Patchogue-Medford HS Idol Crowned

Junior Megan Nugent won the title of Patchogue-Medford High School Idol Saturday during the third annual singing competition held at the high school Saturday.

Set up similarly to the American Idol program it is based on, 18 students performed in three rounds of singing which narrowed down the contestants to a top 10 for the second round and a top five for the final round.

Unlike the program, judges made all of the selections instead of audience voting. This year’s judges were George R. Eleazer III, owner of the LI’s Royalenova Performing Arts competitive dance studio, Jennifer Mistretta, coordinator for MTV Cribs on the MTV Networks, Susan Rudnicki, a music teacher at Barton Elementary School, and K.T. Mills from radio. The competition was hosted by high school senior Mike Dowd.

After being crowned the winner, Nugent said that she had entered the competition in previous years.

“I had tried out my freshman year and I hadn’t gotten in, and I decided to give it another shot, just so I could have some fun with some friends,” Nugent said.

In addition to the title of Patchogue-Medford Idol, Nugent won two tickets to go see the Million Dollar Quartet on Broadway.

Sophomore Sydney Swinson took second place and won a $50 iTunes gift certificate.

“I thought that it was great to have everyone be able to sing and you don’t get many chances like that, and when you do, you should totally take advantage of it,” Swinson said.

The event was organized by Lauren Stolworthy, a social studies teacher at the high school and the LEO Club advisor.

“I’m an ‘Idol’ freak! I wanted to come up with a way of fundraising. Part of the money goes to Leo Club scholarships, and then we do something in the community with the rest of the money,” Stolworthy said.

Stolworthy said that a portion of this year’s money will go toward creating a scholarship in honor of Ralph Jackson, .

Here are the final results:

Round One Contestants
Monica Cusanelli, Senior
Shauna-Lee Edwards, Junior
Grace Fitzgerald, Freshman
Mishelle Guttierrez, Senior
Kathleen Loverde, Junior
Matthew Nabel, Freshman
Jairo Tacuri, Junior
Noah Wade, Freshman

Round Two Contestants
Ella Christie, Junior
Meghan Krulder, Freshman
Dimitri Morgan, Junior
Kristi Rhodes, Sophomore
Emily Rose Savage, Junior

Round Three Contestants
Gabrielle Aviles, Sophomore
Kaity Roman, Senior
Gizem Yetim, Junior

Winners
Megan Nugent, Junior - 1st place
Sydney Swinson, Sophomore - 2nd place

Check the for highlights from the competition.