Yuma Star shares her glory

The newest Yuma Star not only loves to sing and perform, she was motivated to compete in order to help out her school.

Selena Barrera, 12, is a seventh-grade student at Woodard Junior High School. She plans to donate part of her $500 award for winning the 2009 Yuma Star competition to her school.

"I entered because I wanted to help Woodard during this horrible economy. I'll give part to Woodard and the rest is going to my quinceañera. It's my 15th birthday, a Mexican tradition, when you become a young adult. It's not that far off. Time goes by pretty fast."

Selena topped 32 other contestants who performed in a variety of musical styles from country to hip-hop, rock 'n' roll to traditional ethnic music. Earning second place was Alexis Evans, while third place went to Jesse Ramirez.

Selena, who sings in the school choir, said she had no favorites among her fellow performers - they were all "pretty tough competition." She said she also competed at just 7 years old when the contest was still called Yuma Idol, and she was so nervous for the show.

When she was still a toddler, she said, her mother, Blanca, would play CDs by Selena Quintanilla. Selena said she likes to sing cumbia, a traditional Mexican style of music, which was also something Selena Quintanilla sang.

"My mom is a really big fan and that's how I heard about her. When I was a baby, my mom would put on Selena's music really loud and that stopped me from crying."

Despite her love for traditional music, Selena said she wanted to perform in English for Yuma Star. For the finals she sang, "God Bless the USA," written by Lee Greenwood for his 1984 album "You Got a Good Love Comin'," and "The Climb." The latter was recorded by Miley Cyrus for her film "Hannah Montana: The Movie" and written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe.

Selena said she knew she wanted a really patriotic song to perform but for the second one she had to have something different. While waiting for the final qualifying round, she saw "America's Got Talent" on TV and when she heard "The Climb," she knew she wanted to perform it.

Despite her experience in front of an audience, Selena dedicated herself to practicing every day for several weeks before the finals. Earlier this year she performed for the Hispanic heritage celebration and Cinco de Mayo. But when she made it to the finals of Yuma Star, she said, she was so excited.

"I still thought there was some really tough competition. I thought maybe I had a chance because I was working really hard. But even if I didn't win, I knew I gave it my all."

Her mother, Blanca, who attended Selena's performances, said she is very proud of her.

"I was yelling, yeah, and my husband, too. Now I have a star in my house."

Selena said she would like to take voice lessons and make music her career because she loves singing so much. But she credits much of her success to all her supporters and especially her parents, who have always been there for her.

For future projects, Selena would like to perform on "Sabado Gigante," a Spanish language variety television show out of Miami, Fla. on the Univision network, as well as appear on "American Idol."

"The winners are not allowed to compete again in Yuma Star, so I'll be judging next year and that's exciting. But my friends are the most excited. They say, 'I'm one of Selena's friends, I know her.' That makes me feel really good."