BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE seven contestants of the 2015 Talented Teen Competition were endowed with a monetary package from their sponsor FLOW, which would assist them in their preparations for the pageant.
The brief ceremony took place yesterday morning (Nov. 27) at FLOW’s Super Store on Fort Street in the presence of the entity’s executives and its representative in this year’s National Carnival Queen Pageant, Khyla Browne.
The contesting teens, Browne, the contestants are Jahnika Francis of Verchild’s High School, Thalia Wigley of Charles E. Mills Secondary School, Lavida Audain of Cayon Secondary School, Zubaidah French of Saddlers Secondary School, Kaliyana DeSuza of Washington Archibald High School, Dominique Phipps of the Immaculate Conception Catholic School and Kadeema Blanchette of Basseterre High School, were each presented with a $1,500 cheque to assist with deferring the cost of their preparative processes for the event. They were also each gifted a Huawei Y360 handset.
Kevin Edwards, FLOW’s Local Marketing Manager, told SKNVibes that the gesture is a continuation of the telecommunications giant’s commitment to schools of the Federation.
“This is just a part of FLOW’s continuing participation with schools. I would have mentioned earlier that we have taken it upon ourselves to give our full commitment and support to all the schools within the Federation. So throughout the year, we have supported the schools, whether it be through monetary contributions, support for their different sports days.
“As I mentioned before, we are a major part of the academic excellence awards, but we wanted to do a little something extra special during the Christmas and Carnival. These girls have a lot of courage, a lot of talent doing what they are doing, so we just wanted to give them some recognition in the form of a small token from FLOW as well to defray the cost from entering the competition.”
Chairman of the Talented Teen Committee Samantha Boone also spoke with the media and expressed gratitude, noting that the monies would be put to good use, especially with some of the changes taking place in the event.
Boone said the girls would appear in five judged segments, one of which was formally known as the Ambassadorial Wear. She informed that it is now known as the Ambassadorial Costume Segment and, because costumes could be pricy, FLOW’s donation would help in offsetting some of the cost.
She also mentioned Evening Wear as one of the areas in which FLOW’s donation would offset costs.
The show, for the second time, will merge with the Junior Calypso Monarch Competition, and Boone informed that as one of the innovations for it would be a Grand Fanfare that would involve all participants of both competitions.
To be held under the theme “Selfie Nation”, the young ladies’ Interview Segment will focus on the positives and negatives of social media.
