Nine acts took to the stage at Andrew High School for a shot at claiming bragging rights in Andrew’s Got Talent.

The school’s Drama Club hosted the annual event on March 1 not only to showcase students’ passions for singing and dancing, but also to raise funds to support theater scholarships. To note, a portion of the event’s proceeds were give to GiGi’s Playhouse in Tinley Park, an achievement center that offers programs for children with down syndrome and a support system for their families.

This year’s show brought out nearly 200 spectators.

From the popular music of Rihanna and the classic rock sounds of Johnny Cash to an original work, the show aimed to please.

“This is a really unique event,” auditorium director Lisa Gonwa said. “We have the variety show here, but it has a very particular form to it. This allows students to come in with their skills and talents that they don’t normally get to showcase throughout the year.

“So, the theater students instead of doing something scripted with planned music and stuff, they get to do what they want to do.”

The lineup that evening featured a rock band performance by Harvey Milk, comprised of juniors Kylie Gaughan and Abbey Majewski. Andrew’s Got Talent marked the duo’s debut, and they covered a favorite of theirs, “Butterfly” by Twin Peaks.

“I felt shook,” Gaughan said after playing. “We knew we would have a really good time like playing their song.”

Gaughan and Majewski said they started Harvey Milk in 2016, but the project started out as just a jam session.

“We’ve been friends for about a year,” Gaughan said. “We always used to plan about being in a band and be like, ‘we’re going to make this great band, but we were kind of joking.’”

“We’ve made jokes…about ‘oh, we’re going to be in band. It’s going to be so good. We’re going to not go to college and be in a band,’” Majewski added.

And one day, Gaughan said they stopped joking, and “we actually made a band.”

Closing this year’s show BMT, a dance group that involved freshman Berris Bolton and seniors Mikale Bradley and Tavey Durns. The trio tackled a mash-up of New Edition’s “If It Isn’t Love,” Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison,” and Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid.”

Though none of them possessed formal dance training, the trio agreed to take part in Andrew’s Got Talent.

“Some of the moves were like original from New Edition, but most of them was just us having a good time,” Bolton said.

Bradley said working with Tavey and Berris to put together a routine was not a challenge.

“We just bounced it off each other,” he said. “Berris came with ideas. Tavey came with ideas. We just mashed.”

Bradley also noted he enjoyed performing in front of the crowd.

“[It was] so good to get a good reaction from everyone,” he said. “They all loved it, so it made us have more fun and love it, too.”

Durns shared Bradley’s sentiment.

“[It] made us feel comfortable,” he said.

At the conclusion of BMT’s routine, members of the crowd cheered and requested an encore, and in the end, the three-member team was named winner of Andrew’s Got Talent and awarded a trophy.

“I don’t even have words to describe it,” Bradley said of the honor.

Bolton, too, reveled in the moment.

“We get to take the trophy home,” he said. “I’m just happy.”