Vamia’s students won multiple honorary mentions and four medals at SakuStars, a culture competition for vocational students. This year SakuStars competition was organized on the 23th-25th of April in Ikaalinen and 32 students from Vamia took part in the competition.
First-year plater-welder students Musa Victor and Robert Tuyishme won gold: Musa in solo singing and Robert in recitation and monologue. Waitress students Khadijat Victor (2nd year) and Eunice Shopein-Mann (1st year) competed in karaoke, Khadi winning silver and Eunice bronze.
Musa, Khadijat and Eunice all say that their love for music and singing stems from their childhood. They all have experience of singing and performing in church. Eunice heard about SakuStars from her tutor Khadijat at the begininng of her studies at Vamia.
– We were both singing at the same church, and after the service Khadi told me about this SakuStars competition and recommended me to participate. I had never sang outside of my church, but I figured it will be a nice exposure for me since I am in a new country and I need to familiarize myself with new things, tells Eunice.
Khadijat already participated to SakuStars in 2023 but for others this was the first time. They were really surprised by the magnitude of the event.
– For me, it was just about having fun, and once we got there I realized it’s a whole different ball game. It was very impressive, says Musa.
– I wished SakuStars didn’t end. I liked watching other people, seeing different talents and people exposing their skills. It was beautiful! Eunice says.
Connecting people over sustainability
Robert won gold in recitation and monologue with his speech Grooving Green – A sustainable serenade. He has been writing since childhood and won several competitions, mainly in East Africa. Right now Robert does copywriting for businesses but also creative writing such as stories and poems.
For SakuStars, he was inspired by the topic of sustainability from a competition organized by Greenovet-project.
– I participated in the competition and I started to think, how to get people more invested in the topic of sustainability? How do you connect emotionally? So that people take action toward sustainability on their own, Robert says.
Ready for next year’s SakuStars
All of the four medalists enjoyed the encouraging atmosphere at the competition – students from different schools were all cheering each other. For next year, they hope to participate with an even bigger team from Vamia and to have the chance practice for the competition at school and coach each other.
– I loved the SakuStars experience. What I really liked, is that after we won, people were asking us about Vamia. They wanted to know more about the school and that made me happy. The organizers of next year’s SakuStars came to talk to us and said that we have a lot of talent at Vamia, so we should participate also next year, tells Khadijat.
– At school we are supposed to learn and derive as much knowledge as we can. Not just academically but in all aspects. So I hope we can put a little bit of weight on practicing together and prepare as a team before SakuStars next year. We have set the bar high for next year and we don’t intend to bring it down anytime soon, says Musa.
Next year’s SakuStars will take place 8.-10.4.2025 in Joensuu. We look forward to seeing what our talented students come up with for next year!
SakuStars 2024 results
🥇Gold in solo singing won by Musa Victor
🥇Gold in recitation and monologue won by Robert Tuyishime
🥈Silver in karaoke won by Khadijat Victor
🥉Bronze in karaoke won by Eunice Shopein-Mann
Honourable mention in karaoke Juliette Anwanda
Honourable mention in solo singing Gaurav Mukherjee
Honourable mentions in recitation and monologue Abuoma Okoli ja Juliette Anwanda
Honourable mention in painting Neela Ruohoniemi (in the picture)