BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - SYNEJA RICHARDS and Xaviee Pennyfeather of Grade Five were last night (May 13) declared winners of the Maurice Hiller Memorial Junior School Rainbow Pageant.
The pageant, which was held at Carnival Village, commemorated the school’s 10th annual No TV Week, under the theme “Fight Overweight and Obesity”.
This year, it featured First and Second Runners-up for the first time ever in the history of the event. The First Runners-up were Grade four students Dahneira Sutton and Keiran Lake while Althea Jean and Najan Sargeant won the Second Runners-up position.
Though each child performed separately, Richards and Pennyfeather both displayed stunning performances in the Expressive Number which was the Talent segment. Richards gave a dramatic performance about how it feels to be an overweight child and ended by singing one of Miley Cyrus’ hit songs -‘The Climb’- which caused the crowd to erupt with cheers and applauds.
Pennyfeather, who came out with much energy, played an advocate in the fight against obesity and did a Hip-Hop song and a Hip-Hop dance and stunned the audience with his leg movements. What was even more amazing, was when Pennyfeather pulled an old Michael Jackson move and went up on his toes and danced his way across the stage.
All of the contestants gave great performances, encouraging everyone to eat healthy and fight the causes of obesity.
The other participants were Sapphire Matthew of Grade One, Jaylen Leader of Grade Two and Zeyante Caesar and Stevan Francis of Grade Three.
All 10 contestants participated in the four judged-segments - Getting To Know Me, Expressive Number, Creative Wear and Afternoon Delight.
Among the guest appearances for the evening was King Socrates, whose 2009 song, ‘The Real Health Scare’, came in perfectly with the school’s celebration theme. Rolhensha, Peper Ranks and the Rising Stars dancers also gave performances throughout the night.
Past winners of the show from 2005 were also presented to the audience, as they strutted across the stage giving the audience a good look at them.
Geawn Forbes and Jahmihk Gumbs took the final walk, which signaled the end of their reign. The Maurice Hillier’s ‘No TV Week’ comes to an end today with a parade through the streets of Basseterre.
