After weeks of competition and multiple eliminations, one local high schooler took grand prize in the final round of the Rotary Club’s Southern Ocean Idol Competition Saturday.
Cassandra Jean “CJ” Hage, 18, of Lacey Township, took the Idol title following a final round of performances that attendees said drew hundreds to the Lacey Township High School Auditorium Saturday night.
Hage, who sang after singing “I’m Going Down” by Mary J. Blige and several other songs, beat out Southern Regional’s Kate Darcy and Pinelands Regional’s Lena Andreala, who tied for second, said event organizer and Rotary member Charlie Zeigler. The runners-up were Chelsea Sikora of Central Regional; Naomi Madden of Barnegat High School; and Olivia Hogan, a Barnegat resident who attends the Ocean County Vocational and Technical Schools’ Performing Arts Academy.
“I’m always amazed at the quality of the talent,” Zeigler said. In fact, selecting the winners proved to be a tough job. Zeigler had a little extra entertainment to keep the audience occupied while the judges decided on who had placed where, he said.
“I was starting to sweat it out,” he laughed. “After 20 minutes, I was about to run out and I didn’t have a decision from the judges.”
For her win, the 18-year-old Hage will receive a $1,000 scholarship, a professional photo session from Jfp3 Photography and Design – owner Jason Pierson also photographed the event for the Rotary – and a recording session. The second place winners each get $500, and the runners-up will receive $300 apiece.
Hage said she’s been singing since the first grade, and began with the school choir. Her training comes from high school acting classes and her experience in choir and drama club.
She prepped for the Southern Ocean Idol by practicing in her bedroom with karaoke CDs and studying lyrics, she said. She was also in the competition last year and made it through the first round.
“I just love singing so I was like, ‘I’m going to do it again,’” Hage said.
She said she enjoyed competing, because all the contestants were supportive of each other and became friends.
“It was a good experience seeing what competition is like, even though it was only on a high school level,” Hage said.
Hage also had a role as Kitty and was a featured dancer in this year’s high school musical “The Drowsy Chaperone.” She is a captain on the dance team, president of drama club, and in the select ensemble. She is also a member of AADA, the cheerleading squad and the National Honors Society.
“It’s just something I like to do,” she said. “It’s just fun performing on stage. It makes me happy to go on stage and watch everyone smile and dance along to the songs I sing.”
Hage said she’ll be attending Montclair State University in the fall, and plans to study math education and pick up a minor in musical theater.
“I love math, but I want to try to do something with music and theater,” Hage said.
Runner-up Olivia Hogan, a 15-year-old Barnegat resident who is a freshman at OCVT’s Performing Arts Academy, said she loved getting to know the other contestants and having the chance to put her own stamp on the songs she showcased.
“It was really fun preparing for the competition,” she said. “I always love choosing the songs, and then changing them. I always love to do something a little different – that’s the most creative part.”
Though she’s got years of high school ahead of her, Hogan is serious about preparing for a future as a performer, and the Idol competition was a good stepping stone, she said.
“I feel like it was just such good exposure and performance experience,” said Hogan. And, she said, it’s just plain fun. When she gets out in front of the audience, she said, “there’s just nothing like it.”
Hage and Hogan both have an eye on bigger prizes, too: Hage tried out for the real deal, American Idol, two years ago in Boston along with 10,000 other hopefuls, and might attempt it again – or audition for the new NBC shoe “The Voice.”
Hogan heads to Pittsburgh this summer to try out for next season’s “American Idol,” she said.
“It definitely brought me to reality about how many people want to be singers and famous,” Hage said of her experience trying out for the show. “You don’t really think about it until you see it.”
Hage said once she saw the thousands of people with the same dream, she was nervous because she knew she was up against people who have been preparing for this moment their whole lives.
“Once you get up there and start singing, you forget,” she said.
Six local Rotary clubs first got together to organize the competition last year, collecting $7,500 from ticket sales, while local sponsors helped pay for the show’s expenses. Zeigler said this, the clubs hoped to raise about $8,000 for various Rotary causes, from local park improvements to caring for the needy worldwide.
