Star Search 2015 Champion Carrie Marie Palar serenades the crowd with her winning piece Whitney Houston’s “When you Believe.” Photo by Mark Louie Balladares

First year Architecture student Chloe Marie Palar from the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) wowed the audience with her performances to beat the other eight divisions during the Star Search 2015 last Aug. 14 at the Finster Auditorium.

The venue was filled with students cheering for their respective divisions as the nine participants performed their upbeat and slow songs for the first and second round of the event.

Participants from the Accountancy Division, Humanities and Letters (HumLet), and School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) made it to the final round, during which they sang Whitney Houston’s “When You Believe”.

At the end of the round, Palar, was hailed as champion while Czexyl Tenebro from the Accountancy division and Danielle Fanlo from the Humanities and Letters won first and second runners-up, respectively.

“Nung nalaman ko na ako ang nanalo, naghalo yung feelings ko. Overwhelmed ako at hindi ako maka-get over,” Palar said when asked about how she felt after winning the competition.

As an Architecture student, she said she had to balance her time for Academics and for her Star Search preparations.

“Na-overcome ko yung fears ko,” she added after saying that she was really nervous while she was on stage.

Palar’s mother, Carrie Palar, said that she felt excited and nervous during her daughter’s performance.

“Maka-schock kasi yung ibang kalaban niya magagaling din. Hindi kami nag-expect na siya yung mananalo,” she expressed.

“I’m so amazed with the talents of Ateneans. Walang question kasi even before magagaling na sila,” ABS-CBN TV host Rovic Cuasito, one of the judges, said. “We had a great set of talents for Star Search 2015. The winner really deserved it.”

“The event was really entertaining. Napakagaling ng mga performers,” Education student Angel Domingo stated. However, she expressed her disappointment with how most parts of the event were interrupted with several technical difficulties.

Although complaints were heard from the crowd, after consultations from the judges and Division representatives,  SAMAHAN Central Board (SCB) President Michael Zachary Leyson announced that the technical difficulties did not affect the judges’ decisions.

This year’s Star Search theme was “Across the Decades.”