After two years of campaigning for student rights, especially surrounding mitigating circumstances, initiatives such as free breakfast during exams and holding events just for you, we waved a final goodbye to our Officer team.
We can’t thank them enough for all the hard work and dedication they’ve poured into the Union and representing our members over the past couple of years. From encouraging students to vote, to supporting you during exams, to prayer spaces and inclusive gym spaces, they’ve really worked non-stop trying to make university life better for you.
Before they left office, we sat down to reminisce over their time working with the Students’ Union, along with what they hope to see from us and the University in the future.
What have you learnt during your time at the Students’ Union?
Joe: “I’ve learnt when you have an overwhelming problem, the ability to zoom out to a national or international context and apply that to a university gives you the ability to think of a local solution to a national problem and contribute in your own little way”.
Charlotte: “What I’ve learnt is change looks different to different people and can be done in various different ways - I view change as this radical bigger thing that needs to be happen, whereas it can be happening in a very small minute way, but cause a bigger ripple of change going forward, benefitting people in different ways - but the change is still there and still beneficial”.
Sophie: “I’ve learnt to play dodgeball competitivity”
Luke: “I’ve learnt it’s a more effective way of making change by actually just being nice to people - instead of always going for the attack straight away”
What’s your favourite memory from your time at the Students’ Union?
Sophie: “My favourite memory is putting on two amazing Halloween events - with a scare maze and scare actors - it was really cool”
Luke: “The Westlakes carnival at the Westlakes campus - it was really cool to go out in the sun for two years, throw some bean bags and tin cans and have a really nice time with students”
Joe: “Going to Parliament last October - seeing a busy democracy in action was interesting. I got to talk about fun stuff with some cool guys”.
Charlotte: “My favourite memory is when we were on a road trip up to the Westlakes campus for the carnival - we started making jokes about classic cows and how cows have mutated - we were just absolutely wetting ourselves laughing - it’s absolutely one of my favourite memories”
What would you like to see from the University and Union once you’ve left?
Luke: “I want to see a prayer space in every single building on campus - I think it’s important for many of our students to have a space to pray and I think its something the university should implement everywhere”
Charlotte: “I’d like to see more collaboration between the schools, the services and the Students’ Union - we’ve made a good start over the past two years, getting that more dialogue, conversational, casual approach to it, but there’s so much more work to be done - with more collective power we can do more good for students”
Sophie: “I’d like the see the continuation of the women’s sessions with further development for disability access in the gym”
Joe: “I’d like to see a self certification of the mitigating circumstances system and the implementation of the recommendations from the institutional review”
What’s your proudest achievement over your time at the Students’ Union?
Charlotte: “Receiving a silver award in the voter registration drive we did with Citizens UK - we were one of two Unions to achieve this. Accepting the award on behalf of the University and Union at the Convention of the North was empowering and special for me”
Luke: “What I’m most proud of was creating Study Break - the campaign to support students during exams time. I’m very proud of it because we made it more positive than any other similar campaign that we’ve done in the past - it was just trying to bring a little bit of fun to campus during a time that can be quite stressful for students”
Joe: “What I’m most proud of is agreeing the principles to the staff and student relationship policy, and writing quite a lot of the student harassment and sexual misconduct training - both in the same week. It’s important work and we did it quite well”
Sophie: “I’m most proud of creating UCLan’s first ever women’s gym space”