This Spring, the Warren Hills Drama Club sponsored its third annual Warren Idol contest, putting their own spin on the hit reality TV show, “American Idol”.

The show began with freshman Jason Braman singing the “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The hosts, Manny Meza and Kieran Bonsignore introduced the three judges: English teacher, Kevin Horn, Spanish teacher Lolita Trifiletti and Science teacher Amy Kline.

Throughout the evening, the judges critiqued and commented on each soloist before moving onto the next.

The first round consisted of nine contestants who all performed a song of their choice.  The first performance was by senior Cat Tensfeldt.  She broke out her guitar and sang the song, “Therapy” by All Time Low.

The second performance belonged to junior Kallie Levitt, who sang “Lay Me Down” by Sam Smith, a cappella.

The next was sophomore Gretchen Fix, who sang the country classic, “Independence Day” by Martina McBride.

Following was junior Bradley Murphy.  He sang Train’s “50 Ways to Say Goodbye”.

Quite possibly the most relevant song of the evening was by junior Cody Jackson.  He sang a song formerly called “Lovesick Blues” but is now affectionately known as the “Yodeling Walmart Kid” song. This song went viral on YouTube in the past few months and it has become popular on social media.

The next performance was by sophomore Jillian Patino, who brought out her ukulele and sang the popular Disney song, “How Far I’ll Go” from the hit animated movie, Moana.

Next was freshman Maggie Alder, who sang a rather comical performance of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”.

Following was sophomore Kharissa Muhammad, who also performed “Lay Me Down” by Sam Smith, a cappella.  Although the song had been sung previously, each performer made it their own.

The final performance of round one belonged to junior Lianna Johnson.  She sang, “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack.

At the conclusion of round one, the judges were given time to select the three finalists. Then at the end of the intermission, Bonsignore and Meza revealed the finalists: Patino, Muhammad and Jackson.

For the final round, they each had to perform another song for the judges to make their final verdict.

Patino performed another Disney classic, “Part of Your World” from the movie The Little Mermaid.

Jackson sang a song from the Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, Dear Evan Hansen. The song was entitled, “If I Could Tell Her.”

The final performance was from Muhammad and she performed Rhianna’s “California King Bed.”

The judges were then given time to deliberate on the performances of the finalists. During that time, Bonsignore and Meza performed their rendition of “Without You” from SpongeBob Squarepants.

The finalists were brought back to the stage and after a moment of suspension, it was announced that Patino was the Warren Idol.  To say she was surprised was an understatement, but the win went to a well-deserved vocalist.

In response to finding out that she won, Patino said, “Wait. Are you sure you guys are right? You sure you wrote the right thing?”