It was a “Ram­page” on stage as stu­dents and par­ents “Link Up” at the South­ern Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts, where Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do’s Mar­cus Mc­Don­ald and St Pe­ter’s Pri­vate Pri­ma­ry School’s Ky­mani “Yung Ky­mani” Hec­tor-Kalloo cap­tured the 2026 Ju­nior So­ca ti­tles in a blaz­ing dis­play of youth­ful tal­ent.

The Sun­dar­lal “Popo” Ba­ho­ra Au­di­to­ri­um be­came a sea of ban­danas and bal­loons as stu­dents leapt from their seats, match­ing the en­er­gy of the fi­nal­ists dur­ing yes­ter­day’s com­pe­ti­tion. The con­test, which forms part of the na­tion­al ju­nior Car­ni­val cal­en­dar, fea­tured per­form­ers from pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary schools across Trinidad and To­ba­go, each judged on melody, lyrics, ren­di­tion, per­for­mance, and arrange­ment.

Mc­Don­ald emerged vic­to­ri­ous in the sec­ondary schools cat­e­go­ry with his pow­er so­ca en­try Ram­page, fin­ish­ing 21 points ahead of school­mate Zachary Ran­some. To­ba­go’s D’Ashe Saul of Bish­op’s High School placed third.