Oregon State’s own American Idol

Last Thursday night, American Idol traveled to Las Vegas after a few weeks in Hollywood. In Vegas, they cut down the number of participants from 70 to 42, and in that top 42 is Haley Johnsen, recent Oregon State University graduate.

Johnsen was able to time everything right. In August, Johnsen joined thousands of people in Portland to audition for American Idol. She then went through her final term and lucked out in having no finals, so she was able to leave school and go straight to Hollywood.

While at OSU, Johnsen worked at e.cafe in Kelley Engineering Center for the four years that she was a student. Her manager, Dani Rau, said Johnsen did a lot while here in Corvallis. "She's pretty well known. She's been in Divine; she was in the Glee Club. And in the last year, she was going out on her own and singing at lots of places around town: at Cloud Nine and Fireworks."

Rau said that there will be viewings of the rest of the season in the Memorial Union Commons. "There will be big screens and loud speakers," she said. "It will be like a big party to watch American Idol."

These viewing parties will start on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. and will be held every Wednesday and Thursday night at the same time, as well as a Tuesday show on the 28th, which is American Idol's 400th episode.

Videos and pictures of Johnsen's previous performances can be found at Amercanidol.com. Her Vegas group performance of "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" received a standing ovation and all four members were put through to the top 42.

"We're all cheering for her," Rau said. "She's a really nice person and deserves to go far."

Gwen Shaw, staff reporter

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