Zander Gates named USU’s first Aggie Idol
Eight USU students performed for a full house in the TSC Ballroom last night, competing for a prize of $1,000 and recording time in the university’s first Aggie Idol competition.
The entire production of the event was part of a class project for MGT 3110. Requirements for the project included raising at least $1,000 to donate to a charity or doing 100 service hours, but for the nine students who organized the event, it became “more than just a project.”
“It has been awesome to not just have textbooks, quizzes and tests,” said Trevor Nielsen, a senior majoring in liberal arts. “It became a real thing, not just a project. It was something I wasn’t able to learn in another class. There’s more than just getting the grade.”
Nielsen said he and the others in the group started with a zero-dollar budget but found 11 local sponsors who donated money, materials or advertising. He said the university seemed supportive of the project and they were able to have “prestigious” judges.
Through their sponsors, the group was able to organize the event and raise the $1,000 grand prize for the winner of the contest. They also raised $1,000 to donate to the USU Small Enterprise Education and Development, or SEED program, which, according to group leader Ryan Muir, helps people in Peru and Ghana start their own businesses.
Muir, a junior majoring in marketing, said at the event, which had free admission, the group collected donations for the relief effort in the Philippines. He said he has learned a lot from the project.
“If you have an idea or something that you want to do on campus, you can make it happen,” Muir said. “If students want to accomplish something, they’ve just got to go out there and ask, and if you get shut down, oh well. But if you don’t try, you’ll never know.”
He said the idea for Aggie Idol came from group member Spencer Ellison, a senior majoring in business administration. Ellison, the winner of this year’s Cache Valley Idol, said he has wanted to have a competition like this for a long time at USU and as the project developed, its popularity with other students was confirmed.
Muir said the only advertising the group did for auditions was printing posters and sitting at a table in the TSC basement, but they still had 100 people audition. Ellison said this number was impressive because there were only about 40 people who auditioned with him for Cache Valley Idol.
“Utah State has a lot of talent,” Muir said. “There was a lot of good talent that tried out, and I’m sure there were 10 times more people that could have tried out and done well.”
Ellison said the after the first round, the top 21 were called back and then the final eight were chosen.
The contestants practiced and prepared two songs on their own. Ellison said the only practice they had in an organized setting was at the dress rehearsal and sound check a few hours before the show, a feat Muir referred to as “gutsy.”
Zander Gates, an undeclared sophomore and winner of Aggie Idol, said the experience was incredible.
“Probably the most incredible experience of my life,” Gates said. “I’m very humbled by it and I’m just grateful that people were pleased with my performance.”
Gates said the fans at the event were great.
“I think this event was important because I think there’s a lot of hidden talent in the world generally and at Utah State specifically,” Gates said. “Sometimes people are a little bit shy and intimidated by it unless people have an opportunity like this.”
He said he wants students to know that they “literally can achieve any dream that they have, that there should be nothing holding them back from what they want to do.”
The second and third-place finishers,Tyla Bearss and Nathan Heaps, won recording time in a studio along with Gates.
Ellison said they hope Aggie Idol can become a yearly tradition, so those interested should “look for it around the same time next year.”