Michael Peare and Matt Biggs, two students headed into Grade 4, stand on stage in the Fred C. Wescott Community Center stage in silence. Peare looks at Biggs and Biggs look back at Peare before Biggs makes a mooing noise and a wolf cry. Peare barks like a dog. There’s even a lion’s roar.

Then silence, as the two young boys nervously stare past the crowd and out to the judges table, where I sit alongside the Westbrook Community Center summer camp counselor Abby Leblanc, 18, and Anthony Dahms, the camp director. I had been asked to be a judge for the camp’s “Westbrook’s Got Talent” talent show last Friday, which I considered a great honor – plus a lot of fun.

We all ruffle some papers and each hold up signs that display “10” on the front.

The boys walk off stage and there’s a sigh of relief from the crowd.

“Tens across the board!” yells Michelle Kozma, the host for the event.

“I could never do that,” Leblanc said as she puts her “10” back on the pile of numbered papers each of the three judges received before the start of “Westbrook’s Got Talent” talent show.

I couldn’t either.

The program started off with a group of kindergarten and first-grade children dancing to “Gangnam Style,” followed by Andrew Miles hula-hooping while dancing to “The Macarena.” Miles was even able to get on his knees and keep the hoop spinning.

Each time a new group of singers, dancers, hula-hoopers, cup players and comedians exit the stage, hundreds of eyes turn to the judges’ table and we’re given seconds to sift through the numbered cards. Each act makes me laugh or hum along. There’s no way I have the pipes to sing as well as these kids, or skills to move a hula hoop from my waist to my neck or even play a red plastic cups to the tune of a song.

Performer after performer receives all “10s” from this highly esteemed group of judges, but it’s not just because healthy encouragement creates better self-esteem in children, which leads to, among other things, resisting negative pressures and an easier time handling conflicts. It’s because this is entertaining for the parents, too, who have come to watch their children, the other campers, counselors and of course, the judges.

The competition ends in a tie between Bryhenne Jn-Baptiste and his brother Bradley Jn-Baptiste. Their rendition of the dance for “Gangnam Style” was so high energy and their smiles so big, it seemed impossible that anyone else was having a better time. It was also Bryhenne’s birthday and fellow winner Caroline DiBiase’s birthday. She was part of a Grade 5 skit, a tradition that gives the campers the chance to make fun of their counselors by dressing like them and mocking their personality traits.

“It’s one of the campers favorite days,” said Dahms.

And it was one of my favorite afternoons of the summer, too.