Vincentian elected President of COSTAATT Student Council

Vincentian, Zoe-Anné Peters, was recently elected as the President of the Student Council at The College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) , the first non-national to hold the post.

The 21-year-old Radiography student sat for an interview with SEARCHLIGHT from the Chaguanas campus to discuss her motivation for running for President, as well as the campaign and election process, which she described as challenging.

Peters said she had big ideas for transforming student life on campus but contesting the election was not initially part of her plan. After giving some serious thought, Peters, along with the Council of Hope- a group of students who had similar motivations, plunged into the campaigning process and developed a strategy to reach students across the five campuses in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

“COVID-19 pandemic everything was online; 2022 was our first year gradually coming back out to face-to-face classes and clinical rotations. So we weren’t seeing persons from different programmes; we were barely even seeing persons from our own programme. So it was hard to navigate the campaign process because you don’t want to do everything online,” Peters explained.

“I wanted to interact with persons inside the campus. So what I had to do was join the different student programs on Facebook- nursing, journalism, medical laboratory technician, [I]spoke to random students on my plans, found out their concerns about campus life and programmes.”

The Council of Hope also developed a strategy to target all the campuses and rally votes.

“My slate and I decided to have random pop-ups where we would go to different campuses throughout Trinidad to speak to persons on the ground…that gave us a bit more leeway to understanding what our objectives were to win the election.”

The strategy paid off, and on December 2, 2022, when the polls closed, Peters swept the presidential election, capturing 63 per cent of the votes with the other two candidates, Vidray Badree and Imani Johnson securing 34 percent and 22 percent of the votes respectively.

“I knew I was going to win due to the support I had gained from interacting with different students, especially the nurses. They have a lot of issues going on and they were very welcoming toward me and the fact that I was showing interest in their problems,” the new Council president expounded.

“Different students were rallying with me, my classmates got their friends to rally with me so I went into the election knowing that I have a 90 percent chance of winning.”

With the election in the bag, Peters said the Council’s focus is on rolling out the wealth of plans, with the goal of making COSTAATT one of more “well known” campuses in the region.

“… whenever you hear COSTAATT no one knows what you are talking about compared to the University of the West Indies; everyone knows UWI.”

Peters said that on the list of issues to be tackled by the Council are introducing vending machines to the Chaguanas Campus; implementing a food bank for students facing financial hardships as well as pushing for the reintroduction of the third semester which she explained was pulled as a result of the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want persons to be able to get their one credit and two credit course done so they don’t have to wait an entire year to get it done. Especially those who would have to repeat a course, that course may not be available for a full year again which can put persons back.”

As the first non-national to hold the presidency, Peters said she is focused on performing well in the role.

“I guess there would be a little pressure because you are not a national of Trinidad [and Tobago], everyone has their eyes on you so you don’t mess up and you actually make an impact- that would be where the pressure would fall in. But overall I see it as me being a normal student and having this role.”

Peters also sat on the Student Council at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC) and was also International Service Director of the Rotaract Club.