Calvin’s Got Talent auditions took place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week in the Commons Lecture Hall.

Paula Englin, coordinator of student organizations and weekend programming, briefed Chimes on how the whole auditioning process works.

“This is our third year of Calvin’s Got Talent,” Englin said. “I think in some ways it helps because there is an increase in people attending the show and people know what it is now, so there is more interest in signing up.”

Englin stated that 35 different acts were signed up to audition this year compared to the 28 last year.

“The nice thing with Calvin’s Got Talent is it’s been about showcasing all sorts of talent. Basically, anyone can sign up that’s a Calvin student. We have a few limitations just in terms of the length of the performance and making sure it is Calvin-appropriate, but basically we’re looking for anything and everything.”

Each entry was judged by the Weekend Programming team, made up of Englin, John Britton and the three Weekend Programming interns, Nicole Wilson, Erik Newhouse and Lauren DeGroot. With 35 different acts, judges put in “quite a lot of hours,” Englin said.

“Basically, we’re going through the auditions to see the people who we, as a team of judges, can say ‘We definitely want them!’ and then we compile the list of people that we really wanted to see to see how long the show will be.”

“Something I keep in the back of my mind when judging is, if it’s a group of seniors, I’m a little bit more willing to give them an opportunity since it will be their last time to be on that stage,” Englin said, “but tough decisions have to be made.”

Englin said that the committee of judges were hoping to notify all the people who auditioned whether or not they made it by the end of this week.

Junior Kaitlin Lubben has performed at Calvin’s Got Talent for the past two years. She is looking forward to having a fun time performing for the third time.

“It’s just for fun,” Lubben said. “We don’t always play to win. I don’t get to perform that often, but when I do, it’s definitely for fun.”

Although Lubben is focusing on the fun of performance rather than the competition, she is ambitious and wants to go for gold.

“This may be our year,” she said. “Third time’s the charm.”