By Khalida Sarwari
Dancers, musicians and entertainers took to the McAfee Center stage on June 14 to showcase their skills for a good cause.
A talented group of 88 performers participated in the second annual Saratoga’s Got Talent event.
Judges awarded first, second and third prizes for the most talented competitors in the 5-to-12 and the 13-and-over age groups.
In the first group, the first-place winner was Nevin Richards; second place went to Rebecca Lofis and third to Mohini Dutta.
In the second group, the first-place winner was Tracy Sarmiento, who took home the grand prize of $2,500; second-place winner was Samantha Rose, and third place went to Esha Krishnamoorthy.
The winners of both age groups won for singing operatically. Nevin, 12, sang “Queen of the Night” by Mozart, and Sarmineto, 22, performed a number from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.
Contestants also had a chance to win in two other categories: a judge’s singing award and, for the first time this year, an audience choice award, with the winner selected via online voting. Those winners were Nina Sabharwal, Raquel Boales, Ankita Sarvesh and the Dancing Divas from Argonaut.
The panel of judges included Saratoga Union School District superintendent Lane Weiss; Saratoga High School principal Paul Robinson; Vickie Wyant, a retired Redwood Middle School music director; Keith Banks, a dance director at Studio 10 Dance; Alka Bhatnagar, founder of Sur Bahar; Redwood Middle School music director Jon Jow; and San Jose City Councilman Ash Kalra. Redwood Middle School students Shivaum Kumar and Ayush Aggarwal served as emcees.
Rishi Kumar, founder of the Saratoga Cares Foundation, said the event was attended by more than 500 people and ultimately raised about $19,000. The money will be divided between the Saratoga Education Foundation and Saratoga Senior Center.
The foundation supports science, physical education, computer instruction, library, music and art programs at Argonaut, Foothill and Saratoga elementary schools, as well as Redwood Middle School.
Last year, the event drew nearly 300 people and raised about $18,000 for the Saratoga Senior Center. The winners of last year’s contest donated their prize money of $1,000 to the senior center and returned to compete again this year.
Saratoga’s Got Talent was organized by a local nonprofit agency, Saratoga Cares Foundation. The foundation was created in 2010 to honor the compassionate and caring spirit of the late Susie Nagpal. The organization began by holding singing competitions on a small scale at Blue Rock Shoot on Big Basin Way, and out of that grew the talent show.
This year, the organization also recognized Saratogans who have recently excelled in various fields. The list included Anushree Dugar, who placed third in the country in the National History Day Competition held in Washington, D.C.; Eesha Khare, an 18-year-old Lynbrook High School graduate who invented a device that charges a cell phone battery in under 30 seconds; Nicole Bowman, a Saratoga High student who placed third at the Southwest District Rowing Championships and qualified for the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships; and Sean Shi, a USA Junior Math Olympiad champion.
