Jayda tops ’em

Jayda Celestine may not yet weigh 100 pounds and is still in Standard II. However, this youngster packs a hefty musical punch which she proved on Wednesday by knocking out all other competitors to easily take the 2018 Schools National Carnival Intellectual Chutney Soca monarch (primary schools) competition.

It has been an steep musical learning curve for the mini-dynamo who picked herself up from a fifth place finish at last year’s competition and soared to the crown this year with a spicy ditty titled, Johnny Don’t Make No Joke, at the Grand Stand of the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Jayda was not the only student from St Michael’s Anglican who competed, as Leshawna Williams, a Standard 5 student placed a creditable fourth with her song, Cellular Problem. It was Leshawna’s first foray in the competition.

Not so Jayda, who according to school principal Monique Celestine Daniel, has been performing since the age of five. “Jayda is a naturally gifted child who has worked and continues to work very hard both in and out of the classroom. She is the perfect example of a balanced, all-round student who is able to mix academics with healthy extra curricular activities,” Daniel said.

Jayda’s push to Chutney Soca success has been aided by her aunt Melissa Williams Campbell who composed Jayda’s winning song and is a writer of calypsoes and chutney soca and is also a performer in her own right.

In the competition last year, Jayda debuted and placed fifth. Undeterred by this placing, Jayda and aunt Campbell did their homework with the latter coming up with a song that balanced the spiciness of chutney soca with a message and the former performing the lyrics to perfection. Johnny Don’t Make No Joke is a song with a message which Jayda got across to her audience who were singing along with her on Wednesday.

In extending congratulations to Jayda, school principal Daniel paid tribute to the family support Jayda has received particularly from mother Alisa Leben-Celestine and aunt Campbell.

“I am ecstatic, elated and extremely proud of my girls.

They are hard workers both in and out of the classroom and have made the south-eastern education district very proud. Oh and yes, we will be defending our title next year,” Daniel gushed. Jayda’s teacher Lisa Toussaint-Hamilton also extended congrats to the youngster saying, “she is a testimony to the balance we the teachers and the principal bring in terms of educating our children at St Michael’s Anglican. Well done Jayda.”