Sedona Charter School students Leila Flores and Louis Bourque both won first place in their age groups during the second annual “Sedona’s Got Talent” competition on March 6 at the Sedona Performing Arts Center. Flores, a third grader, sang “I Won’t Grow Up” from “Peter Pan” while costumed as one of the Lost Boys, and Bourque, a second-grader, sang Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things.”

Leila Flores

“It felt good, but it felt surprising, too. There was a big group of people,” Flores said. “I didn’t expect that out of everybody there, I would be in first place. I chose ‘I Won’t Grow Up’ “because my mom did it when she was my age … my mom is someone that I look up to.”“I was blown away— just filled with joy for her because I knew how exciting it was,” Shannon Flores said. “Winning wasn’t the goal when we put together the song and dance; it was all about having fun. So winning was just a really great bonus.”

Flores received a $100 prize that she has yet to decide how to spend; Shannon Flores said that her first thought was to donate it to their church.

Flores said that she spent four hours a week practicing but that the hardest part was getting her hair right.

“The hairspray was almost like glue, and when we were putting the twigs and stuff in my hair, it pulled, especially when we brushed my hair,” Flores said.

“Leila kept running through the song, taking advice on how to improve it, and doing it again,” Shannon Flores said. “She can be very sassy, and we really wanted her personality to shine through in her performance. When you practice something over and over, it can become monotonous, so we kept encouraging her to let her personality come through in the song rather than just going through the motions.”

Flores said that her other interests include creating abstract art, practicing math and exploring the natural world with a microscope that was her favorite Christmas gift last year.

“We’ve looked at bugs, parts of food, we’ve looked at bugs’ wings and their legs, but that’s all the slides we’ve had so far,” Flores said. “We want to go down to the river and see what’s swimming in that water.”

“We’re big fans of pop and country music, all kinds of music, and [Leila] goes to concerts and she loves to do that,” Shannon Flores said. “Music is very important in our family and that’s rubbed off on her.”

Flores said that she has not thought about a career but that her favorite music artists are Lady Gaga and Sammy Rae & The Friends.

“I felt a little nervous before heading on stage but I was thinking that I got this and I can be brave,” Flores said.

Louis Bourque

“It was awesome to win and put this huge trophy in my room,” Bourque said. “But the hardest part for me was memorizing all the [lyrics] to the song … it was a lot of fun, and I was kind of nervous at first. But my dad cheered me up when I was nervous, when he said, ‘You’ll do a good job,’ so that got back into a good mood before I went on that huge stage.”

Bourque said that he rehearsed at school two or three days a week and another hour at home every day.

“Louis has talent, but what stood out most was seeing him pick a song, learn it, work on it, and put his own spin on it,” his father Jonathan Bourque said. “We’ve exposed them to a pretty eclectic mix of music, from Louis Armstrong to funk to Metallica and everything in between. Last year, he even wrote a song but wouldn’t perform it for his mom and me — so the first time we heard it was at the talent show. It’s been amazing to watch him grow, take a song from a talented artist, and add his own flair. But more than anything, I’m proud of the hard work he put into it.”

Bourque has also recently started experimenting with the keyboard. “I just set it up for him a couple of days ago,” Jonathan Bourque said. “He’s really just tinkering around with the sounds right now but he’s been excited to play music more.”

“I love that you can just sing whenever you want, have the faith to sing, faith in yourself,” Bourque said. He added that his favorite musicians were Cory Asbury and “anything that’s playing on the [radio station] K-LOVE.”