Looking back at your own election manifesto, do you feel that this year has been a success.
One thing I did on my manifesto is feedback and assignments, which is something I’ve continuously gathered feedback from students on and spoke about committees, and I definitely think that there’s an awareness around it and it does seem to be becoming a bigger thing that people like discuss. And within those committees, so I think that’s been a success.
The repeat fees was also on my manifesto. It was also on some of my coworkers manifestos as well and we were told that that’s going to be decreased. So that’s a big success there as well that we have worked on this this year .
The other thing was the reading week and I really pushed for that to be implemented across the board. I’m currently looking for feedback on how that went, and hopefully we’ll be able to get that put in place again for next year, since this year was just a pilot.
So overall I think it definitely has been some success, but sometimes the things that you work on that come up during the year ends up like being some of your biggest successes and like things that you would never have even seeing coming. The landscape changes so much from year to year.
What was the biggest obstacle you think you faced this year?
I guess on a personal level, public speaking has always been something that I haven’t had a lot of confidence to do. As some people might know, the job has a lot of public speaking involved. So even like just from even from campaigning like going to the lecture shout outs, I was absolutely petrified.
But at the end of the week or at the end of the day I actually felt way more confident doing them and that was just the week of the campaign.
It gives you so much more confidence and so much experience, but doing everything since orientations and committees and conferences.
That’s probably my biggest obstacle, but the personal growth I’ve seen has been really satisfying.
What would you say was the biggest issue facing students under your mandate?
It’s not education, but of course the cost of living accommodation crisis comes up all the time. We just heard about Hubble Living increasing their prices. That’s such a big issue that is affecting people trying to complete their academics, trying to get to college and commuting long distances. It affects a lot of someone’s college experience, so I think that does have to be the biggest issue across the board.
What would you say is your proudest achievement that you’ll be take away from your term?
The thing that brings me the most satisfaction is helping the students that come into the door, or even just the emails. I think that the casework and working with students is at the core of the role. It’s definitely my favourite type of job, being able to help support students in that way.
So I think that would probably be my favourite aspect and the biggest achievement is being able to actually have a positive impact and influence on the university community.
Finally, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to the person in your role next year?
One piece of advice is just to know that you’re not alone in your role, and you have trust your team. You’re going to be supported throughout it.
There will be stuff that is can be quite daunting when you’re going through it, but there’s past officers that are there to help and the USI cohort, and your team. I’ve been so lucky that I’ve had such a good team to work with this year because they’re just amazing support throughout the year on the different things that I worked on.
You might feel nervous or something might come up with that you’re not sure how to tackle. Just take the moment. You got voted in, you’re gonna be able to face it. Just take a moment to catch your breath to think it through and know that you have other people around you to help you through whatever comes.
