Hey, It’s Meg!
As you will be aware, I have been in this role for nearly two years, so I am now sharing my experiences to showcase that anything is possible and to hopefully empower some of you who are thinking of running for one of the officer roles in the upcoming elections to submit your nominations.
As we approach the election season and Semester 2, it reminds me of how far I have come but also that I will be bidding Leeds Beckett, its students, and the Students’ Union goodbye after an incredible five years representing you - three as a student representative and two years as your Academic Experience Officer. It has been an honour and I am excited to pass the baton on to my successor in 16 weeks! (Crazy, right?)
My friends, I am here to tell you that this experience has been a rollercoaster of a ride from opportunities to improve my interpersonal skills to empowering you to be creator of your academic experience whilst studying here at Leeds Beckett. It has been an experience like no other and I have memories to cherish for a lifetime.
Having additional needs and added struggles, I was nervous about standing for election, but I truly believed in what I was telling students I would do for them and why I was the best candidate. It’s important to remember that no officer has the same approach, and the role of the wider staff team is to support you to implement your ideas and turn them into a reality.
As an officer, you get the opportunity to work on lots of different things, including:
-
Objectives and wider projects linked to your election statement
-
Contributing to boards and committees to represent the wider student body
-
Holding the senior management team and wider stakeholders to account on things that matter to students
My story is unique and having additional needs has been a learning curve for the wider organisation and individuals within it. I require extra support and my needs are higher than what the organisation can cater for themselves, but I worked closely with the senior management team to ensure my support was in place. Now, I am giving back to you by ensuring you have the available support mechanisms upon commencing the role and implementing schemes such as the hidden disability lanyard and ensuring the Union has the disability confident badge to recognise its work and progress towards retaining and acknowledging disabled talent.
I hope you will consider standing for an officer role and if this hasn’t shown you that you can take the leap of faith, I don’t know what will.
If you have any questions or comments, you can contact me via email at m.darroch@leedsbeckett.ac.uk