The Young Alumni Advocates (YAA)

The Young Alumni Advocates (YAA)

An Active Resource Network for Alumni Engagement & Interaction Powered by Alumni Ambassadors

About the YAA

Celia Davidson Francis - The Founder and Regional Director of the UWI STAT Ambassadorial Corps and the Young Alumni Advocates believes in the power of networks and great relationships and this is why she created this unique regional group, the only one whose members pledge lifelong connectivity to The UWI. She believes in investing in young people because it pays great dividends to a nation's continued development and resilience. 

The Alumni Ambassadors are an elite cadre of professionals and many have already seen amazing successes. The Alumni Ambassador professionals also inspire and serve as mentors to the current UWI STAT Ambassadors. 

The Ambassadors

The Alumni Ambassadors, as the Young Alumni Advocates, operate regionally and internationally. They appreciate what it is to be empowered by their Alma Mater -  and they also appreciate that they have the potential to empower students and young alumni as well as other graduates.


Through this programme they will create an active resource network for each other and will visibly promote alumni engagement and interact with their respective campuses. 

UWI STAT

UWI STAT is known to be a leadership incubator and the Alumni Ambassadors are a cadre of young professionals who can be powerful drivers in enhancing the reputation of the UWI as they are solutions and activist-oriented individuals, committed to the Caribbean and its development and are all engaged in some way in the national, regional or global development agenda. In fact, the Alumni Ambassadors mantra states that they are: "Committed to Caribbean Self Reliance and Prosperity."Write a description for this tab and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, if you are using tabs to show different services, write about what makes each service unique. If you are using tabs to display restaurant items, write about what makes a specific dish particularly worthwhile or delicious.

The Work of the Ambassadors

Although the Alumni Ambassadors operate regionally and globally, they all studied at, and have an affinity for one or more campuses and always take this special bond of national and regional pride with them as they continue on their professional journeys. Their activities will include:


1. Meet Ups with alumni abroad when travelling arranged by Alumni Relations – IAD for the networking benefit of YAA Alumni Ambassadors – and also to promote awareness of alumni engagement and The UWI abroad;


2. Participation in the Alumni Engagement Programme and the use and promotion of the Pelicans Engage App;


3. Being speakers at events  - (sharing expertise, challenges, tips, and articles with current students) & leading or additional participants in the Soft and Life Skills Series;


4. Being or recommending alumni as speakers for Pelican Talks, UWItv and other media opportunities.


This is an exciting programme with limitless possibilities and will auger well for increased involvement of the younger segment of our regional and global alumni populations.

THE YAA

NEW YAA (Alumni Ambassador) members from the UWI Global Campus 

Annissa Moulon

I first met Miss Annissa Moulon in 2020 when she was interviewed to be a UWI STAT Ambassador. Within a short time, she was recommended to be Secretary of the UWI STAT Executive. It was in this role, that I worked closer to her and observed that she is open-minded, resilient, and analytical. Whatever tasks she is given or she undertakes, she ensures completion with excellence even if she has to go beyond the call of duty.


When the President graduated, it was Annissa who kept the cross-country team together until another team was selected. The UWI STAT Executive is responsible for “Footprints’ Day” where each student is encouraged to give back to their alma mater US$1.00. Miss Moulon and her team in Dominica raised the most funds for

two years consecutively.


It was without hesitation, in 2021 when the Alumni Office started an Open Campus Endowment Fund that Miss Moulon was selected to serve on the Endowment Fund Committee and to garner the support of the UWI STAT. She once again demonstrated her eagerness to work on a team and, in addition to soliciting monetary donations, she was instrumental in sourcing musical selections from renowned musicians, pro bono, for this event which was a success.

Tamara Patten

Like Annissa I first met Tamara in 2020 and Tamara demonstrated her infinity for

the Open Campus. She was selected as Vice President Membership a position she

kept until this year. Over the past three years through the efforts of Tamara some thirty (40) UWI STAT Ambassadors were recruited.


In addition to serving as VP Membership, Tamara brought every challenge that could affect the Global Campus negatively to my attention and encouraged students to contact me once they had a problem. She is our link to the Cayman Islands and assisted greatly in our establishing a Cayman Islands group chat. As she demitted this office she has shared a proposal with the Director and myself for the Alum Ambassadors.

Ariel Albert

Ariel Albert became an Ambassador last year but like we would say “she hit the ground running”. She attached herself to every committee and gave outstanding service. Last year during the UWI STAT Week she volunteered to be responsible for the Games Night and what a night that was. In addition, during that week we deemed her the perfect person to give the Vote of Thanks and each night she delivered differently.


When she heard about the Open Campus Endowment Fund, without hesitation she approached a number of companies to assist as she would have done with the Footprints Day. My only regret was that she joined in her final year and not in her first year. Kudos Ariel for a job well done. 

Kisone Ferguson

Our lone male this evening, Kisone Ferguson served as Vice President, Disaster Mitigation and Climate Change. In addition to serving in this capacity, Ms. Tamara Patten brought to the fore Mr. Ferguson Kisone's invaluable assistance to

her as VP Membership in the recruitment process and during UWIT STAT Week. He undertook the responsibility of producing the flyers and videos when the Vice President of Communication and Internal Relations was ill and unable to fulfill her

duties. Director of Alumni Relations, Mrs. Celia Davidson-Francis, it is an honour to present the aforementioned four UWI STAT Ambassadors who have served with distinction – Miss Annissa Moulon, Miss Tamara Patten, Miss Ariel Albert and

Mr. Kisone Ferguson is to be declared Alumni Ambassador.

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