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Rhaveen Kildare, the newly crowned Clarendon Festival Queen 2025, is setting her sights on addressing some of Jamaica’s most urgent social issues through a school-based initiative dubbed the ‘Man-A-Yard’ tour. The project, which she plans to launch during her reign, will aim to stem violence against women and girls while also addressing mental health challenges among men and boys.
“Violence against women and men is a national crisis, and if we are to address it, we have to engage our young men and boys, because it starts with them,” Kildare told The Gleaner.
The Man-A-Yard tour aims to empower secondary school boys by encouraging values like responsibility, partnership, and empathy in their relationships with women and girls.
“It will also be an opportunity to highlight the avenues available to men to safeguard their mental and physical well-being, while teaching them stress-coping mechanisms and conflict resolution skills,” she said.
Kildare, a 22-year-old medical student, was crowned during the coronation show held at Sydney Scott Auditorium at Glenmuir High School.
Reflecting on the journey, she said, “It was a beautiful experience. I have learnt so much about myself, and grown in so many ways. I’m not the same Rhaveen that started. I’ve learnt so much about our culture, and about my role as a Jamaican woman.”
She also lauded the trainers and team from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Clarendon office, describing them as “caring, nurturing and accessible”.
This year’s JCDC events are being held under the theme: ‘The Jamaican Woman: Proud and Bold’. Quizzed on what the theme meant to her, Kildare said, “It is a celebration of the resilience, strength and beauty of the Jamaican woman. It recognises that there are no limits to her potential. She’s a mover, and a shaker, and she contributes to every aspect of society.”
COMMITTED VOLUNTEER
A committed volunteer and Governor General Achievement Award recipient, Kildare serves on several boards and committees at The University of the West Indies and in her church. She also offers free chemistry tutoring to students across the parish.
Zantaye Thomas, first runner-up, said she was honoured to be recognised among an outstanding cohort of intelligent, talented and well-rounded women.
“While I didn’t walk away with the winner’s crown, I’m extremely grateful to have been named first-runner-up,” Thomas, who won the Most Poised prize, told The Gleaner.
Passionate about service and inclusion, Thomas is the founder and executive director of Sign Clubs of Jamaica, an initiative that promotes deaf inclusion, encourages awareness of Jamaican Sign Language, and builds understanding of deaf culture in schools islandwide.
“I was especially proud to use the festival queen platform to highlight this passion by incorporating sign language in my pageant introduction,” Thomas said.
Joan McKenzie, the third-place winner and a 26-year-old theatre arts educator, playwright and content creator, won the sectional prizes for best performance and most popular on social media.
McKenzie said she had long viewed pageants through the “conventional lens of society’s definition of beauty”. Though fascinated by them, insecurity and shyness made competing daunting, “The pressure, the rush, it was overwhelming.”
Yet, she watched from afar each year, quietly wondering if she’d ever enter.
Her perspective shifted when she embraced her identity as an arts and culture advocate, transforming pageantry from a personal interest into a mission. She saw the Festival Queen competition as a platform “to celebrate culture, honour our nation’s roots, and preserve what makes us uniquely Jamaican”.
She praised JCDC’s commitment to nurturing artists and saw the pageant as an opportunity to carry forward the legacy of icons like Louise Bennett, Joan Andrea Hutchinson, and Dahlia Harris.
McKenzie found the camaraderie among contestants especially encouraging. “We were genuine friends who wanted to see each other shine,” she said, noting how they shared notes, helped with talent pieces, and supported one another during interviews.
For McKenzie, the theme was more than a slogan; it reflected her lived experience. “I’ve stepped into the unknown with courage, stood tall in my truth, and allowed every challenge to fuel my purpose.”
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