PORT ANGELES — Students at Port Angeles High School are looking for talent wherever they can find it.
Auditions for the 3rd Annual Port Angeles High School Talent Show will be held this week after being postponed last week because of bad weather.
The rescheduled auditions for the benefit will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at the Port Angeles High School Auditorium, 304 E. Park Ave.
Entry to the talent show is open to the public.
Performances should be three to five minutes long, and will be judged by a panel of student organizers.
The talent show will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at the high school. Tickets will be sold at the door.
This year, proceeds from the show will go to Camille Frazier, who has worked as a paraeducator in the Port Angeles School District since 2007.
Fighting breast cancer
Frazier, who has worked at Jefferson Elementary and Stevens Middle schools, is fighting breast cancer for the second time.
Frazier, 49, is a wife, mother of four and a grandmother.
She thought she had won the battle against breast cancer the first time around without needing to resort to a mastectomy.
In June, Frazier was told that her cancer had returned and was growing rapidly, and would require a double mastectomy.
Then she was told the tumor had spread and was inoperable.
She was given a 40 percent to 50 percent chance of beating the cancer, but after undergoing a new radiation therapy in California, her doctor has told her that her chances have increased to 80 percent or 90 percent.
As of last week, Frazier’s tumors were shrinking. Surgery will be scheduled in February.
Her fight for life is expensive.
“I’m lucky I have insurance, but even with it, the bills are crazy high,” she said.
Frazier was selected from a field of student-selected nominees.
“We started work in early September,” said Elizabeth Helwick, 16.
Helwick is a junior at the high school, and a member of the school’s leadership class, which includes elected class and student body officers and other student representatives.
“We’ve had ideas since last year. We keep it in our heads until late November or early December,” Helwick said.
Students do work
Students are responsible for collecting donated items from local businesses and individuals for a silent auction, which opens an hour before the talent show, and for organizing the entire event.
The student volunteers are still seeking donations.
They will also host a spaghetti feed and gift-basket auction of prizes and services from local businesses at 4 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Clallam County Fairgrounds
Tickets for the spaghetti feed cost $8 for adults, $5 for children ages 5 to 12, or $20 for a family of four.
Donations are welcome.
Tickets for the spaghetti feed are available in advance by calling 360-457-7409.
Choosing recipient
To choose the recipient, each of the 30 students in the class nominated a person in the community experiencing financial difficulties.
Class members then vote for the person they feel could benefit the most from the help.
“Usually it’s someone who is going through something medically,” Helwick said.
“It’s hard on the family, and it’s hard on them,” she said.
Frazier was notified that she would be the recipient in December, while she was undergoing radiation therapy in California.
She initially thought that she was being asked to volunteer for the fundraiser, which she happily agreed to.
It took a few minutes for her to understand that she would be the recipient, not a volunteer.
“I’m just learning to be humble and accept help,” Frazier said.
“Usually I’m the one helping. Now I’m learning to receive,” she said.
In the 2010 inaugural talent show, $12,000 was raised for Tammy Goodwin, who had cancer, said student government adviser Rachael Ward said.
In the show’s second year, Cornerstone Tabernacle pastor Kevin Jones received $3,800 after suffering an aneurism due to a genetic heart condition.
“Every single dollar we raise goes to the beneficiary,” said senior Jacob Woods, 17, the ASB president and Port Angeles School Board student representative.
Expenses are paid by the Associated Student Body general fund, money that is raised by the students themselves, and is not reimbursed.
For more information on the show or if you wish to donate to the silent auction, phone Ward at 360-565-1529 email her at rward@portangelesschools.org.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.