Miss T&T crowned Miss Carival 2016

Miss Trinidad and Tobago Djennecia Francis proved yet again that consistency pays off, when she walked away with the title of Miss Carival 2016.

Francis’ spunky attitude and bubbly personality won the crowd over from her first appearance on stage.

The Trinidadian lass, who disclosed that she has some Vincentian roots, beat out nine other contestants, including St Vincent and the Grenadines’ (SVG) own Nikianna Williams for the prestigious title of Miss Carival at Victoria Park last Friday.{{more}}

Miss Dominica Tasia Floissac was 1st runner-up, while Miss SVG Nikianna Williams took the 2nd runner-up position.

After an exceptional performance during the talent segment and intelligent answers during the interview segment, there was no doubt in the minds of most spectators that Miss Trinidad and Tobago would walk away with the crown.

Francis won the Best Interview segment, along with the Most Community Spirited Award. SVG’s Nikianna Williams won the Best Swimwear category and the Best Evening Wear in a Kimon Baptiste creation, entitled ‘Secrets of the Ocean’.

Best talent was won by Miss Dominica Tasia Floissac, who lustily sang Sia’s ‘Titanium’, even managing to hit some of the extremely high notes for which the singer is known.

During the Interview segment she was asked: “You are pursuing a degree in psychology. What have you identified as some of the causes of behavioural problems in young persons?”

She replied: “One of my favourite psychologists, Gardner, proposed a theory of multiple intelligences and he also mentioned that people in the western side of the world only focus on two types: linguistics and mathematical. The issue with this is that many children go around thinking that they aren’t intelligent. They think that they aren’t worthy, but it’s just that their intelligence isn’t being utilized, isn’t being celebrated. I genuinely believe that if our education system took all different types of intelligences into consideration, our children would have more respect for themselves. They would feel more worthy, they would feel more loved and someone who loves themselves and feels like what they have to offer is something important to the world, is not likely to get into crime, is not likely to fall into all different issues that occur when they have low self-esteem.”

Her second question was: “Would you support random drug testing in schools? Give reasons for your answer.”

She responded: “It is exceptionally unfortunate that I have to say this, but I would support it. Our society right now, we have a lot of children in a lot of pain and they are going down the wrong path and doing a lot of wrong things. And one of those things is taking drugs. And if we had random drug testing, then just maybe we would catch the ones that are going down the wrong road and help them. I don’t think it should be used as a means of punishment; it should be to find out who are those children that need that help. And once we can do that, I honestly think we can save our society and save our children, save our young adults, save so many lives.”

The other contestants in the show were: Miss Anguilla – Chelsey Hughes; Miss Barbados – Sheryl Forde; Miss Grenada – Nyanka Samuel; Miss Montserrat – Tabeanna Tuitt; Miss St Kitts and Nevis – Orngel Erskins; Miss St Lucia – Yuana David and Miss Venezuela – Michelle Simnues.

Speaking to the media, the newly crowned Miss Carival stated that she is absolutely ecstatic about her first win, in her first regional pageant.

“This is actually my first regional pageant; in fact, it is my first time leaving Trinidad and Tobago at all; so, to actually win is astonishing to me. I am so happy.”

Francis, a 21-year-university student from the town of Chaguanas, noted that while she was confident in her ability to win, she never allowed herself to be cocky about it and admitted that she was a bit nervous.

“I am confident and I did think that I was capable of winning, but I kept thinking, but the other girls from other countries and their countries chose them, so clearly they would be heavy competition. So, I expected it to be a serious competition; admittedly, I was a bit nervous coming into this,” the petite lass said.

She noted that she had no one competitor as her biggest competition, since, according to her, each competitor had a unique quality which set her apart from the other.

“I saw everyone as heavy competition, because I wasn’t sure what the judges would like, what the people would like; to me, it could have gone any way.”

Francis, who was a crowd favourite during the talent segment, noted that while as a human she would have liked to win, Miss Dominica did an excellent job as well during that segment.

“It would be wrong of me to say no I am not, but disappointment and thinking it wasn’t fair are two different things. Because the other delegates were excellent, I sat in the back thinking talent is going to be a serious competition, because I enjoyed everyone’s performance,” she stated.

Apart from being entertained by the 10 lovely contestants, Vincentians were also treated to performances by Orandi ‘Bomani’ Charles and Shane ‘Hypa 4000’ Husbands.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the performance by Vincentian raised, international recording artiste Marlon Roudette, who, along with his band, entertained the audience with his biggest hits.

Performing songs known by heart by Vincentians, Roudette, during his excellent performance, sang and played several instruments, including the guitar, the steel pan and the piano, much to the delight of the crowd, who braved the inclement weather to turn up at the venue.(CM)