MEET THE SU TEAM
Over the Summer, it’s time for us as a Students’ Union to reflect on the year that’s just been, prepare to welcome new and current students to Aber in September and put plans in place for a full events and activity programme for 2020-2021.
The summer months are also a time to welcome and train new officer teams in readiness for the year ahead. Supporting the officer team are a family of SU staff working behind the scenes to ensure Aberystwyth students have the opportunity to love student life and be ready for anything.
We would love to take the opportunity over the next few months to introduce our AberSU family – who are all here for you if you need help, advice or a chat.
Spotlight on Trish McGrath – CEO
Where is home?
Well, technically I am an army child and lived all over the place from birth, but my family are based mostly in West Yorkshire and I’m a Yorkshire lass at heart!
It’s your last meal on earth… what’s on the menu?
Pizza with a drizzle of chilli oil and a side of halloumi fries with sweet chilli sauce, baconnaise and garlic mayo
Outside of work, what are your favourite pastimes or hobbies?
I love listening to and making music from loads of different genres but I’m a heavy metal girl at heart. I also enjoy a bit of crafting and crochet loads of the time and enjoy making quirky cross stitches too. I’m also a single Mum, so I spend as much time as I can with my 7 year old son Ralph.
What do you love about working in Aberystwyth?
There’s so much that I’ll struggle to list a few, but mainly we get to work with largely fun and positive students who all have different passions and priorities and who keep us on our toes, but in a lovely way! We also get to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in the UK – there aren’t many other places where I can finish work, pick up my son from school and be in the glorious sea swimming, with dolphins in the distance, within 30 mins!
If you weren’t in your SU role…what would you be?
I would either like to be running a medium size charity supporting activity that had a positive impact for people, or in a totally different way I would love to be a Midwife!
What part(s) of your job do you enjoy the most?
I love the bits where I get to work with students the most or where we can feel most proud of them, so the events such as Varsity and Aber 7s or greeting and welcoming new students in Freshers are my favourite times.
Before working here, have you had much involvement with the students’ union or student groups?
I hadn’t had prior involvement in Aber before starting in my role here 4 years ago, but I’ve been involved in Students’ Unions since I was 18 when I started University at Lancaster. I started off in volunteer Officer roles before being elected as an SU Education and Welfare Officer, and then as SU President. Then after taking a couple of years out, I was back as a staff member as an Advisor at Cumbria, where I eventually became Information and Advocacy Manager, and then I was at Manchester University SU as Head of Student Voice.
AberSU is… developing and growing and wants as many students to engage as possible
AberSU is not… a building – its so much more than that! It’s a representative voice for students that supports student clubs, societies, representation, advice and volunteering activity!
Summer isn’t ‘quiet time’ for Students’ Unions…what are you going to be busy working on over the Summer?
In summer we train the new full-time officers and induct them into the organisation and their roles as best we can. I also look back at how the year has gone and we also plan and prep everything for the year ahead as once Term 1 hits, there is just no time to breathe until Christmas.