'Faculty Idol 8' Set for April 11 at Lemont Performing Arts Center

Lemont High School’s Speech team will host “Faculty Idol 8” on Friday, April 11, at 7 p.m. in the school’s Performing Arts Center. The event will pair students and staff members in a musical competition, and money raised will benefit the school’s award-winning speech program. The current line-up includes a range of students and several faculty, including defending champion and Music teacher Matt Doherty—the first three-time Faculty Idol champion.

Seven faculty/student duets or groups are slated to appear, and with a variety of musical performance styles, anything can happen. Every Faculty Idol entry must include at least one Lemont High School faculty or staff member, but there is no limit to the number of groups with whom those faculty and staff can perform. Besides Doherty - who won in 2008, 2010 and 2013 - the faculty line-up also includes previous winners in English teacher Jon DeGuzman (2011) and Mathematics teacher Ashley Good (2012), as well as English teacher Phil Lazzari and Social Studies teacher Dan Priestley.

The show will open with a special tribute performance that will include an all-star cast of faculty and students. Following that, each competing act will perform once. After an intermission, the Faculty Idol judges will choose their top four entrants. Those finalists will perform once more, and the audience’s applause will determine the Faculty Idol 8 champion.

Judges for the competition will include Fine Arts chair David Nommensen (as a late career Elvis Presley), English teacher Marek Dron (as Russell Brand) and World Languages chair Christie Klingsporn (as Cher Lloyd), with the possibility of a German judge joining the panel as well. Science teacher Scott Collins will host the event, and will be assisted by senior Kevin Lindgren and sophomore Olivia Matthews.

Tickets for the event are $10, and can be purchased in advance online. Also for purchase at the door while they last.

“Faculty Idol” debuted in Spring 2007 with ten faculty and staff members competing for the crown, which ultimately was won by former Career & Technical Education Chair Ken Ferry. In 2008, “Faculty Idol 2: The Students Strike Back” introduced student competitors to the show. Emily Lyons ‘10 was the student winner, but the overall victor was Doherty, who used a version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” to propose to his girlfriend. In 2009, “Faculty Idol: Duets” paired students and teachers; that contest culminated with a win for the tandem of former Speech teacher Dan Franke and Erin Houser ‘09. In 2010, “Faculty Idol 4: Lemont’s Got Talent” saw Doherty and his Ska band (comprised of students) walk away with the crown. In 2011, DeGuzman and his student group triumphed at “Faculty Idol 5: Decades.” In 2012, Ferry, Good and “The Young Bucks” captured the title, while Doherty teamed with the “Blue & Gold Man Group” for the crown a year ago.

Lemont’s speech program won its fifth straight South Suburban Conference-Blue Division title earlier this year, and for the first time in its history, advanced students to IHSA Sectional competition in all 15 postseason events.