Life on campus should be one of the most
empowering, fun-filled, insightful time of one’s life and this semester, just over 300 students of
the Aston Preston Hall of Residence, at The University of the West Indies, Mona, will be looking
to their student leaders to help bring that expectation to life.
Student leaders are responsible for planning and executing student led activities and events.
In preparation for what they hope will be a successful semester, the Administrative Team of
Resident Advisors (graduate students of The UWI) for the Hall sought to empower their student
leaders during a four-day leadership retreat recently. Through a series of virtual seminars, the
retreat zoomed in on improving the team’s leadership skills in the areas of communication, time
management, emotional intelligence, event planning, proposal writing, and conflict resolution.
To culminate the week of seminars, the team of 25 student leaders and Resident Advisors
headed to the picturesque Sandals South Coast, where they were hosted for final planning
meetings and much anticipated team building exercises.
According to Resident Advisor, Tahir Thompson, the A.Z Preston Hall Residential Leadership
Programme hones and develops the leadership skills of new and returning residents. “We host
two major developmental workshops throughout the year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the
mid-year retreat has been held virtually and so were the first days of this retreat. Our day at
Sandals South Coast was the first face- to-face gathering for the team since January 2020,”
said Thompson.
He noted that the team’s visit to Sandals South Coast was intended to have fun while working
on improving team relations before the serious work ahead in the upcoming semester.
And from all indications the luxury-included® resort did not disappoint. According to Hall
Chairman, Rasheed Whyte, the day was amazing and his team could not have asked for a
better experience. “Sandals South Coast is the ideal place to have facilitated our leadership
retreat. The team had fun and truly bonded,” he noted.
He went further to thank the resort’s General Manager, O’Brian Heron and his courteous and
professional staff for their engaging and fun activities, which included a live cooking
demonstration and competition and a mixology session with intermittent dance battles led by the
resort’s food and beverage and entertainment teams. “We truly learned a lot and to top it off the
physical plant was immaculately kept! All in all a great place. .”
The student leaders from the Aston Preston Hall of Residence, UWI (Mona) are elected
members of the Hall Committee led by the Hall Chairman and his Deputy. Among the other
student leaders of the Hall, are those appointed to the Preston Entertainment and Cultural
Ensemble (PEACE) – the body which specialises in developing a host of skills and
competences in entertainment and culture at the hall. This is done through several arms,
namely: Dance, Drama, Sign Language, Chorale, Photography, Elocution, Culinary and Art &
Craft. PEACE is currently led by its President, Jerridene Smith, and a slate of Executive
Committee Members. All student leaders read for degrees in various programmes at the UWI
and are in their first to third year of study.
group photo during their visit to Sandals South Coast. Sharing in the moment of youthful exuberance is
resort General Manager, O’Brian Heron (right).
during a heated cooking competition at Sandals South Coast. The competition was one of three team
building activities in which the students participated.