Whiz Kid: DHS Grad Among Folgers Jingle Hopefuls

Whiz Kid of the Week

• Name and Age: Aubrey Wollett, 20, college junior
• School: Belmont University, Nashville, TN; 2008 graduate
  
• Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Aubrey Wollett is one of 1,000 contestants who created a Folgers Coffee commercial for the shot at $25,000 and a chance to become the face of the next Folgers Coffee jingle.

• Key to Awesomeness: Wollett's commercial has been on YouTube for the past month, in hopes it can attract a large number of viewers — enough to really catch judges’ attention.
  
  Wollett said, generally, when she thinks of Folgers, she thinks of an old couple out in the country. In her video and jingle, she said, she wants people to walk away with the message that, "Hey, it's cool. College kids are drinking it," Wollett said during a phone interview.
  
  Wollett was involved in the theater before she graduated in 2008. From there, she went on to study musical theater at the University of West Florida. She transferred to renowned music school Belmont University in Nashville, TN, last August. "When I was in elementary school," Wollett said, "I wanted to move to Nashville. I never thought it would actually happen. ... I like it, besides the weather."
  
  At Belmont, she met her musical co-star, Bryan Downing, a St. Petersburg native. Their entire jingle was filmed in one day of shooting around their university. "People were looking at us really strangely," she said.
  
  Wollett's new major, Entertainment Industries, is more on the music business side of the industry, she said. 
  
  On Thursday, March 31, Folgers Coffee announces the 10 semi-finalists from among the pool of 1,000 contestants. Voting for the 10 semi-finalists opens to the public from March 31 to April 25. The voting will send five finalists to New York to perform live in front of judges.
  
  View Wollett's video on YouTube.

Know a great kid who made Eagle Scout or did your local soccer team take the championship? They could be our next Patch Whiz Kid honoree. Nominate your Whiz Kid by emailing editor Katie Dolac at Kathryn.Dolac@patch.com.