Mary Cuffy

At an age when most stu­dents are just try­ing to nav­i­gate the halls of Sec­ondary School, 13-year-old Jae­van Don Har­ring­ton is al­ready com­mand­ing stages across Trinidad and To­ba­go. A Form 3 stu­dent at Iere High School in Siparia and a proud na­tive of Fyz­abad, Jae­van is liv­ing proof that with pas­sion and dis­ci­pline, you re­al­ly can have it all.

Jae­van is not just a stu­dent; he is a schol­ar, a sports­man, and a mu­si­cal prodi­gy. Bal­anc­ing books with tal­ent, he ex­cels in Bad­minton, Vol­ley­ball, and Foot­ball, all while main­tain­ing a high stan­dard of aca­d­e­mics. He is even a re­cip­i­ent of the Daren Gan­ga Foun­da­tion schol­ar­ship, a tes­ta­ment to his com­mit­ment to ed­u­ca­tion.

But it is his voice that is tru­ly turn­ing heads.

Jae­van be­gan singing at the age of nine, and since then, his jour­ney has been noth­ing short of me­te­oric. He plays the tas­sa and the elec­tron­ic key­board, but it is his pow­er­ful vo­cals that cap­ti­vate au­di­ences. From the mo­ment he sings the first line, whether it is a ren­di­tion of Nev­er Enough from The Great­est Show­man or a clas­sic ca­lyp­so tune, he holds the crowd in the palm of his hand.

A track record of ex­cel­lence

For young read­ers won­der­ing if hard work pays off, Jae­van’s tro­phy cab­i­net says “yes.” He has steadi­ly climbed the ranks of na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tions, prov­ing that con­sis­ten­cy is key.

His list of ac­com­plish­ments is im­pres­sive. In 2023, rep­re­sent­ing Av­o­cat Vedic Pri­ma­ry School, he made his­to­ry by be­com­ing the on­ly male win­ner of the San Fer­nan­do Arts Coun­cil’s “Young Star” award at the San­fest com­pe­ti­tion. He didn’t just win; he dom­i­nat­ed, tak­ing home first place in both So­lo Ur­ban and Re­li­gious Duet cat­e­gories.

Most re­cent­ly, at the Min­istry of Youth De­vel­op­ment and Na­tion­al Ser­vices (MYDNS) Na­tion­al Youth Fes­ti­val (2024), Jae­van ad­vanced straight to the se­mi-fi­nals af­ter a show-stop­ping au­di­tion, ul­ti­mate­ly se­cur­ing sec­ond place in the na­tion­al fi­nals.

Among his oth­er no­table vic­to­ries:

• Ross Kids Tal­ent Com­pe­ti­tion: Se­cured the cov­et­ed First (1st) Place.

• 103.1FM Christ­mas Tal­ent Show­case (2022): At just 10 years old, he se­cured Sec­ond Place.

• More Than Just Tal­ent Com­pe­ti­tion: Placed sec­ond in his age group and won the spe­cial award for “Best Vo­cal­ist.”

• C3 Cen­tre’s Sum­mer of Fun Kids’ Karaoke: Won first place in his age cat­e­go­ry.

More than just a win­ner

What makes Jae­van spe­cial isn’t just the tro­phies; it is his heart. Dur­ing his per­for­mances, he hopes to con­vey a mes­sage of “hap­pi­ness and joy.” He wants every child in the au­di­ence to feel the same ex­cite­ment he feels when he is on stage.

Jae­van’s sto­ry is a bea­con of mo­ti­va­tion for the youth of Trinidad and To­ba­go. He shows us that you don’t have to choose be­tween be­ing an ath­lete and an artiste, or a stu­dent and a star. You can be a schol­ar-ath­lete who sings with the voice of an an­gel.

As he con­tin­ues to share his gift on plat­forms like YouTube and at na­tion­al events, Jae­van Don Har­ring­ton is more than a “Young Star”; he is a re­minder that the fu­ture is bright for those who are brave enough to pur­sue their dreams.

To all the young chil­dren read­ing this: Jae­van start­ed singing at nine. By 13, he was a na­tion­al cham­pi­on. Your age is not a lim­it; it is just the be­gin­ning of your own po­ten­tial.