Augustina Tucker is the Moment: From Debater to SMUSA President
Written By: Liza Zahid
SMUSA President Augustina Tucker, Indigenous Student Advisor Kylar Johnson, SMU President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray
Augustina Tucker, commonly known as Tina around campus, is a third-year commerce student double majoring in finance and economics. When I sat down with her on June 10th to chat about her new presidency, I jokingly added, “And you’re also the president of Saint Mary’s University Student Association (SMUSA).” She laughed. “Oh yeah, just forgot that little detail.”
Tina came to Saint Mary’s University (SMU) in January 2023 and knew right away that she wanted to get involved. She had spent her gap year planning her university journey, and she wasted no time. Her first leadership role, like many SMU students, was Pack Leader for Fall Welcome Week in 2023. In fact, if you scroll through SMU’s website, you’ll see her in several pictures in a bright pink Pack Leader shirt and a radiant smile.
Photo by Augustina Tucker
By her second month at SMU, Tina had already represented her country at Model UN and joined the debate society. She started as a general debater, later moved into judging competitions, and eventually became the society’s social media coordinator; I still remember meeting her there at a practice.
What I admire most about Tina is her passion for leadership. It’s something I resonate with deeply, and seeing a woman not only take up space in these roles but excel in them is powerful. Her presence on campus is deeply felt, and with her new role as SMUSA President, we can only hope that her impact will be just as visible.
Her first job was at the SMU Journal, where she was a contributor for a short period of time. After that, she found community and meaning through the Black Student Society and the African Society.
Eventually, Tina became a Peer Success Coach. This was her most defining role, she says. This position is where she met many of the students who informed her of the concerns she would later campaign on. It’s also where she says she learned the most about student issues. She later joined the Residence Consent Project and became a Resident Assistant.
In the Fall of 2024, during an RA meeting, Rice Coordinator Salman Sadib, a former SMUSA board member himself, highly encouraged everyone, including Tina, to run, whether it’s for the board or the presidency. “I then spent a couple of months planning what my campaign would be if I ran,” Tina told me.
I remember vividly: around day three or four of nomination week, no one had declared, other than myself, that they were running for president yet. I was gathering signatures for my own nomination when I ran into Tina. She signed my sheet, and I signed hers. When I looked down, hers said SMUSA Board of Directors. I remember telling her that she should be running for President and that she’d be a shoo-in. I knew she’d be serious competition, but even then, it was obvious she had that “it” factor.
“Upon further research and just realizing the role specifically, what the President does versus what the Board does,” she explained, “I realized that the President’s role aligns more with what I’d like to do.” She then decided to switch, and life was never the same for her.
What I admire and take away from Tina is her ability to plan and strategize to fulfill her goals.
“Sometimes I wish I were more spontaneous, too, though, because I spend too much time planning”. I laughed and told her, “It worked for you, girl.”
SMUSA elections at Saint Mary’s feel like a week-long social advocacy marathon. You run into students at the Commons, the library, the gym, and as a candidate, it’s all-encompassing. “I found the election period to be very engaging and interesting,” she said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve never had the chance to speak to so many students, but it kind of just amplified during that time. I got lucky because a lot of people that I was passing by that I spoke to, I already knew because of one role or another, because apparently I was everywhere,” she laughed.
That specific comment hits home for many student leaders. We see them all around us, and they’re like a symbol of hope - that advocacy and change aren’t far, as long as they are standing up for the students. “It was great to deepen that relation and connection with people.”
We then spoke about how these campaigns humanize candidates. People might’ve seen her around before, but the election let her actually talk to them. “Whether you become President or not, they still know who you are and that you’re there for them,” I said.
“That’s what I really liked about the whole process,” Tina agreed. “Whether you won or not, you still got that exposure. People get to know your name, what you do, what you stand for, and your values.”
Talking about the downsides, she said, “For me, it was just how the election period was structured,”. “As a candidate at the time, it would’ve been much appreciated if things were organized differently.” Despite limited time and resources, she called it a successful election, but believes more events and a longer window would’ve improved turnout.
I asked if she found it draining. “I remember the day before elections, I was like, ‘You know what, I’ve done my best. I’ve tried. At this point, whatever happens, happens.” She paused. “It did get draining, yes. It’s also especially difficult because you have the same vision that you’re trying to communicate to like 500 students,” she continued, “and your vision aligns with other candidates so you’re trying to tailor it to what you believe in, how you stand out, and things like that.”
She described her first month in office as “cool,” highlighting the incredible people she met and the opportunity to travel and connect with other student union leaders. “I just noticed how different the structure of student unions are across different provinces in Canada,” she reflected.
Navigating a student association with a budget of $3-4 million means regularly dealing with setbacks and tough decisions. “There was a little bit of turbulence in my first month, simply because there was a bit of restructuring due to some internal issues.”
According to the May 30th, 2025, Board of Directors meeting minutes and a post from SMUSA’s Instagram, Kristan Anthony, originally hired as VP Advocacy, was let go “with the goal of strengthening the team’s alignment and performance.”
Sameh Noor, formerly VP Societies, was then appointed as VP Advocacy as of June 1st. The minutes note that he was the runner-up in the original hiring process for VP Advocacy and had experience with Model UN, high school campaigns, and other advocacy-related projects.
Tina says the problem has been solved and that it was a learning opportunity. She explained that it's always difficult to let somebody go, especially so early on, but that “it was a strategic decision, so it's not detrimental to the organization in the future. Since SMUSA has a lot of internal and external advocacy positions, and we had just come back from the CASA [Canadian Alliance of Student Associations] conference with another one coming up, we needed someone in that role immediately,” Tina explained. “I started looking within the team.”
She had originally asked Sameh to serve as VP Societies when he was passed over for Advocacy. But after the restructuring, she revisited that conversation. “He explained that he’s really passionate about Advocacy,” she said. “Even though he loved working as VP Societies, he really wanted to try Advocacy.”
She says it’s been working out well. As of June, SMUSA had reopened applications for VP Societies and was in the process of interviewing candidates.
Tina’s executive team currently includes Angelica Amara as VP Academic. “[Angelica] also served as the Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) for our elections; she was amazing,” Tina said. “She brought forward new initiatives to help students academically.”
Naomi Selemane serves as VP Events and Engagement. “She was a street team member,” Tina said. “She’s kind of a campus celebrity. She knows how to build rapport with different stakeholders, and she knows how events work.”
VP Events & Engagement Naomi Selemane, SMUSA President Augustina Tucker, VP Academic Angelica Amara and VP Advocacy Sameh Noor
The absence of a VP Marketing this year is due to the role’s restructuring under the previous presidency. It was transitioned into a full-time staff role—Web Designer & Marketing Manager—currently held by Amaan Ahmed, who served as the last VP Marketing.
I told Tina that she’s handling big decisions early on. “Honestly,” she replied, “I know exactly what I came into this role to do. So that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
She emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with the Board of Directors, who she says have been supportive. “It was a little hectic, but honestly, I found it fun,” she said. “My executive team has been great. There’s an amicable relationship between everyone. We work together really well. We match each other’s wavelength.”
Simba Chiunda, the previous SMUSA president, left plans, resources, and research in a transition binder for Tina. I asked her if there was anything from his term she intended to carry forward.
“The overarching theme is community feedback,” she said. “He spoke a lot about it, just having student input on the decisions that are being made. That’s something I plan on amplifying.”
In terms of new initiatives, she’s introducing what she calls “edutainment” - a blend of education and entertainment through TikTok, infographics, and other digestible media formats. “I did a lot of that during my campaign, and I plan on continuing because I realized that it worked.”
“There are a couple of other new initiatives that I plan on taking, things I mentioned in my campaign, just like the newsletter you mentioned. This year, there is an increased concern for student housing, mental health, and I have spoken about them in my campaign. We’re currently working on those.”
One of her biggest goals is developing a formal equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategic plan. “As far as my knowledge goes, SMUSA has never had one. There’s no structured three-year plan that integrates EDI into policy, and that’s something I want to implement to enhance representation.”
Having mentioned student housing, I brought up the DASH fund that was recently approved, which means students at Saint Mary’s will contribute $5 per semester through their student fees to support housing projects for SMU students. I asked her if there’s been progress on that since being passed, and she confirmed that the organization is waiting for the transitions to end and the president to settle into the role. Once the teams have been formed and settled, they’ll start working on that.
I ended the conversation by asking her how she’s preparing herself to take on such a big role and the inevitable criticism that comes with it.“One of the biggest things in my campaign was transparency,” she said. “And with that comes acknowledging that there will be criticism. It comes with not internalizing it necessarily, but realizing that it will come. It happens to every president.”
She’s been preparing mentally ever since she decided to run. “People will have their concerns and their ideas and thoughts and opinions, and by all means, that’s freedom of speech. But I’m still prepared. I’m still ready. And if there’s something that needs to be addressed, it will be.”
She told me she often goes back to the presidential debate, back to her campaign materials, just to check in to make sure she’s still walking the talk. And only a few months in, Tina’s already proving that she meant what she said.
Note: This interview was conducted in June 2025. Since then, some changes have occurred within the executive team. As of now, the VP Advocacy position is vacant, and a new VP Societies, Nariman Djamai, has been appointed following a later round of interviews. The VP Events & Engagement and VP Academic positions remain unchanged.