Two years ago, Jared Gerida, 15, could barely speak a word of English. Yesterday, the South Otago High School student led his choir at a regional singing competition.
The year 11 student owned the stage at the Otago and South Canterbury Big Sing regional competition at the Dunedin Town Hall.
He said he migrated to New Zealand from the Philippines two years ago and did not know how to speak English.
"I [had] never really grown up with English.
"I only picked up on English through listening to people talk."
It was an amazing experience for him to be on stage and singing.
He was nervous before singing in front of hundreds of people but said a prayer and hoped for the best.
"I just said ‘God, just take care of me and give me the voice of an angel’, and I think he did."
Jared has an extraordinarily deep voice that stands out among his peers.
He said he had found it by trying to do impersonations of older people as a child and by taking part in his school’s kapa haka group.
His choir, Korimako, had been rehearsing once a week for the past two months and was one of the smallest to perform yesterday with just eight singers.
Music director Deborah Ward, who is an English teacher, said the school did not have a music department, but she sang in a choir herself and wanted to share the experience with her students.
"I loved singing in choirs when I was at school.
"Those were some of my favourite days performing like that in a group."
She said Korimako had a "strong underdog energy" and her advice to the students was to not be intimidated by any of their competitors.
Big Sing regional co-ordinator Rosemary Tarbotton said 14 schools and 16 choirs from as far north as Timaru took part in the competition.
Recordings of the performances will be sent to Wellington, where three adjudicators will select the top 24 choirs from across New Zealand to compete in the finale in Dunedin in August.
