Dean of Discipline Sherona Small secures Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen crown
Published:Thursday | June 27, 2024 | 12:07 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Sherona Small, a 21-year-old final-year social work student at the Frome campus of the Montego Bay Community College, will represent the parish of Westmoreland at the 2024 Miss Jamaica Festival Queen National Coronation in August.
Small, who is sponsored by Bite Dental, hails from the western rural community of Church Lincoln in Grange Hill, was handed that responsibility, having emerged as the winner over six other contestants to secure the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission festival queen parish crown at the Sean Lavery Faith Hall in Savanna-la-Mar on Sunday.
Sponsored by Aqua Palace Water Store, Ashley Stewart finished as first runner-up, after bagging three sectional prizes for being the Most Poised among all the contestants. She was also awarded Best Talent and Most Popular on Social Media.
Miss Dionne N.S. Meyler & Associates, Shada Noble, finished as the second runner-up in this year’s competition. Besha Watson won the Most Congenial Prize. Other top five finishers included Rayana Sanderson and Antwan Watson.
Speaking with The Gleaner after the coronation, Small, who is the second person from her community since 2008 to win the Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen crown, says she is extremely delighted to have won this year’s title, especially since she was not among the top five contestants last year.
ACCOMPLISHED
“I am feeling accomplished to be crowned Miss Westmoreland Festival Queen this year, having gained some experiences from last year’s competition,” said Small, who won sectional prizes for being Most Active in the Community and Most Aware.
Since 1985 the Miss Westmoreland Festival Queens have had 14 top-three national winners, with Katrina Grant D’Aguilar making one better when she walked away with the national crown in 2008.
This trajectory is a position that Small is seeking to continue and hopefully to match what Grant D’Aguilar did 16 years ago.
“Naturally, I would love to continue where Mrs Grant D’Aguilar left off. I am working towards a top-three position with my eyes on the national crown,” Small told The Gleaner.
As it relates to her community project, this vibrant community activist is planning to reconnect and reintegrate at-risk youths in the wider Grange Hill community through an initiative aimed at eradicating poverty and helping youths to speak up against issues affecting them, their growth and development.
The project is called Speak Up, Get Help Your Voice Matters and is designed, according to the Westmoreland Festival Queen, to revolutionise and empower these at-risk youth to transform their mindset and their community.
Grange Hill is a large farming town which consists of a cluster of several other small communities, including Mint Road, Belle Isle, Top Lincoln, Church Lincoln, Top and Bottom Geneiva, Crowda and Kings Valley.
“Speak Up, Get Help Your Voice Matters is a project that will cater to at-risk youth between the ages of 13-19 within the community and the schools. It will be a mentorship programme that addresses social issues, such as substance abuse, unemployment, teenage pregnancy and poverty,” said Small.