‘Stand Up Stand Out’ is a competition that brings together the best musical and dance talent from secondary schools across Auckland.

This is an event for rising stars and more than 1500 students from 46 schools battled it out to try and advance through the competition.

This week Vaitofiga Anesone 13Pk and John Dela Cruz 12Pr  overcame their nerves to compete in front of judges and an enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience. Vaitofiga, gave an outstanding vocal performance of ‘BRKN’, by Madison Ryan Ward. The judges commented on the’ outstanding emotional conviction’, evident in the performance. Equally impressive was the excellent accompaniment on piano played by John.

This was the first competition of its type for the pair, who enjoyed it and were happy to have pushed themselves out of their comfort zone to experience something new.