By Khalida Sarwari
At an age when her peers were just starting kindergarten, Samantha Gorjanc already knew what she wanted to do with her life: perform under the bright lights of Broadway.
The eighth-grader at Sacred Heart Catholic School found her calling one day after watching her sister perform in a high school play.
“I just thought it looked like so much fun, singing and dancing with everyone,” Samantha said. “I love to sing and I love to perform.”
Samantha is 13 now and not wasting any time toward achieving that goal. She dances, plays the piano and has performed in musical theater around the Bay Area.
In February, her talent earned her a finalist nod in the South Bay Teen Idol competition, an American Idol-style contest that will award a $2,500 scholarship to the best teen vocalist in Santa Clara County and a $500 prize to the winner’s school.
The idea for the competition was adopted from the Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, said Jenny Green, director of membership and marketing at the Jewish Community Center of Silicon Valley in Los Gatos, where the event is being hosted.
“It’s been very popular, so we thought we’d try it here,” Green said.
At the finals on March 31, Samantha, who hails from Saratoga, will compete against nine other finalists for the scholarship and prize money. She plans on performing “The Wizard and I” from Wicked as part of the competition’s “soundtracks” theme.
“I thought it was such an intense, emotional song, and yet at the same time a very fun song to perform,” she said.
Down the line, Samantha has her sights set on three schools that focus on musical theatre: New York University, the University of Michigan and the Boston Conservatory. For now though, she is focused on preparing for South Bay Teen Idol by taking extra vocal lessons.
Preparation for 18-year-old Daniel Stromfeld of San Jose means lots of hot tea and doing everything he can to keep from getting sick. The Leigh High School senior plans to sing the John Lennon classic “Imagine,” a song he chose to communicate the message of living harmoniously with others.
“The song is about a perfect world, with no crimes, no controversy,” said Stromfeld, “and I’m trying to communicate what a pure world would be like if we could all live as one.”
Though he, too, has aspirations of pursuing either a career in musical theater or becoming a contemporary or classical singer, Stromfeld didn’t start taking singing seriously until about two years ago. Once he did, though, he took on two jobs to pay for voice lessons, which he said made a big difference for him.
In January, he decided to audition for South Bay Teen Idol, saying that it offers a “fantastic opportunity for high school students to earn some money for college or whatever we want to pursue.”
On March 31, the 10 contestants will vie for a chance at the $3,000 prize. Finalists include Serena Koo of Los Gatos, a junior at Los Gatos High School; Brandon Farmer of San Jose, an eighth grader at Accelerated Christian Academy, a home school program; Dana Cullinane of Monte Sereno, a junior at Los Gatos High; Casey Rico of San Jose, a junior at Silver Creek; Annie Hunt of San Jose, a freshman at Archbishop Mitty; Haley Henson of Sunnyvale, a junior at Presentation; Kalpana Chinnappan of San Jose, a junior at Leland; and Sanjana Shukla of Saratoga, a junior at Saratoga High.
South Bay Teen Idol will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Silicon Valley, 14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos.
Tickets are $15 for children and students and $25 for adults. For priority seating, tickets are $40 and $75 for priority seating as well as access to an after-party with the finalists.
To purchase tickets or for more information about the event, visit www.siliconvalleyjcc.org/idol.
Ten area teens compete, each one hoping to become South Bay Idol
