After a three-year absence, Alden Place Elementary brought back its Talent Extravaganza February 2 with 15 performances by third, fourth and fifth grade students that received rave reviews by the crowd.

Principal Thomas Libka visited each classroom to promote the show, securing a variety of performers with unique talents. 

This included fourth grader Thiago Venega Lopez who surprised everyone with solving two Rubik’s Cubes in under two minutes. 

“The first one he did in 40 seconds and the second one to a T was another 40 seconds,” Libka said. “It was incredible to see that.” 

While the students joked around a little off stage, on stage they were true professionals.

“They were real troopers and did an amazing job,” Libka said. “We’re so very proud of our young Blazers.”

Fourth graders Ameila Witt and Nicholas Renzo performed a rendition of “Let It Go” from “Frozen” and while Witt was nervous, she enjoyed performing on stage. 

“I was literally sweating because there were 200 hundred people,” Witt recalled. “I was scared, Nicholas helped me.”

Renzo, who also played three pieces on the flute, was encouraged to perform after seeing his classmates sign up. It was his first time ever performing on stage.

“My legs were shaking, but I was happy I did it,” Renzo said. “I wanted to try it.”

It must have been the luck of the Irish kicking in for fourth grader Katherine Carnecchia because she had stage fright when she first started dancing a traditional jig, but then found support from the audience which led to a great performance.

“I saw my friends sitting down and they gave me the thumbs up,” Carnecchia said. “It was fun dancing on stage.”