While I was going through my emails this morning, drinking coffee from my Union-branded mug and wearing my Union-branded polo shirt, it slowly began to dawn on me that my term as Deputy President (Welfare) had officially begun. We’ve had two weeks in the job and so far I’ve learned that no two days are the same, there are vast areas of the Union that I knew nothing about and next year is going to be quite a drastic departure from my previous life as a medical student. For the sake of not being boring, I won’t list everything I’ve done over the past couple of weeks, but I’ll share some highlights.
Back in July, I attended an NUS-run conference in Manchester for all the sabbatical officers in the UK – ‘SU2013’. Although Imperial not being in the NUS earned me the slightly off-putting title of ‘non-affiliate’, meeting Presidents and Deputy Presidents from other universities and hearing what they were up to was such a valuable experience. As well as networking, I was able to attend many of the workshops held over the two days, on topics from student activism to the future of higher education which helped put into perspective challenges I might face this year.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve also had the opportunity to start planning the campaigns and events I want to support over the coming months. Historically, Imperial has been a little weak on the campaigning front but I hope after the success of ‘Action Syria’ last year, we have proved that there are many passionate students out there who want to get involved. With the new training and support we are giving to our elected Liberation Officers, hopefully we can give campaigns a bigger presence on campus. Watch this space!
I’ve also been trying to plan out a Sexual Health Awareness and Guidance (SHAG) week. With our new scheme of offering STI testing on campus through the Terrence Higgins Trust, it is really important to ensure this continues with good uptake so we can offer it for many more years to come. SHAG weeks are typically a lot of fun and although my planning efforts have given me a really dodgy Google search history, I’m looking forward to it.
One other major project that I’m undertaking this year is trying to act on the recommendations that arose from last year’s Student Experience Survey. There are over forty items on this list that cover aspects of Imperial life from the health centre, to our advice services, to the personal tutor system. As one long Excel spreadsheet that spans two computer screens, this does seem pretty intimidating, but at least I won’t be short of things to do this year and hopefully you’ll be patient with me when I’m pestering everyone to fill out the new SES come November…
Finally, I just thought I’d sign off my first blog with a nod to my predecessor. Becky ‘Petting Zoo Girl’ Lane has worked incredibly hard this year and deserves so much credit. I really hope to keep up the momentum during my time in office and do her proud.
