.”

-By Elizabeth Pulanco