Naperville North senior Jessie Sciabica received abundant community support after winning the “Sing with LG” contest, featuring Shawn Mendes as a musical guest.

LG, the electronic company, partnered with the Smule “Sing” app to host this contest for amateur singers.

Sciabica said she had never considered pursuing music as a future career, but she now hopes this competition has opened doors that will allow her to pursue singing as more than just a hobby.

The nationwide contest started in November, and the first level of voting was done by judges from LG after contestants entered using the hashtag “#singwithlg.” Nine finalists were chosen to proceed to the next level of voting, each receiving a new LG V20 smartphone. The second level of voting was public, allowing anyone with the participants’ link to vote. After this round, the winner was chosen based 60% on judges’ votes from the first round and 40% of public voting in the second round.

Sciabica was surprised at the amount of support she received from the community for her singing. After giving people information at work, school, and on social media, her friends, family, and others following her journey were able to help her become the grand prize winner in December.

“It was really cool to see how many people cared about what I was doing and how they could see I was passionate about it,” said Sciabica.

She recently received her full prize of a new LG V20, LG Home Entertainment System, and two tickets to the Shawn Mendes Chicago concert in August complete with a meet and greet with the singer.

Overall, Sciabica said the contest was a great experience and is happy that she decided to step out of her comfort zone and take a chance.

“If you have the opportunity to show people something you can do really well and a talent of yours, take the opportunity, because you might feel proud of yourself,” she said.