LAST Tuesday, TEENage Observer Expressions Tour got a taste of the talent at Gaynstead High School in Kingston .

The school though small  with just 490 students — came strong with the range of original talent on showcase

The first performance of the day was a poem done by Nevicha Thompson entitled Love, which had a lukewarm reception. Immediately after a group of first-form boys called Suppn New did a trio of original songs that was well-received by the school. This was especially so when ‘Jiggy Biggs’, one of the members of the group, ended their performance with a little dance routine.

There was a break in the performances, as it was time for the trivia segment. The first question went to ninth grader Anakay Whittingham. Then it was back to the performances with an original dancehall song done by Star Strikers.

Eighth grader Fabenelle Williams did an original piece — she sang her heart out — but didn’t thrill her fellow schoolmates with her performance.

Then there was another break in the performances as Faydene Lewis walked away with the next question in the trivia segment. Andrew McKenzie did a deejay piece entiltled Platinum, which described the way how he lives his platinum life and had the students in a frenzy.

Following that was a skit entitled Christmas Mean Lady, which was filled with fun and excitement.

There was also a performance by Eon Campbell, Haldene Scarlette and Nicolas McKinley as they tried to captivate their fellow schoolmates with their performance.

It was time for the third question in the trivia segment, which went Alexander Livermore. After the break it was time for the drummer and dub-poet piece as Jeon Ross and Company. After such an entertaining performance the fourth question in the trivia segment went to second-former Patrick Ferron.

Joshua Jackson did a remix of some the latest dancehall tracks that referred to the fundamentals and importance of education, which had the crowd at the edge of their seat.

Following Joshua’s performance it was time for the teachers to express themselves through acting, as they had prepared a skit about real friends. The students were very much entertained to see their teachers in a different light.

After the performances the top three were named. In first place was the group Born Stars with such a great performance they were definitely born to be stars, in second-place Joshua Jackson and in third position were first-formers Suppn New.

Then the TEENage Observer team treated the student of Gaynstead High School with a guest performance by Jamaica’s own human beatbox Mixing Lab. He thrilled the students with his vocal talents for nearly half-an-hour and even had a mini competition, when Gaynstead High’s beatbox challenged Mixing Lab to a beat off. The winner is yet to be decided but their performance ended the TEENage Observer Expression Tour on a high.

— O’Neil Grant