So it's already week six or seven of term two and as an Elected Officer team, you could argue that we have failed to keep you up to date posting blogs so that you know all about the exciting things we have been doing at the SU! This is my apology for only having blogged once and a catch up from me!
Since we last spoke….myself and the rest of the team have been quite busy!
Revision Aid
Revision Aid was re-launched this year during the January exam period. With our team focus this year concerning what more can be done around mental health provision, we were keen to improve awareness of University services by reminding students of my “Mind Your Head” campaign and therefore the importance of taking time out of revision to de-stress! We managed to get around most of the libraries/computer rooms during the weeks with free tea and coffee, sweets and my “revision aid” leaflets featuring top tips for exams, information about extenuating circumstances and details of how to access university services. We hope this helped you guys. We had a few lovely chats in between the hurried tea serving - the queues grew once the word was out about our “free” goodies so we will be back on it for the summer exams!
Go Green Week
I was also really pleased with how Go Green Week went this year. As a keen environmentalist, I was very happy to get involved helping People and Planet Society with their national week of action on climate change and most excitingly arranging a yurt for the garden of the SU so that students could learn about living radically in the best interest of the planet. Lots of workshops, film nights, Dr Bike, a poetry slam and much more occurred and hopefully inspired more students to live in a more sustainable way. To my delight, Monday morning after Go Green Week an envelope arrived on my desk which included a signed “Green Education Declaration" from the Vice Chancellors Office. This was in response to a letter sent from myself, Harry the President, Jack our Ethical and Environmental Officer and members of People and Planet Society encouraging the University to demonstrate their commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and embedding sustainability in the curriculum and therefore was the perfect end to Go Green Week! This inspired me to launch the Sustainability Awards, finally getting off the ground this week where a student or staff member can nominate someone who has shown outstanding commitment to the environment during their time at University. To nominate a member of staff or student for this brand new prestigious award – click here!
Go Green Week was followed by Go Global. Adam did a great job sharing the magic of this week on the website and managed to get many students involved as well as us, the Elected Officer team. I have to say I loved the debates around EU membership and religion, it was a new interesting take which demonstrated the complexities but also greatness of multiculturalism, and ensured a celebration of diversity was built on this year.
Sexual Health Awareness
And underneath the surface of these magical weeks, our less colourful work has gone ahead. I have been lucky to have worked to re-build a great small group of students passionate about raising awareness of sexual health issues. After a brilliant World Aids Awareness Week, raising awareness of how Aids effects thousands of people in the UK and abroad, The Vulcan were very supportive and allowed us to have a section on their usual quiz to raise awareness and help fundraising for this great cause. We made more than £200 throughout the week and managed to get many students wearing red ribbons around campus. More recently however we have been working on creating our “SHAG wall” for the 1st floor of the Students' Union which will feature a map and information about local gum clinics, pharmacys and GP’s in the area where you can get checked and get emergency contraception. We will also have a free condom dispenser and information about common STIs so students are more safe and aware. We are also involved in the “Student Sex Work Project” with the Women's Association and LGBT+ Society. This is a Swansea university intuitive to find out how many students are involved in sex work and what more can be done to improve their situation. Keep an eye out for the project next week! If you are interested in filling out the survey about your experience or views on sex work, please click here!
Mental Health Provision
I have also been looking in to mental health provision at the University and what more can be done to improve the current situation. Myself and Beth (Education and University Affairs Officer) have been thinking about Wardens in Halls and what we can do to perhaps get those students trained in Mental Health first aid, or other inititives such as more “drop-in” sessions run by Mind, the mental health charity which is run in Aberystwyth. So with these ideas in “mind” I went to visit the Mind Cardiff office last week to understand what they do and what more the university could do to improve provision. It was very useful to understand the courses they run and I took this information back to the head of councelling at the University last week. It became clear that the counselling department are so keen to do more and work with me on some projects, such as longer opening hours, more courses on de-stress, so watch this space.
It is really great to work with students on projects, but also really great to work with members of staff at the University and members of the local council who are passionate about improving the student experience in Cardiff. We are currently working on a cycling campaign, recycling initiatives and I am also looking in to policy around social responsibility, ethical investment, zero tolerance to sexual harassment, Fairtrade and community engagement with these stakeholders to ensure long term student focus after I am gone.
Future Projects
On that note, after the elections last week, some of you would be forgiven for thinking I don’t have long left. In one way, I don’t as we are over half way through the year but there are still many projects which I am keen to get sorted:
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Solar Pannels on the Roof of the SU
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Celebration of the most outstanding student. Get nominating them for Honour Roll
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Build campaign groups in to societies, so more students get campaigning on campus, creating students who are more engaged citizens!
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Build an Advice Squad, a team who works on campaigns with ARC. The Squad will act as an educative and preventative campaigning advice team run by students, for students.
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Zero tolerance, Corporate Social Responsibility and ethical investment policy at the University
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Community engagement group for the University, Students' Union and local Cardiff community
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Cycling campaign with Cardiff Council.
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Continue working on Ministry of Change ideas!
I also want to congratulate Helen Dent, the new VP welfare who was elected last Thursday night, who I am sure will be a great Welfare Officer and hopefully continue with some of my work!
In the meantime, if you have any ideas about what you would like me to work on or if you would like to get involved with any of my projects, you can email me at WelfareOfficer@cardiff.ac.uk, follow me on Twitter @WelfareCSU or call me on 029 2078 1422.
Adios
Megan David
Welfare and Community Officer