‘We have a village’
St Jago High embrace ‘surreal’ moment after beating Calabar in third consecutive SCQ final
Published:Saturday | April 6, 2024 | 12:09 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
ST JAGO High School has again proven themselves to be the all-island champions in Television Jamaica’s Schools’ Challenge Quiz (SCQ) competition after defeating Calabar High School in Thursday night’s final.
The tense showdown inside the studios of Television Jamaica reached a crescendo with the tie-breaker question at the end of the night: In which New Zealand city can the Wolfbrook Arena be found, which hosted the Netball Fast5 competition in 2023?
St Jago responded swiftly, hitting the buzzer and then correctly answering, “Christchurch, New Zealand”, to win the match 35-33.
Thursday night’s victory is the eighth overall for St Jago in the 55-year history of the competition.
That was also the 13th final for St Jago High.
Mark Clarke, manager and assistant coach for St Jago’s SCQ team since 2010, said team members Jhaneille Esson, Nathaniel Baker, Kevandra Blake and Jermaine Miller were very confident going into the final.
He said the victory must also be credited to the support of the school and its surrounding community.
“It’s the combination of all the hard work and sacrifices they have made, not just this year, but over the years. We have a village. It’s not just me. It’s not just Mr [Romeo] Lee (main coach). It’s the past students, it’s the principal, it’s the school administration, [and] it’s the community,” Clarke told The Gleaner.
“Rivoli [where St Jago is located] is a depressed community and they support us 100 per cent. So, every time we go out there and represent, I always tell my students that you have to do twice as much as the schools in town just to be recognised, because we come from Spanish Town. So they play with a chip on their shoulder because they know that they always have something to prove,” he said.
The captain, Esson, who has been on the SCQ team since she was in Grade 7, was elated about the victory.
“It’s surreal, especially because it’s our third victory in a row and there was so much excitement leading up to it. Because Calabar had three [previous SCQ final matches] victories in a row back in 2004 to 2006, there was a lot of pressure on us to do the same thing. But we really didn’t look at it as the pressure, we just looked at it as another match, and we just went in and executed as we have been taught, and we made it through,” Esson told The Gleaner.
She is looking forward to creating history by winning another two years.