Meet Miss Teen Cayman Islands 2020, Jada Bodden
Jada Bodden, Miss Teen Cayman Islands 2020, with Miss Teen Committee and members of the Lions Club
On Saturday, 3 October 2020, 17-year-old Jada Bodden was crowned Miss Teen Cayman Islands 2020-2021.
Jada was the 1st Runner-Up to the 2019/2020 Miss Teen Cayman Islands title.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Miss Teen Committee and the Lions Club of Grand Cayman were unable to host their annual pageant.
As such, Jada was awarded the Miss Teen Cayman Islands 2020/2021 title at a crowning ceremony.
If you missed the ceremony you can watch it here.
Jada took some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions so that we could get to know her better.
Personal/Family
Newly crowned Miss Teen Cayman Islands 2020, Jada Bodden with her family.
T-stance Pageantry (TsP): Who ya fa?
Jada Bodden (JB): Oh, my goodness...love the Caymanian slang. My parents’ names are Taekia Christian and Edison Bodden. Funny story, my Mom’s name was actually inspired by someone telling my grandmother in her dream that the gender of her unborn child was a girl and to name her Taekia, and my Dad's father's name is Eddy, so my Dad's name kind of sounds like Edi’s-son.
TsP: How many siblings do you have and what is your most treasured moment with them?
Jada enjoying her summer break with her family.
JB: I am lucky enough to have 5 siblings; 4 brothers and 1 sister. With that many people and a variety of ages, it is extremely hard to get everyone in one place. Nevertheless, the majority of us, and my Dad’s side of the family, were going to Coral beach every Saturday during the recent Summer break. Each time we went, we would race our jet ski and go for several rounds of ski tubbing. At the end of the day, we were all exhausted, sunburnt, and sore but it was all worth it in the end because we had an absolute blast.
TsP: Sounds like the perfect beach day.
TsP: Are you a vanilla or chocolate ice cream kind of girl?
JB: I literally can’t stand vanilla ice cream so I’m definitely a chocolate kind of girl.
TsP: hahaha, I am the exact opposite. Give me anything vanilla based.
TsP: What’s your personal motto?
JB: My personal motto would be to follow your dreams and never give in to fear, rejection, or the thought of humiliation because ANYTHING is possible through hard work and dedication.
TsP: Yes and yes to hard work and dedication. I’d also like to add that anything is possible once you believe.
TsP: Tell us something interesting about you.
JB: Something interesting about me is that I am double-jointed in most of my fingers and my right shoulder.
TsP: That sounds so creepy.
School
Jada with teammate, Danneika the anchor of the Clifton Hunter Relay team.
TsP: What is your most embarrassing school memory?
JB: I was an athlete from grades 2-10, and I remember competing at the annual interscholastic where I was the 3rd leg in Clifton Hunter High School’s infamous relay team. As I was handing the baton to the anchor, I fell straight on my face with the baton still in hand, in front of hundreds of people.
TsP: ooo that’s rough.
TsP: What was your worst subject in high school?
JB: I wouldn’t say I had a “worst” subject in high school per say. But I did have a particular subject I kind of struggled with, and that was Science. I loved the idea of experiments but didn’t enjoy learning the various formulas.
TsP: Somehow, I don't think you're alone in this one. In my Chemistry class, we did some fun experiments but when it came down to the chemical equations…
TsP: What extra-curricular activities did you do in high school?
JB: In high school, I was a very active kid and between grades 7-8, I was doing Basketball, Swimming, Gymnastics and Track and Field. But as exams and SBA’s became a reality, I focused all my after-school attention on Track and Field, Key Club and Student Council.
TsP: Ooh you did Gymnastics? I always wanted to take Gymnastics classes when I was younger. I used to spend all my time teaching myself how to do all the flips. I lived for flipping. lol
TsP: I hear you plan to get your Bachelor of Arts in Acting. Who or what inspired you to become an actress?
Jada performing alongside castmate, Layah Ebanks
JB: What inspired me to become an actress was my love for movies and films. I love the idea of portraying a totally different character and allowing people to laugh, cry, or be scared through a screen. As a result, that led me to take part in performing arts camps, plays and music videos and that’s when I concluded that I need to do acting for the rest of my life.
TsP: This is by far my fave question. I get excited when I meet someone who also wants to be a working actress. It was the movie Confessions of Teenage Drama Queen that made me realize that I wanted to be an actress. I am excited for you and I can't wait to see your journey to the big screen. Who knows maybe someday we will end up on the Oscar stage.
Pop Culture
TsP: Tell us what TV shows are you currently binging?
JB: Surprisingly, I’m not binging anything at the moment because my favorite show Siren on Freeform is currently canceled and school keeps me excessively busy.
TsP: Siren? hmm, I haven’t heard of that one before. But I do love a good mermaid story. I’ll have to check it out.
TsP: You have a great singing voice. Who is your favourite music artist?
JB: Firstly, thank you so much, that is so sweet of you. Secondly, that is a really hard question because I listen to so many genres and styles of music but if I had to choose just a few, Celine Dion, James Arthur, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé.
TsP: Celine Dion what a legend. Her songs are timeless.
TsP: If you could join any past music group which would you join?
JB: Of course, Destiny’s child! “Say My Name” and “Survivor” are my all-time favorite jams. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a part of such a beautiful and powerful girl group?
TsP: Exactly, they are such an iconic girl group!
TsP: Who is your celebrity crush?
JB: Definitely Paul Walker; may his soul Rest in Peace, and Michael B. Jordan.
TsP: Yes, R.I.P. Paul Walker...and Michael B. Jordan is handsome and I'm really enjoying his movies. ❤️
Pageantry
Jada with her pageant sisters in Cayman Brac
TsP: Who or what inspired you to enter Miss Teen Cayman Islands?
JB: No one inspired me to enter Miss Teen Cayman Islands. I just kind of went off on a limb and decided I wanted to try out the pageantry field. But I will say that attending the Miss Cayman Islands Universe pageant and the Miss Teen Cayman Islands pageant, annually, and hearing about the reward of an extremely generous scholarship along with the confidence, skills, experience and exposure the contestants gained, really sold me into taking that leap to enter the Miss Teen pageant.
TsP: I'm happy to hear that you were able to attend a few of the Miss Teen pageants before entering. I bet this really helped you get familiar with the pageant and learn what to expect. Attending past pageants is definitely a learning opportunity for potential contestants.
TsP: What is your platform and why did you choose it?
Newly crowned Miss Teen Cayman Islands 2020, Jada Bodden thanks her supporters.
JB: My platform is focused on being a voice for the youth of the Cayman Islands. Ideally, I would like to partner with the Ministry of Education to bring them suggestions and opinions from my peers on issues that directly impact today's youth. I chose this platform because I believe that it's important to have open dialogue between the youth and the government. I truly believe the young generation is vital and extremely important because they are the future of the Cayman Islands and the world.
TsP: This sounds like a great initiative and I wish you all the best with getting started on this. Please keep me posted on your progress.
TsP: After your reign as Miss Teen, what do you hope people will remember about you?
JB: Simply that I made a difference, and that I am a symbol of change.
TsP: With a platform like yours, I would say you are well on your way to being a symbol of change.
TsP: Do you plan on entering Miss Universe or Miss World some day?
Miss Cayman Islands Universe, Mariah Tibbetts congratulates newly crowned Miss Teen Cayman Islands, Jada Bodden
JB: It’s so funny you ask that because on a day to day basis, people come up to me and encourage me to enter more pageants and immediately I say no, because I remember how chaotic it was to find a sponsor and attire on the island with reasonable prices. But then I think about all the good that comes out of a pageant, including a valuable educational scholarship, close pageant sisters you’ll have for a lifetime, the growth of confidence, essential skills you’ll learn and the personal growth. In other words, never say never because you never know what the future holds.
TsP: Yes, you will find that people will ask you this a question a lot throughout your reign and even long after. And you are right entering a pageant can be a lot of work but as you mentioned those skills and lessons learned make it so worth it. I hope we will see you involved in pageantry in the future, if not as a contestant maybe as a coach or committee member.
Jada, thank you so much for participating and I wish you all the best in your reign.
Did you learn something new about our new Miss Teen? Maybe you discovered you have something in common with her. Leave it in the comments section below.
Follow Jada on IG: @Jada.bodden2
Follow Miss Teen Cayman Islands on IG: @missteencayman