I’ve truly enjoyed everything about being a Full Time Officer at AberSU. From being able to run in the elections and get out and talk to loads of people you wouldn’t normally talk to, to being able to work closely with the university on important student issues and have your voice heard at the most senior level, everything has been amazing.
What have you enjoyed about being an AberSU FT officer?
I’ve truly enjoyed everything about being a Full Time Officer at AberSU. From being able to run in the elections and get out and talk to loads of people you wouldn’t normally talk to, to being able to work closely with the university on important student issues and have your voice heard at the most senior level, everything has been amazing. The best thing about being an Officer has to be seeing the work that you do making a difference to students in Aberystwyth, no matter how big or small that difference is, and seeing happy students with loads of opportunities that you had a part in making happen. Being trusted to represent over 8,500 students is such a great feeling, knowing that people trusted you to be their voice and ensure that the right choices are made for students. There is nothing more rewarding than that.
What are your top 5 moments of the year?
Can’t I just choose all of my moments?? As I said, everything has been incredible, but if I had to pick a top 5 they would be…
- Launching the #StefansSocks campaign, raising money for MIND Aberystwyth, and securing an honorary degree for Stefan Osgood
- Attending NUS National Conference (and other conferences) representing Aberystwyth students on a national level, and being elected onto the NUS Wales National Executive Committee
- Seeing 11 Societies and 3 Individuals shortlisted at the National Society Awards, and seeing 2 Societies win their category, 1 Society be Highly Commended in their category, and 1 individual winning an Individual Contribution award
- Working with Naomi on lots of wellbeing initiatives such as Free Condoms and Tampons, our research into student experiences of local health services, and creating the new AberSU Sexual Harassment Policy & Online reporting tool
- Building a sustainable union for the future, including an increased block grant, securing AberFund funding for several AberSU projects, a staff restructure, officer role review, developing a new strategy, recruiting new trustees and generally improving the way we work for students overall.
Biggest achievement / most proud of ?
I think the thing I am most proud of this year is AberSU being awarded the “Higher Education Students’ Union of the Year” Award and the “Student Opportunities” Award at the NUS Wales Awards 2017. This is a true testament to all of the incredible hard work the officers, the staff team and the students put in to making Aberystwyth a great place to be, and making AberSU the best for our students in providing opportunities, helping to create change and offering support, which enhances the student experience and help students achieve their full potential. This year has been a year full of major change, challenge and development for AberSU, and I’m thrilled that everything we have done has been recognised nationally as being the best we could have possibly done for our students over this past year. I and the whole team have put loads of effort in behind the scenes to evolve AberSU into what we are now. It gives me the biggest sense of pride to have been President this year, and see how AberSU has grown into a fantastic union for the future.
A little goodbye message
Thank you to everyone who has made my 2 years as an AberSU Officer absolutely incredible! Especially each and every student who gets involved with the union, you’re all fab! I wish all our students the best of luck in their next few years in Aber, and a huge congratulations to everyone graduating this year and moving on to amazing careers. This is goodbye (for now) from me, but Aber is well and truly my home now, so I’ll definitely be back to see what’s going on in the future, and will try and be as involved as I can with AberSU and the university and help out if needed. So what am I doing next? I’m moving on to do my Masters degree in Human Disease Genetics at University College London (UCL) – so if you’re ever in the neighbourhood and need anything, you know where I am! I’ll miss Aber and AberSU dearly, but my time here has set me up for a bright future, and I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has helped me and supported me along the way.
Much love,
Lauren x