Liliena Pupu’a: Talented Vocals

As the person before her gets done doing their talent, freshman Liliena Pupu’a anxiously awaits her turn backstage in the talents and traditions assembly on Thursday at Highland. Pupu’a is very nervous on the inside, but calm, cool, and collected on the outside. She graciously walks onto stage to perform her talent, which is singing.

Pupu’a has been singing her whole life, and started getting into it at a very young age. Her dad and her uncle both sung opera, and wanted her to try opera as well. She tried it, and wasn’t the best at it.

“I stopped doing opera, because people would make fun of me,” Pupu’a said. “But it’s ok, because after that I just started singing for fun.”

Her dad and her uncle were both singing opera while she was just singing random songs for fun. Even in her freetime, Pupu’a sings for fun. She pulls up karaoke videos on YouTube and sings to them when she isn’t busy. She also loves to play volleyball in her freetime. Pupu’a didn’t try out for the Highland team this year, but might try out in the next three years of her high school career.

She may only be a freshman, but she is very talented. Pupu’a thanks her dad for helping her with her talent of singing. Her dad has definitely influenced her life in many ways by not only getting her into singing in the first place, but also helping to calm her nerves before she performs.

“He always tells me not to be shy and to use the talents I’ve been given,” Pupu’a said.

She must’ve taken her dad’s advice to heart during the assembly Thursday, because she didn’t seem shy at all to the audience while she sang. She did an outstanding job during her performance.