The All-School Athletics Council’s annual talent show has featured few performers and had low attendance in recent years. According to All-School Athletics Representative Claire Roth ’14, the talent show features around ten performers each year, and in order to fill a 70-minute lunch period, athletics representatives often have to press their friends and classmates to participate.

We at the UltraViolet believe that many girls are too scared to perform at the talent show because they fear being made fun of or gossiped about by their peers.

Attendance at the talent show is critical because it is a fundraiser; ticket sales go toward the Council’s budget for the following school year. The Council uses the money raised at the talent show to hold pep rallies and sports banquets. On Friday, March 21, the All-School Athletics Council held this year’s talent show with nine acts, including a Junior-versus-Senior Pie Eating Contest, which was added to attract more audience members. In total, All-School Athletics Council raised $484.

Marlborough girls are supposed to be courteous, welcoming, and supportive, but girls seize the opportunity to gossip about a peer behind her back. Because Marlborough is an academically and socially competitive community, girls always try to one up each other. While it is easy to disparage others to bring oneself up, it is harder to withhold judgement.

Imagine sitting in a crowd watching a girl in your class playing an angsty teenage love song that she wrote herself. Our immediate reaction may be to quietly lean over to our friend and gossip about how the girl is fake. Instead, we should applaud the girl’s songwriting talent and bravery for putting herself out there.

Although a school wide culture shift to become non-judgmental is realistically impossible, we should try to applaud the talent and bravery it takes to perform in front of one’s peers.