I went to support my friend, Jamie Palacpac,as she attended an audition at the Santa Clara Convention Center for ‘America’s Got Talent (AGT)’ season 10. Since she’s a singer, she plans on singing a song for her audition. The big day was Saturday, Feb. 7, and she has been counting down the days ever since she registered online last year.

“

We got there right when the doors opened at 6 a.m.’America’s Got Talent’ flags and banners were displayed all over the building.Suprisingly, the line was shorter than we expected. They gave us all wristbands: red for performers and blue for guests. They also gave Palacpac a sticker with her audition number on it.

Once we got registered and went inside the holding room, it all felt so real. It was a grand room with chairs all over, a black and white checkered dance floor in the middle, lit up mirrors placed around the room, and live music. Dance groups were taking over the dance floor, singers were singing with one another, magicians were entertaining people, and comedians were making other auditioners laugh.

“The vibe and energy of everyone was insane,”Palacpac said. “People from all over the world held in one room sharing their talent with one another amazed me.”

I rememberPalacpac looking at me with big eyes once they started calling people by groups of 50, and since she number 40, she was in the first group. We followed the coordinators upstairs into a hall, and they sat us down into five separate groups, each in front of a room.

“You get 90 seconds to perform your act and impress the producer. They will determine whether you get a callback to perform in front of this year’s judges, Mel B, Howie Mandel, Howard Stern, and Heidi Klum,” Floor Coordinator for AGT Josh Jones said.

Luckily, contestants were all given 10 minutes to run any last minute rehearsal, so Palacpac went down the hall and practiced her song. Once it was time, I grabbed Palacpac’s hand and walked her into the room along with everyone else. The performers and guests split up and sat down in separate areas of the room. Palacpac was up first, so she walked to the middle of the room, in front of the producer.

“Hi my name’s Jamie Palacpac, I’m 17 years old and I’m going to be singing ‘All of Me’ by John Ledgend,” Palacpac said.

She sang her heart out. I’ve heard her rehearse this song countless times, but never like this. It blew me away, along with everybody else. She hit all the notes perfectly, she used the right volume at the right times. She sang confidently.

Once everyone was done performing, we were taken outside the room and Jones rechecked everyone’s information and audition numbers so that he didn’t miss anything.

“If you get a callback within a month, you made it past the first round. If not, try again next year,” Jones said.

We left, and now we have to wait for the results. Overall, it was a great experience to witness how all of these talent entertainment shows work behind the scenes. On TV, it looks less stressful and not as strict, but really, it is all about the business.

“I’m anxious to find out my results. Until then, I’m going to keep working on my music, and hope for the best,” Palacpac said.