Lake Elmo Campus Shakes Things Up with Retro Talent Show

The quarterly event features everything from students performing karate demonstrations and musical performances to poetry reading, comedy acts and dog tricks.  

“The coolest talent that I ever saw was a guy breaking a brick with his head … it was incredible,” said Brian Sager, a current student and learning center tutor at the Lake Elmo/Woodbury campus.

The quarterly open mic/talent show was created by instructor Erik Ritter, and is now carried on by Sager, who doubles as the Ryan Seacrest-like emcee of the event.

“[Erik] wanted to give students the opportunity to mix with staff and peers in a creative way,” Sager said. “It helps to build community on campus. I got involved with it during my very first quarter on campus. I loved the idea of the students getting the opportunity to express themselves in such a positive way.”

Rasmussen alumna Mary Jo Laster is Sager’s co-host of the event.

“She and I are always brainstorming ways to make the show even more spectacular,” Sager said. “To date, there have been 22 consecutive RasMash-UP events. I took over as the host at RasMash-UP 2014.”

Don’t worry, if you missed this last talent show, you can always attend—or participate in—next quarter’s event. The event usually happens around the seventh or eighth week of the quarter; look for announcements on campus advertising the event.

And don’t worry if you’re anticipating a bout of stage fright.

“The best advice I can give to someone with a case of stage fright is not to worry, we all put our pants on one leg at a time,” Sager said. “It’s all in good fun and no one is grading or critiquing you. The RasMash-UP is an event with no judgments and a welcoming atmosphere.”