RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

They’ve won the Na­tion­al Sec­ondary Schools Ju­nior Panora­ma com­pe­ti­tion twice since their in­cep­tion six years ago.

And now the stu­dents of Na­pari­ma Col­lege and Na­pari­ma Girls’ High School want this coun­try to know that NAPS Com­bined Steel Or­ches­tra will con­tin­ue to be a force to reck­on with.

In cel­e­bra­tion of their vic­to­ry on Tues­day, the stu­dents of both schools paid trib­ute to those who helped them soar to suc­cess.

“North South East West! Na­pari­ma is the best!!!” they chant­ed as they waved flags to their ren­di­tion of Bun­ji Gar­lin’s Big Bad So­ca.

As the band burst out in a thun­der­ous rhythm of vic­to­ry, the chair­man of Unipet, Dr Afraz Ali, re­mind­ed the stu­dents of the rea­sons they se­cured vic­to­ry.

“ Make some noise,” he shout­ed as they danced, cheered and screamed their love for their mu­sic arranger Shaquille Vin­cent and drill mas­ters Kevon Dun­can and Desree Seecha­ran.

Unipet was the or­ches­tra’s main spon­sor and Ali re­mind­ed the stu­dents about the val­ue of hard work and ded­i­ca­tion.

“You re­mem­ber when we first en­tered, peo­ple want­ed to know what we do­ing there, well now they know!!” Ali de­clared as the au­di­ence cheered and vowed: “We are go­ing to do it again.”

He said oth­er schools can learn from the NAPS Com­bined Or­ches­tra.

“The rea­son for your suc­cess is that when you col­lab­o­rate and work as a team, when you re­spect your­selves and oth­ers and when you un­der­stand there are peo­ple who can guide you to be the best you can be, you will achieve,” he said.

He laud­ed band man­ag­er Aman­da Ramjohn, Dun­can, al­so called Smi­ley along with Vin­cent and Seecha­ran, a past stu­dent of Na­pari­ma Girls’ High School. He de­scribed Vin­cent as ‘ex­treme­ly tal­ent­ed.”

Mean­while, Joel Sim­mons, pres­i­dent of Na­pari­ma Col­lege As­so­ci­a­tion of Past Stu­dents, al­so con­grat­u­lat­ed the team.

“Na­pari­ma Col­lege is the great­est col­lege of T&T. Look at what we are do­ing. Every­thing we put our hands on, ex­cel­lence!” he said.

“Every­one gave the best of them­selves and I am so hap­py about the achieve­ments of this team. We are the best Sec­ondary School in Trinidad and To­ba­go,” Sim­mons added.

Ramjohn, who de­liv­ered the vic­to­ry speech said NAPS Com­bined had demon­strat­ed their ex­cep­tion­al tal­ent.

“Cou­pled with your pos­i­tive mind­set, your de­ter­mi­na­tion, sac­ri­fices, your abil­i­ty to over­come chal­lenges and most im­por­tant­ly, your be­lief in God, you have proved that noth­ing is pos­si­ble,” Ramjohn said.

Prin­ci­pal Roger Ali said the achieve­ment was the re­sult of hard work and ded­i­ca­tion.

Band cap­tain Edi­son Dean held up the tro­phy as the stu­dents cheered. Dean said the vic­to­ry was sweet as it was his last year play­ing for the band. He said he was ea­ger to see what the band will achieve in the fu­ture. 

San Fer­nan­do May­or Ju­nia Re­grel­lo cel­e­brat­ed with the stu­dents say­ing he start­ed play­ing the pan at age 13 and played in Lon­don and oth­er parts of the world.

“There is so much that pan can con­tribute to your suc­cess. You have amaz­ing mu­sic by Shaquille,” he said. He said three key el­e­ments make Panora­ma suc­cess­ful–good mu­sic, good play­ers and good in­stru­ments and you were able to put all three to­geth­er and that’s why you were suc­cess­ful,” Re­grel­lo said.

NAPS Com­bined in­cludes stu­dents from Na­pari­ma Col­lege and Na­pari­ma Girls’ High School. They last won the Ju­nior Panora­ma in 2019.