Signal Hill Sec renames pan room after Duvone Stewart

Tobagonian pannist, arranger and composer Duvone Stewart continues to leave his mark in Tobago.

Stewart's alma mater, Signal Hill Secondary School, on Monday named its pan room after the ace arranger.

Stewart, an alumnus of the class of 1994, became quite emotional before a packed auditorium on Monday.

Addressing the students, Stewart, who has amassed a record-breaking number of 28 Panorama wins locally, regionally and internationally combined, said he “never saw this day coming.”

“I’m very honoured and privileged (to see) green and yellow (the school's uniform)– the colours that I was once a part of and still a part of it.

"I was once inside this auditorium, coming from humble beginnings, blessed by good friends who saw the process then. I didn’t know what was going to happen for me personally, but I persevered.

"From the bottom of my heart, I am really, really happy, really, really proud of this moment.”

He said he holds steadfast to God.

"Wearing this uniform, you are living the best time of your life – you pay no rent, you work nowhere, so many things you don’t do. But there would come a time that you would have to face what we here face today called life – the real life.”

Stewart and his entourage were escorted to the school’s steel orchestra room, now renamed the Duvone Stewart Pan Theatre.

Representing the class of 1997, president of the school’s alumni Petal Daniel-Benoit commended Stewart on this achievement.

“On behalf of the alumni in Signal Hill, we want to thank you for all you have done, and we are proud of you. Continue blazing the trail, continue doing what you are doing, and we celebrate you today – let us continue to celebrate Duvone Stewart.”

Representative of the class of 1994 Anson Louis gave the students some words of encouragement.

“We can do whatever it is that we want to do, how it is we want to do it – we are responsible for all our actions, we are responsible for our trend of thoughts, we are responsible for everything that we do. The Bible says greater is he that is within me than he that is of this world.”