By Luke Voogt
Emma Monoghan could only dream of singing in front of a crowd last year when the thought of school alone would make her vomit with anxiety.
But the Drysdale teen is regaining her confidence after making the finals of the Highton Rotary Star Search.
“If someone had said to me last year, ‘Go into the Star Search,’ I couldn’t have because I’d be too scared,” the 15-year-old said.
The thought of getting onstage never used to scare Emma in primary school.
“Ever since I was little, if I was sad I would just sing,” she said.
“Singing has always been good therapy. It just makes everything good.”
But getting “left behind” when she started year 7 shattered her confidence.
“Everyone thought I was a freak because I was shy,” she said.
“I ended up sitting alone – I didn’t really have anywhere to go.”
The bullying worsened, with one student telling her “nobody likes you and nobody would care if you just went away tomorrow,” she said.
“That was one of the most hurtful things anyone said.”
Eventually the bullying caused her to take some time off last year.
“Sometimes I would be so anxious to go to school I would vomit,” she said.
But Emma’s life turned around when her mum moved her to Geelong High School, where she reunited with her best friend from grade two.
Her music tutor Chelsea Gibb encouraged her to enter the Star Search and sing power ballads in her “jazzy” voice.
“So I did! And I got to finals – which was really unexpected!“ Emma said.
“I was going to my new school, I was happy, I had my friends and I was singing again.
“Mum said that I did well, but I felt I looked a bit awkward on stage. I still have confidence issues because of the memories from my old school.”
The year 10 student will join about a dozen of Geelong’s most promising singers in the finals of the Star Search at Sacred Heart College on 2 June
A win would boost her confidence “100 levels” but she was up against tough competition, she said.
“I’m not going to think (about winning) in case it doesn’t happen.”
Emma hoped for career as a singer songwriter after the competition, like past winner Missy Higgins, who went on to become an Aussie music icon.
“If I made it, I would be able to talk to someone like me and say, ’You can do it!’“ Emma said.
“That’s what I would like to be for someone who didn’t have someone like Chelsea or my mum.”
