It was another hectic time for your student officers last week, with One World Week and Holocaust Memorial day to attend to. We spoke to three of them for an update.
Jaime-Lee Cunningham
Last week I had a lot of university boards and committees and briefings for these meetings. A majority of these meetings were around research and post-graduate degrees. These meeting are a great way for the Union to ensure everything is going how it should be for post-grad students, as we don’t get to engage with them as much as we would like to.
Officers also attended the Holocaust Memorial Day, which was such a lovely event. Each officer made a pledge, which was something small we would do every day which would have a positive impact on someone or a group of people.
A couple of the officers also had the opportunity to meet with the new Vice Chancellor. It was great to meet her and discuss things.
We also went to the Chinese New Year event. It was fantastic to be able to experience more of the Chinese culture and see how Chinese New Year’s would be celebrated.
As well as this some of us also went to the Business School International Partnership Office dinner, which was a good chance to engage with some of our international students and allow them to experience a traditional sit down meal.
This week I have quite a few meetings again, one of which is Nurses’ council, where I get to speak to some of the students on the courses and ensure everything is going well for them and help chase up any issues that have previously arisen.
I am also hosting a Coffee slot with one of the Union Managers. These are a chance for Union staff to come and talk to an officer and manager about any issues they have and any ways in which we can help them.
Ash Holland
Last week was a busy week for the team with One World Week. I was off work on the Monday but came into to work on Tuesday motivated.
I had the officer’s show on OMG on the Tuesday, where we updated the students; what the officers had been up to, upcoming sport team fixtures, what campaigns the team have been working on. The show this week had an indie music theme to help get the students motivated through lunch-time.
Tuesday also consisted of meeting up with the dean of FCES where issues had been brought up about the blueprint and what the university has been working on to improve these issues.
Tuesday evening we had the Chinese New Year event which was a great vibe and was really good to interact with some of the international students.
Wednesday we had Holocaust day where we made our pledges: my pledge was to ‘learn how to greet people in other languages’ this was to help make people feel more included, as when you’re feeling down someone saying hello can easily cheer you up.
Wednesday afternoon I was down at the pitch-side to see how the sports teams were getting on. I also competed in the volleyball and basketball team in the evening.
Thursday was the Better Staffs Forum at Stafford. Attendance wasn’t great but the officers gave update on what they had been working on and what was coming up.
Friday was joining up the sports centre to see how we can work together next year for a better experience for sports teams. We finished the week with an international meal at Kingshall, this was a great event where all of the international students came together and celebrated their time at Staffs.
Tom Hope
On Monday I had a meeting concerning Stafford orientation: there will be weekly events at the Stafford campus with all university and union services to help inform students with any worries concerning the move.
All day Tuesday I was in the MBA academic review for the course. These happen for every course every 5 years and it gives a chance for students to feedback and changes can be made from that.
Wednesday I was at the Holocaust Memorial day where I shared my pledge of "Not to standby when people are in distress".
Thursday I was based at Stafford and was meeting with a group of students who are part of an initiative called Fast Track productions. It's an event in March where students create music tracks over a weekend with very little sleep like the Global Games Jam.
Friday and Saturday I was at board of governors and was working on their strategy over the next 5 years. It has strong links to the students' union and they are looking to make students the heart of everything that they do. I will give more details on this at a later date once the draft has been agreed upon.