THON 2016: Performer Olivia Farabaugh Rocks BJC

As a sophomore and junior in high school, Olivia Farabaugh performed for a couple hundred students in her Mini-THON talent shows and won the entire thing twice. Flash forward six years later to THON 2016 here at Penn State and Farabaugh has come full circle with the opportunity to perform on the Bryce Jordan Center stage Sunday morning. Farabaugh had a little larger audience this time around, performing for about 17,000 people.

Farabaugh says that performing Sunday morning at THON with the BJC filled to capacity was definitely the biggest crowd she’s been in front of.

“The energy you could feel was incredible, even though everyone was getting tired,” says Farabaugh.

Since she performed for an audience who had, at the time, endured 40 hours of no sleeping or sitting, she made sure to choose her songs wisely. She picked popular, upbeat songs so everyone could sing along.

“I did the mashup to try to fit as many different genres into the time I had to try and keep everyone interested,” says Farabaugh.

It worked. The dancers and crowd in the stand perked up and loved the mashup including “We Will Rock You”, some Eminem and even a little bit of One Direction.

Farabaugh has been involved with mini-THON since high school, but performing on the BJC stage was a moment she’ll never forget.

“Seeing the massive amount of people there all for the same reason just gave me the chills,” says Farabaugh. “It was just beautiful to see.”

You can catch Farabaugh on your television later this week, as she recently auditioned for the hit show The Voice, which starts Feb. 29. She will be back to play in State College on March 25 for the Noontime Concert Series at the HUB. In the meantime, you can check out her music on iTunes or visit her website.