San Antonio ISD student prepares for an important competition to showcase her singing skills

SAN ANTONIO — It is not uncommon to hear vocal warm-ups inside Lanier High School's Belle Ortiz Music Building.

Junior Leandra Valdez is warming up her vocal skills. The San Antonio ISD student was preparing for an important competition to showcase her singing skills. The junior competed in Brownsville at the Texas Southmost College Mariachi Festival that's happening this weekend. Valdez is a member of the school's group now called Mariachi Engranaje Azul. 

"I like how music has its own ways of telling stories and stuff," she said. "Mariachi is like you sing and it involves a bunch of movement. So, it makes the music feel live, and real."

The 16-year-old is a singer and plays violin.  She was at once shy to perform in front of people. However, not anymore. Valdez doesn't' speak Spanish, so she said she has to practice her diction and will translate the words so she knows what she is signing.

"I was scared," she said. "Until, I got into mariachi that's when I broke out of my shell."

The group's assistant director Guadalupe Krezdorn said she remembers the student's shyness.

"To get out the nerves, I was like just scream," the educator said. "And she was like what?" "We are like it is to get out of your shell."

The teenager recently auditioned for a statewide competition. She made it to this year's Texas Southmost Mariachi Festival in Brownsville. San Antonio ISD said this is the first time ever a Lanier student has made to the finals of any mariachi vocal competition.

"I am kind of shocked and surprised," she said. "But, it feels good."

'Como Yo Te Amé' is the song she sang Friday night.