Featured Photo by Larry Rincon
Story by Stephanie Hall
Students gathered in the Student Union commons of Middle Tennessee State University on September 14 to enjoy an evening of diversity and entertainment.
Rep Your Roots is a yearly talent show put on by Intercultural and Diversity Affairs dedicated to showcasing and highlighting talent across cultures.
Student Body President Michai Moseby hosted the show with gratitude.
“I’m super excited and thankful to the Intercultural and Diversity Affairs department for putting on this show that allows our students to really rep their roots, where they come from and their cultures. It’s really been a great night tonight,” Moseby said.
Rep your Roots had a total of eight acts, starting at 6:00 pm and ending at 8:00 pm. The acts were a mixture of vocal performances with a couple of dance groups. Rep Your Roots was a night of performances and music that brought people together.
“We really want our students to come out and connect with people who they’ve probably never had an opportunity to connect with. It’s always a great turn out because it’s multicultural,” Moseby said.
Many students also performed original songs of theirs, which allowed them to promote themselves as artists. Alex Noreiga performed his original song that he wrote for his fans.
“I wrote “You and Me.” It’s off my latest record, after going on my first tour and actually having fans. So, I wrote a song specifically for the crowd,” Noreiga said. “It’s a really fun song because I wrote it purely for the engagement, getting people to get up, clap along, sing along and have a good time.”
After all of the performances, the judges took some time to decide the winners while the crowd did line dances. Kyng Julien won third place dancing to “Culturville Show.” Second place went to Tiana Williams, stage name Deitee, performing her original song “What I Do.” The first-place winner was Alex Noreiga for his original song “You and Me.”
For many artists like Deitee, this isn’t her first time performing on stage. So, when it came to her performance, she knew how to engage the audience and get them to sing along.
“No matter what stage I get on, I have fun. When I started off as an artist, I was very scared to perform in front of anybody, Deitee said. “Over the years, when you do it over and over again, you have to learn to just have fun. I went on that stage just to have fun with everybody.”
Organizers were happy with the event and can’t wait for it to come around again next year.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
