By Kerron Mckenzie, Guild President, UWI Five Islands Campus

Student leadership is more than an extracurricular activity it is a crucial training ground for national transformation. As the newly elected President of the Guild of Students at The University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus, I’ve seen firsthand how young people when empowered can spark real change not only within the university but across the broader society.

In a world facing complex challenges climate change, inequality, youth unemployment the Caribbean cannot afford to overlook the energy, ideas, and leadership potential of its youth. Student leaders represent a powerful segment of this population. We are not waiting for permission to lead we are already doing it.

At UWI Five Islands, we are building a generation of thinkers, doers, and advocates. As student leaders, we don’t just plan events we defend students’ rights, raise awareness on mental health, advocate for affordable food access, push for more sustainable campuses, and encourage entrepreneurship. These are all national issues, simply scaled to the campus level.

When governments, institutions, and communities engage meaningfully with student leadership, they tap into fresh perspectives grounded in lived experience. Our campuses are not bubbles they are microcosms of society. The decisions we make here and the habits we form now shape the leaders we will become tomorrow.

Nation-building requires deliberate investment in youth leadership. It means supporting mentorship programmes, strengthening student representation in national policy discussions, and funding opportunities that give students a seat at the table not just as observers, but as equals.

I am proud to serve during a time when UWI Five Islands is growing into its role as a regional beacon of education and progress. As Guild President, I intend to ensure that student voices remain not only heard, but respected. Because leadership that begins on campus should not end there it should ripple outward, lifting our communities and our country.

The future of Antigua and Barbuda is being shaped right now in lecture halls, on student councils, and through acts of everyday courage by young people determined to make a difference. It’s time we see student leadership for what it truly is: nation-building in real time