The St Clare’s High School students travel to Adamstown every Tuesday to take part in the Aspire program at St Pius X High School. It’s a drama, dance, music and creative arts program that nurtures talented students in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. You have to audition, places are limited and it is 20 weeks of intensive learning.

Conner and Matthew are two of three St Clare’s High School students who secured a spot, the third student is Connor Baker.

It’s the third year of Aspire for Conner Langley and he says “it’s a really great opportunity as it opens more doors for other opportunities.”

He is a singer, cites Ed Sheeran and Adam Levine of Maroon 5 as artists that best reflect his style, although he laughs as he adds that he can’t quite hit Adam’s high notes since his voice changed.

“Yeah, that’s been a challenge.”

“It wasn’t so much of a problem in the first year of Aspire, but the second and now this year, it’s been pretty frustrating at times but we’ve gotten through it and I’m happy that I can still sing!”

Vocal and drama are Conner’s focus at Aspire, he says that he is better at singing than acting, credits the program with “really helping my voice to grow” but is quick to also praise his local singing teacher, Stacey Lee. He is working with her to prepare for his performance of “The Greatest Show” from The Greatest Showman at the Taree PCYC 30^th anniversary celebration on June 2 and adds that he will also host the event.

Aspire is new to Matthew and so far, he says he could not be happier about his experience. It began on February 6 and this week will have been his seventh run to Adamstown.

Matthew has been playing guitar for about eight of his 14 years and says, “it’s really good because the teachers are nice and they make you confident in wanting to perform. They make you feel at home.”

He sees his future as a music teacher and describes playing guitar as a way he can express mood and emotion.

“I like rock and some metal, really enjoy playing The Beatles and Pink Floyd, I guess I like a lot of variety.”

He describes Aspire as “a great experience for me because I can show what my talent is to other people.”

Conner says the Aspire experience transforms and in the final weeks before showcase you see people change.

“Production week is really big and can be really draining at times. Yes, you do have eight to 10-hour rehearsals three days in a row but once you are on stage you can really see how people glow and see how some people are meant to be there, they really open up,” Conner said.

“It’s amazing to see how people grow from the start of Aspire, some people are like, really shy and timid, and then become amazing on stage.”