Hi! My name is Jade and I am a Fourth Year Media student. I am incredibly excited to be running for President of Education and Welfare because these are things that have impacted me and people around me on an very personal level my whole life. Throughout my degree, I’ve been involved in societies and taken on roles from supporting activities, to promoting societies and groups, and even helping run the society, and this is something I feel fully prepared to take on. I want to support students through their journey in uni; I came into my first year a scared kid and I’m leaving fourth year as a confident adult. I’ve become sure in myself and my identity and I would love the chance to support others in their journey. I have a lot of ideas of what I want to do for the students of RGU and here’s some now!
Promote Equality Champions
I intend to promote the equality champions, I find it ironic that the champions for marginalised people who are perhaps less visible at times are themselves less visible than say the school officers. Within your course, you likely know who your class rep is. There are posters around campus and on the screensavers of the PCs with the faces of the student school officers, they’ve all got their names and faces on the wall across from the union to show their elected volunteer position. For months, I have seen the same recruitment posters for the equality champions. They don’t have their identities posted all over campus, they aren’t displayed on the wall across from the union. I know we have equality champions, I see them on Facebook, on Instagram. I see all the hard work they do and I would love to help them get the recognition they deserve across campus.
LGBTQ+ Visibility Campaign
Through my life, a common theme I’ve seen is a lack of knowledge and education about LGBTQ+ people, their stories, the struggles they face throughout life. I have taught myself much of what I know about LGBTQ+ people and definitions of different orientations and gender identities. I intend to spread information about not only these definitions, but to promote their stories as well. I aim to create an environment where LGBTQ+ people can fearlessly tell their stories and let others hear them, even if they don’t want to be named. I aim to create a conversation where differing viewpoints are heard and considered as we talk about the issues that face us all. University is a place of knowledge and experience and by sharing stories and creating that conversation I hope to boost not just academic education but social and cultural knowledge and connectivity as well.
Autism and ADHD in Adults Campaign
Autism and ADHD have the stereotypes of being present solely in young boys, but this is blatantly untrue. They appear in all people of all ages and genders and, while the NHS does rightly say it’s easier to diagnose in children, it isn’t always noticed. And if it is, it isn’t always brought to medical attention. It can be so hard to get a doctor to take steps needed as an adult who thinks they have autism or ADHD and often try to attribute symptoms to other potential conditions. While this may be done with the best of intentions, it isn’t always the most helpful course of action for the individual. I intend to create a campaign that will address not only the stereotypes of who has autism or ADHD but what you can do to help yourself and to seek a diagnosis if that is what you want. This is something I feel incredibly strongly about as it has been a struggle throughout my life and I feel there is not enough supportive information within an official capacity and I want to get even just a bit more information and support out there for students.
Improve Counselling Services
Counselling can be a powerful tool for students. They may want to talk about their mental illness, their course stress, their social pains; whatever it is, a counsellor will listen. Think of how many students there are currently studying with RGU. How many counsellors do you think there are for all these students? If you guessed two, you’d be right. The workload this puts on the counsellors is incredible and it leads to massive wait times for students who maybe need support immediately. This is also true of the mental health care system as a whole, but university should be a place where students are fully supported in all aspects of life. I intend to work with the university to improve this situation while additionally working with student run initiatives like NightLine to make sure they are prepared to offer students peer support. There is a stereotype of students being some of the most mentally anxious people within society; I intend to increase support to ease this and perhaps, with time, change that stereotype.
I have so many ideas to celebrate and support the students of RGU and I am so excited to share this with you. I hope you choose me as your next President of Education and Welfare and I am so looking forward to working with you all!