Students at Elgin Community College have many talents. Some students can sing, others can dance, some can even rap, and others write poetry. Although ECC has its’ various amounts of clubs and organizations, performers may not always know where to go to get their voices heard.

This last month, Elgin Community College offered many ways for performers to be involved. One, for instance, was the Coffee House Reading. The Coffee House reading consisted of around 28 students, some there to observe, and others there to voice their writing.

The performances consisted of many different genres, poetry, spoken word poetry, fiction, comedy, and much more. The performances also were different in topic. Some performances ranged from gender identity issues, nightmares, heartbreaks, and heartwarming moments.

“This is the biggest turnout we’ve had in years,” said English Professor, Rachael Stewart, who also hosted the event.

Another event that hosted a variety amounts of performers was the Latinx History Month: My Truth, My Story, My Talent. This performance was a way for students, both Latinx and not, to showcase their talents to inspire tomorrow’s leaders. Among the students and faculty members who participated were Student Government President Esmeralda Flores, ASPIRE 1G Event Coordinator Ana Rojas, and members of the cast “Just Like Us” Flo Perez and Yvette Argueta.

There are a variety of ways to get involved on campus at ECC. Bulletin boards are the best resource to use to find these upcoming performance opportunities. Although Coffee House Reading and the Latinx: My Truth, My Story, My Talent presentation are timely, there is one way students can continue to be involved and build their performing skills. The ECC Performing Arts Club is up and running for another academic school year.

“The Performing Arts Club is an organization that welcomes all talent. Performing Arts Club is a social group that meets twice a month to engage with fellow talent driven students and provide an opportunity to those who want to express themselves on and off stage,” said President of Performing Arts Club, Luke Harmon.

If interested in Performing Arts Club, please contact Luke Harmon at [email protected]. Performing Arts Club meets bi-weekly. General meetings are used to update members on everything performing arts-related in ECC and local communities. Also, if you are interested in branching off, PAC is more than happy to help you do so.

“[Performing Arts Club] also wants to provide opportunities for those who want to create something that can benefit the community. For example, some PAC members created Improv Resort, an improv group that consists of other like-minded students,” said Harmon.