Last Saturday saw Sancta Maria College’s budding rock musicians step up on stage for the Manukau heats of Smokefree Rock Quest, which is the national school competition for rock and pop music.
We took 13 musicians who made up three bands (which is a record for our school) and they covered a wide range of ages and styles. All acts had to perform their own compositions.
First up were Half Time, our Year 13 band, featuring Jason Crombach, Liam Richardson (both performing in their third consecutive Rock Quest) and Van Joseph Belinario. The boys cut a dash in their School Ball suits, then made a dash from the stage in order to get to the ball!
Next on were Young Nation (pictured above), our Year 11 band, featuring Maris Balili, Audrey Mamaradlo, Anna Nguyen, Rico Chan, Patrick De Vera and Daniella Joven, who presented a more mellow song and were praised by the judges for their togetherness and the maturity of their composition.
Finally, High Voltage took the stage for us, fresh from their first gig at the recent Young Star Country Music competition. Rad Atienza and Sean Hancock from Year 9 and Reuben Ferguson and Laurence Stewart from Year 7 (definitely the youngest performers on show) won the crowd over with their rowdy number and earned one of the biggest reactions of the night.
All students enjoyed the experience and are itching for another go, so we will all be aiming to enter the Stand Up Stand Out competition in August.
Mr Stuart Gibbs
Head of Music
Sancta Maria College
