{"id":59253,"date":"2014-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-alumnus-mat-franco-to-discuss-americas-got-talent-experience-during-livestream-interview-aug-13\/"},"modified":"2014-08-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T00:00:00","slug":"uri-alumnus-mat-franco-to-discuss-americas-got-talent-experience-during-livestream-interview-aug-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/08\/uri-alumnus-mat-franco-to-discuss-americas-got-talent-experience-during-livestream-interview-aug-13\/","title":{"rendered":"URI alumnus Mat Franco to discuss America\u2019s Got Talent experience during Livestream interview, Aug. 13"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 5, 2014 \u2013 You may have watched him wow the judges \u2013 and America \u2013 on the America\u2019s Got Talent stage this season. Or maybe you\u2019ve seen him perform at a University of Rhode Island freshman orientation session. Well, now, you can see URI alumnus and magician Mat Franco talk about his America\u2019s Got Talent experience during a URI Livestream interview on Wednesday, Aug. 13 from noon to 12:30 p.m. He may even throw in a few tricks, too.<\/p>\n


\nURI Assistant Director of Communications Dave Lavallee will moderate the discussion with questions submitted by viewers in the Livestream chat box. Viewers can also connect during the live interview via Twitter by tweeting their questions and comments with the hashtag #URIMatChat.<\/p>\n


\nFranco recently flew through the America\u2019s Got Talent \u201cJudgment Week\u201d rounds, making it to the live shows at Radio City Music Hall, after he impressed judges Heidi Klum, Howard Stern, Howie Mandel and Mel B with a picture he \u201cpainted\u201d of Mandel.<\/p>\n


\nCheck out the \u201cJudgment Week\u201d performance<\/a> that put Franco into the America\u2019s Got Talent live shows.<\/p>\n


\nNamed 2013\u2019s Best Male Performer by Campus Activities Magazine, Franco has been astonishing freshman orientation audiences at URI\u2019s Kingston campus since he was a student. Most shows end with standing ovations. Franco, who grew up in Johnston and now lives in Newport, completed a full slate of shows for this year\u2019s URI orientation program, which ran through the end of June.<\/p>\n


\nFranco, who majored in marketing at URI\u2019s College of Business Administration, began performing when he was 4 years old.<\/p>\n


\nFranco said without URI, his career never would have developed.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t have even been a possibility without the business education I received at URI,\u201d Franco said. \u201cI had to learn the business side of things to maintain my magic habit. When I started, people learned about me through word-of-mouth, and I handed out business cards. But the marketing program at URI was just fantastic, and it gave me a perspective on things and where I could go as an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n


\nOutside the classroom, he learned people skills. \u201cI was a URI freshman orientation leader for two years, and then as a junior I was a program assistant. Then, as a senior, I was a student co-coordinator for the entire program. This was the most rewarding experience where I learned a lot about other people and myself.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nVisit Facebook<\/a> or Livestream<\/a> for updates and more information, or contact social media coordinator Shelbey Bidell with any questions about this event at sbidell@uri.edu<\/a> or 401-874-5190.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 5, 2014 \u2013 You may have watched him wow the judges \u2013 and America \u2013 on the America\u2019s Got Talent stage this season. Or maybe you\u2019ve seen him perform at a University of Rhode Island freshman orientation session. Well, now, you can see URI alumnus and magician Mat Franco talk about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}