Costaatt to host mega graduation

THE College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts (COSTAATT) will host three ceremonies for its annual graduation exercises under the theme “Embracing Change” to be held on Sunday and Monday at the Lord Kitchener Auditorium, National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain.

Approximately 1,500 graduands will be awarded degrees, diplomas and certificates from over 75 academic programmes. At the first ceremony tomorrow, 400 students will graduate from the School of Business and Information Technologies, and the Ken Gordon School of Journalism and Communication Studies combined. On Monday, 500 nursing graduands from the School of Nursing, Health and Environmental Sciences will receive their diplomas.

This will be followed on the same day by the 5 pm ceremony at which a further 600 graduands from the College’s liberal arts, human services, allied health sciences, environmental and continuing education programmes will be awarded degrees, diplomas and certificates.

Building on its mission of educating and developing graduates who excel and bring about transformation in their specific spheres of activity, COSTAATT has selected one of its outstanding alumna to deliver the keynote address at all three ceremonies.

A 2015 graduate of the BA Mass Communication programme under the Ken Gordon School of Journalism and Communication Studies, and a member of the College’s winning debate team at the inaugural Integrity Commission Tertiary Level Debates, this year’s keynote speaker is Akeela Marin.

Since completing her undergraduate studies at COSTAATT, Akeela has gone on to earn her master’s degree and also achieve a number of firsts in Trinidad and Tobago and the region.

In 2017, she became the first person from the University of the West Indies to earn the award of Best Delegate (the highest award attainable) at Harvard’s National Model United Nations Conference.

This year, she became the first Trinidadian to be ranked among the top three public speakers at the World Universities Debating Championship and she also received the Premier Award for Leadership from the University of the West Indies, Mona – an award given each year to one student deemed to exemplify leadership on campus, in Jamaica, and internationally.

For the first time, the college will this year have four valedictorians representing the highest performing student from each school.

Soraya Aziz (BA Latin American Studies), Gayatri Bedasie (BA Graphic Design), Shivani Parsad (AAS Business Administration) and Janella Williams (AAS Environmental Health) will deliver valedictory speeches on behalf of their fellow graduands.

Additionally, the college will also recognise an organization that has worked in close collaboration with its management and staff in advancing the achievement of its vision and mission.

At this year’s graduation ceremony, the COSTAATT Partnership Award will be presented to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for the accreditation of the Bachelor of Arts in Accounting, for the introduction of the annual ACCA Accelerate offerings, and for their shared participation in training and networking events.