"I would be like, ‘oh you’re dreaming’. My old self wouldn’t believe that."
Fourteen years later, the Mount Aspiring College alumni and qualified architect is not only back on campus working as a teacher aide, but has this week made his return to the stage for the Stars in Your Eyes musical showcase, an event he last took part in during 2010.
He said making the almost 10,000km journey from his home in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to the town where he spent his last two years of secondary education had always been on the cards, but he could not have predicted he would be employed at the school.
"It’s all come full circle, working here after being a student here."
He said he credited his time at the school, and more specifically his former maths teacher Mr Simpson, with helping him make strides in what had previously been his worst subject, while also discovering his passion for architecture.
While he had always liked singing, he said he had never taken lessons and credited his Luggate-based host family for originally encouraging him to audition for Stars in Your Eyes.
"My host mum used to be a piano teacher and she used to play at the church as well. In her free time she would play a song for me to sing, because I loved singing.
"She was like, ‘you should give it a try’.
"I passed the audition and then I did the show and I got really great feedback after it."
He said singing in the show, in which he performed a rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables dressed as Italian tenor singer Andrea Bocelli, had always served as a reminder of the "small community" Wānaka had been at the time.
"Back then, there was one New World, and when I went to the New World some people just randomly said, ‘hi, I loved your performance’."
He said he planned to travel New Zealand at the end of the year, indulging in his passion for landscape photography before returning home.
"What’s on the pipeline, but not concrete yet, is trying to get a job as an architect in Europe."
While tickets for all four nights of Stars in Your Eyes have sold out, he promised those who were lucky enough to get tickets that they were in for a "memorable experience".
"It’s going to be an amazing show because of the quality of the production, as well as the talent from the musicians and the performers.
"Everyone has poured their hearts into putting on a great show for the local community.
"It’s just great."
The final, sold-out performances of Stars in Your Eyes 2024 take place tonight and tomorrow at the Lake Wānaka Centre.
Those interested in joining a ticket waitlist can do so via the event website.
