When Paula Bunay heard her name blare out across the loudspeaker announcing she won the annual Saints Got Talent competition, she couldn't believe her ears.
"I was so excited, so happy," Bunay recalled.
And when the crowd in attendance first heard her sing, they couldn't contain their excitement either.
"I'm so happy that they liked it because I wasn't expecting that reaction. But they started applauding and dancing with the music," said Bunay, an international student from Colombia, in her second year of the Journalism program at St. Clair College's MediaPlex.
She was one of dozens of St. Clair students to stand on stage at the Student Life Centre to perform their talents in front of hundreds of students on Feb. 5, 2025.
Bunay selected two original songs which she wrote and performed solo: just her and her guitar.
The first one, "Quien te Envenenó," is a Spanish-language song, which translates to "Who Poisoned You?"
Despite the fact most of the crowd didn't understand the lyrics, her angelic voice carried the melody and got the crowd into the performance.
She next played a song called, "My Dreams" – written for her husband – this time in English, so he could understand the meaning.
"Both of us have nightmares, and he usually says that when he has nightmares, he wakes up and sees me next to him, he feels relief and feels like the luckiest man in the world," said Bunay, speaking about the inspiration for the song.
The 24-year-old performer first got a guitar from her father when she was 13 and has been playing ever since.
"And I remember that I cried a lot because I never asked him for that, but I think that he knew I always wanted a guitar, so he gave it to me, and I've been playing guitar since then," she said.
Bunay took guitar lessons, and eventually added vocal performance lessons to her repertoire.
That training will continue to come in handy when Bunay represents St. Clair College at the Ontario's Got Talent showcase at Algonquin College on March 7, 2025.
"When they called my name, I was just like, 'oh my God, I'm going to Ottawa!'" Bunay said.
"Year after year, the SRC is amazed by the talent that comes out of St. Clair. We really have to pare down the entries to get it down to a presentable number for the live talent show," said SRC President Rishi Vatish.
Bunay also received a $1,000 cash prize for winning the contest.
"The SRC believes in boosting up our Saints, so providing a $1,000 prize to our first-place winner is hopefully a huge incentive to get students out of their comfort zones, and willing to perform their talents on the Student Life Centre stage for their peers," Vatish said. "We are so proud to have a talent like Paula represent St. Clair College at the Ontario's Got Talent final."
At Ontario's Got Talent, Bunay plans to perform the same two songs. One day, she also hopes to professionally record these and other tracks and produce an album.
The humble singer-songwriter said she's driven by the positive reaction to her music, and the creative support she's received since arriving in Canada.
"The audience was very, very respectful and open to listening to my music, which made me feel very welcomed," Bunay said. "The kind of experiences that I've had in Canada have been the best in my life."
"I think this is the best place to be, in Canada. I've never met so many people, so nice and so welcoming, in my life."
