Winston Jones High School, previously known as Winston Jones Comprehensive High, was named after its first chairman Winston V Jones. The school is located in Pratville, Manchester, and is a major historic site.

Said to be an old slave burial ground, the school is visited by many interested in the history of the country. And last Tuesday, TEENage Observer made history by hosting the TEENage Expressions Tour there for the first time.

The first original piece was a dub poem by Shemar Evans, called Schoolaz. It was captivating, with a great message, pleading with the children to stay in school. The students were very receptive of the performance and its message.

Following Dashana Gutherie’s original piece It’s Me Oh Lord Again, was Ariel Brown, who was far from nervous when she did her revised rendition of Gone by Justin Timberlake. Unfortunately this did not receive great feedback from the audience.

It seems the students of Winston Jones are very concerned with the literacy rates as the next original song was Learn Fi Read, performed by second-former Delton and fourth-former Michael.

For the first time on the tour, we had stand-up comedy performed by Shemar Evans and Jemie Greene, which kept the crowd laughing.

Literacy, however, is not the only thing bothering the students of Winston Jones. Shanike Wynter did an original song entitled Shanike Bawl Out, which cried to the students to avoid violence.

The group of 10 students who was concerned about the trends of teens today, namely bleaching and fornication, and dramatised the effects of these trends in an appeal to their schoolmates.

Dancing could not be left out. Jamar and Oshane had the crowd doing their ‘money dance’ to Merital’s My Money, and host Cassania Lewis-Jarrett could not help but have them teach her the moves.

During the show some lucky students correctly answered questions about the articles appearing in the TEENage Observer. They received tokens from TEENage Observer and Freshhh, which was there to provide refreshments for the day.

The students were also entertained by pieces from Antonette Morgan, Chelce Pennicook, Chezdale Dixon, Monique McDonald and Jodi-Ann Wright.

Michael Jackson may be dead, but Lenado Knight had to remind us of his hit songs. As he closed the show the children lined up in an orderly fashion to be refreshed by the Freshhh tent, while the judges calculated the scores.

The results came in and the Drama Group came in third position. It must have been Shemar’s lucky day as his dub poem placed second, and his duo stand-up comedy performance with Jemie placed first.

After the judges revealed the winners, the children were greeted by Natel, two-time Digicel Rising Star competitor, who whipped the crowd into a frenzy when he serenaded a fourth-form student. But the screams did not wane when Nicky B came on to the stage.

A lot of talent came out to be judged, but only the best was chosen. Better luck next time to the rest of the students. Congratulations to the winners, and continue the good work.