Singing, dancing, and Carole Baskin filled this year’s Mock Rock. Since being on DIstance Learning, many activities have been canceled, but this year was the first ever Virtual Mock Rock. The creators of our Virtual Mock Rock were: Mason Stepp, Isabella Long, and Allie Barnachia. Students were able to access the video through the Principal’s Forum. There were a total of 12 different acts this year.

To start off the show, Judith announced a video by a few seniors called, “The Off Brand Bring It On.” The video included Jeb Burke, Morgan Pulido, Shelby Lee, Reagan Hamilton, Kyleigh Phillips, Paige Wilkerson, Lily Noland, Tayler Portenga, and Ashlynn Smith. They wore their Taft High Cheerleading outfits and danced to the Bring It On song. The following act was from Carole Baskin (played by Tanya Mauldin) and her music video to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens.

Callie White was next singing to No Diggity by Blackstreet. This act was followed by a short film by seniors, Kenya Osburn, Desiree Harris, and Alohra Cloud. Their short film covered how social media is today. Next, was Martin Mora doing his quarantine rap. Mora wasn’t the only one who decided to rap, Alan Popejoy did a rap about the play Antigone. Before Popejoy delivered his rap, he gave a brief synopsis about the play.

Next up was Sydney Campbell singing You Say by Lauren Daigle. The following act was by The Hebers and they sang a song about quarantine. Next, was Isabella Long singing Smile by Nat King Cole. She created a music video of her singing to Smile. Following next was The Chunky Lops, a group that consists of Ricky Posey, Natalie Bavinez, Drake Dodson, Colt Mathews, Presley Golling, Nathaniel Morris, and Martin Penaloza. They did an instrumental cover of Funkytown/I Feel Good. We had another teacher participate in this year’s Virtual Mock Rock, Eric Newton sang Stuck on you by Elvis Presley with his guitar. As the finale, our Taft High principal, Mary Alice Finn showcased her girls as they dance to Old Town Road the Kidz Bop version.

There are three categories of winners: Wildcat Idol, Instrumental, and Video. Although there were many acts submitted for the first-ever Virtual Mock Rock, the judges were able to make a final decision. The winner of the Wildcat Idol category is Isabella Long. For the Instrumental side of things, the winners were the Chunky Lops. Finally, the winner of the Video category is The Off Brand Bring It On.