Officer Blogs

Experience & Community Officer Blog

Hi I’m Sophie, your elected Activities & Community Officer. I came to Keele in 2020, from a little town called Solihull on the outskirts of Birmingham to study a dual honours in Forensic science and Psychology. However, at the end of ym first year I realised my heart was with forensics and so moved onto the Masters in Forensic and Analytical Sciences course. I first got involved in the SU when I joined craft, KRAP and American Football back in my second year, as my first year was spent in COVID.

I have been a part of 12 different clubs and societies during my time here. Outside of my role I am interested in music, from Taylor Swift to Bring Me The Horizon, and a bit of musical theatre here and there.  I’m also obsessed with my baby boy, Gizmo, who is a tiny chihuahua who will sometimes come and visit me on campus in my lunch break or after work, in his bumblebee harness.  

I ran for Experience and Community officer because I saw the impact I had in my many volunteer roles I had alongside studying, and really felt like I could have a positive impact doing this full time.  

My priorities: 

  • Give societies the representation they deserve and give clubs the support they need to flourish. 
  • Make an inclusive SU and build a strong supportive community. 
  • Ensure students feel prepared to apply for jobs, university should give them the skills they need to succeed. 

I love Keele because I love the close community feel. We might be one of the biggest campuses, but it feels like everyone knows everyone. 

The advice I’d give students this year is to push yourself! Do things you haven't done before, meet new people, study new things. But if there's things you feel you're only doing out of obligation or the words of others, let go, and do what's truly you, not what others say you should be.  

Talk to me about...  

  • Clubs  
  • Societies  
  • Careers and Employability 
  • International student issues 
  • Mature student issues 
  • Local student issues 
  • Commuter student issues 
  • Activities and Events 

Email me at su.communityofficer@keele.ac.uk

Tom's February UGM Report!

Posted on Wed 09 Feb 2022 at 12:51

Hello everyone, and welcome to my UGM report as your Activities and Community Officer. Since our last Union General Meeting (which was and AGM) and the Winter Break, I have been working on my individual campaigns, creating sustainability related events for students to get involved in, and working with our societies and SU Team on lots of great campaigns and events. 

Manifesto Updates: 

Supporting Societies: 

During Welcome 2.0 I was able to talk with our societies and some clubs who were doing stalls all week and share some of their events out and learn more about what they do. 

#SocietiesofKeele was launched during the week of Welcome 2.0, 2 weeks ago starting off with Keele Irish dance. Since then we have spotlighted 5 societies on our socials and through going to their events. We have had 17 society submissions so there will be ongoing posts till March at the least which is exciting as many students are engaging with the posts. 

I’m still working with Lucy our AU and Sports Officer, Keele Students’ Union and Harper Adams Students’ Union to help our joint vet societies with creating a more cost effective and efficient approach to joint socials, events, and transportation. 

Sustainability: 

We have revived the SU Green Team and have already led multiple successful litter picks around Keele campus and will be continuing events such as litter picks monthly. Out of talks with estates and Team Keele we will be running gardening sessions soon for students to volunteer for. 

I’m working with the Students’ Union to install a water bottle refill station/ water fountain on the ground floor that is more accessible to students and encourage students to use reusable water bottles instead of single use plastics. I’ll have more news about this in a couple weeks so keep your eyes peeled for that. 

As stated in my last Report I will be running a sustainability campaign this semester, which will link in with the SDG Teach-In. As part of the campaign, I will be continuing lots of events which relate to the subject of sustainability. 

During Welcome 2.0 I facilitated 4 Great Donate stalls with some great student volunteers. We ended up raising more than £50 for the Sustainability Student Microgrant. 

Team Strategic Aims: 

Education: 

I have nothing to report as far as the privatization of education goes. 

Student Voice: 

I have nothing to report on student voice so far. 

Climate Emergency: 

Everything in my sustainability manifesto aim report above details what I have done personally about our climate emergency pledge. 

Mental Health: 

I have nothing to report on our mental health aim so far. 

Racial Equality: 

I, as well as the other sabbatical officers began getting ideas for our Be Better Do Better campaign launching next month. We created a survey for students to give us their ideas and will be holding table discussions so we can facilitate more student led action in the campaign. Posters with the survey have been put around campus and we have also shared it around social media. I am currently working on getting an Afro hairstylist in the Students Union monthly as requested from students from our past events. 

Outstanding UGM Motions: 

Policy: Water fountains 

I am working with central services in the Students Union to see if we can install a more accessible water bottle refill station/ water fountain and will be contacting the university about getting water fountains in each building for students and staff to use. I will be meeting with other staff this week to discuss the possibility of this project. 

Policy: Post room 

We have received a motion about the post room being closed on Saturdays and how it should be open for those students who don’t have time to access the post room over the week. I will be talking to the post room in this new semester to see what options we have. 

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