President of Trinidad and Tobago Visits Campus of Adventist University

By: Charlie Ann St. Cyr, Inter-American Division News

The president of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Her Excellency Paula-Mae Weekes, recently paid a courtesy visit to the University of the Southern Caribbean, a Seventh-day Adventist institution in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Her brief visit on June 21, 2018 included a meeting with university administration and a group of students and a tour of the campus.

Weekes applauded USC officials for educating thousands of students every year and said she was impressed with the beautiful Maracas Valley campus.

Caribbean Union president and chairman of the board at USC, Kern Tobias, and university president Hilary Bowman welcomed and thanked the head of state for making the University of the Southern Caribbean one of her first visits since she took office in March. Weekes became the sixth president of Trinidad and Tobago and the first woman to hold the office of the presidency as of March 19, 2018.

Tobias shared that school officials were pleased to meet the nation’s president and explain to her the mission of the school. “We were delighted to meet her and share what the university is all about and how it offers high moral values and standards as we seek to improve the spiritual, mental, and physical well-being of students,” he said.

The University of Southern Caribbean is fully accredited and supported as a tertiary level educational institution by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago through its accrediting body, the Accrediting Council of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT). It is also recognized as a teacher training institution by the Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago. The university is affiliated with Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States.

USC is one of the oldest tertiary institutions in the Southern Caribbean and, says Tobias, prides itself on offering a wholistic education in a safe, serene, and green environment to its more than 3,500 students every year. The school offers 40 undergraduate and graduate degrees and recently graduated 588 students during its commencement ceremony on July 1, 2018.