You surely know that Filipinos are known for great singing all over the world and Rachelle Barcelona Verdillo from the Philippines proved that as she brought home the first ever trophy from ISOVision 2020 – singing competition for international students in Melbourne.
ISOVision is inspired by The Voice, Gogglebox and Eurovision altogether but in isolation style. The singing contest was brought by Settled Services in collaboration with City of Melbourne. The competition was hosted by Darren Lee (Study Melbourne Student Ambassador from Malaysia) and with him are the amazing members of jury – Thando (The Voice Australia), HaNy (K-pop Artist), and Gary Lee (PoisE’n Bollypop).
Seven international students competed for the first ever ISOVision trophy – Kate and Rachelle from the Philippines, Kishan and Lyanna from Malaysia, Yiran from China, Soyuz from Nepal, and Senuri from Sri Lanka.
Trust Yourself
When Rachelle was younger, she dreamt of being a singer but she explained that she lacked confidence and she was in doubt of her singing.
However, ISOVision 2020 proved something else to Rachelle and that her family motivated her to join the competition.
“When the host Darren Lee announced that I am the first ISOVision 2020 winner – I was so emotional. I did not expect that I will win because the contestants gave their best and they are great singers. This competition helped me to boost my self-confidence”
The competition also served as an inspiration to Rachelle to keep moving forward despite the challenges that she faces as an international student during this time of pandemic.
(c) Darren Lee
“What I have realized when I joined ISOVision is that the world may not always be easy to live in but I think that things doesn’t always turn out the way we planned or the way we think it should be. We should always have faith in everything despite of what is happening in the world right now.”
“I struggled financially and I suffered from depression. Before this crisis – I used to work in a farm, room attendant in a hotel, sometimes I work in a factory”
“Singing was my escape – it is my comfort zone”
The crisis is affecting international students in many and different ways but just like Rachelle – I hope that opportunity may come along your way and keep the faith that what you’re going through right now will only make you stronger.
beyond international students 