RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

With emp­ty seats and few­er young voic­es than usu­al, this year’s San Fer­nan­do Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch re­flect­ed the strain of fund­ing chal­lenges. Still, as a new cham­pi­on, Janaya Clark, 11, of Mod­ern Minds Acad­e­my, was crowned, calls grew loud­er for ca­lyp­so to be made a sub­ject in schools and for Car­ni­val to en­dure de­spite the odds.

Clarke emerged as the win­ner of the San Fer­nan­do Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch com­pe­ti­tion af­ter de­liv­er­ing her win­ning ca­lyp­so called Role Mod­els, top­ping the field with 268 points.