Signing off for the year

The last day of school is traditionally a short one. Teachers and students alike are gearing up for summer, some of them moving on to other schools and new opportunities in the fall, so it’s understandably an exciting day.

At Greenacres Middle School in the Central Valley School District, they use the day to showcase the talents of the students.

Principal Vern DiGiovanni said they began the talent show on the last day of school several years ago.

“It was a huge success,” he said.

This year after auditions, 22 acts were on the schedule to perform Friday. There were singers, dancers and even a dog doing tricks.

Avery Benson, a sixth-grader, opened the show and clearly knew her audience. She performed a dance she choreographed herself after watching a lot of videos of dancers on YouTube. The theme from “Footloose” started off her dance, which then moved into a song from Ke$ha. When she took a dollar from her pocket and held it up to the tune of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Thrift Shop,” the crowd went nuts.

“It was a little bit scary,” she said of opening the show.

A string quartet, named Asia Beale & Co., performed a rendition of Green Day’s “21 Guns.”

Alexandria Mickschl, a sixth-grader, performed a belly dance.

She wasn’t nervous about getting up in front of her classmates Friday. “I’ve performed in front of large crowds before,” she said.

Eighth-grader Jenessa Maynes performed a 1950s dance with her younger brother, Justin, a sixth-grader, complete with a poodle skirt her grandmother made for her.

She said she plans a nice, relaxing summer to hang out and sleep before she starts at Central Valley High School this fall.

“I’m a little nervous,” she said.

Brianna Cameron, an eighth-grader, was preparing to sing a song with her friend, Kayte Roy, but the prospect of performing was a little nerve-racking.

“I have stage fright,” she said.