Posted on Tue 06 Sep 2011 at 17:36 by
Katie Blow Oh Hello there,.. new students (Welcome!), current students (Welcome back!) and alumni who just find me witty (YOU know who you are!).. here is a whistle stop guide to me, my role and what I can do for you…
If you didn’t know already, I'm Katie and your Vice President of Education & Welfare at the Students' Union of Royal Holloway! It’s a sabbatical position which I ran for last year and have until August 2012.
I deal with everything from plagarism to STI's, bad landlords to alcohol awareness and money worries to personal safety issues! So if you ever have questions, queries or issues relating to any part of student life here at Royal Holloway, feel free to contact the Advice and Support Centre here at the SU either through dropping by, calling the SU or by sending myself (vpedwelfare@su.rhul.ac.uk) or my fantastic welfare advisor Tina (tina@su.rhul.ac.uk) an email!
As well as this part of my role, I also help run Welfare Campaigns throughout the year including the infamous SHAG week and Love Your Neighbour- which I am hoping will become bigger and better this year (SafeSexBall Anyone?!). Look out for two new campaigns this year- Home Sweet Home and Mental Health Awareness Week! More details to come in the near future but both are really important for a. your university life and b. the decisions you make whilst here!
In addition to this I keep an eye on RAG (Raise and Give) which is potentially the most fun and rewarding thing you can be a part of at RHUL- you are all members, you never have to sign up and if you are a member of a society or clubs then ALL their charity fundraising should go through RAG!!! Last year RAG raised an incredible RECORD BREAKING £41,243.81 and this year’s RAG board are going to be amazing so let’s aim to smash it!!
Last but by no means least I represent YOU, I get to sit in on meetings and committees with some extremely important (and amazing) people at College- from Academic board to Support & Advisory and Library Users Advisory Group and as clique as it sounds I can’t do my job properly and efficiently without your input, it’s vital so if I or someone else asks you to fill in something about RHUL please make sure you do- we can’t make a difference if we don’t know what you want us to change. AND you can make a change too!...this moves smoothly on to the Course Reps and Academic Affairs, I alongside my Academic Affairs rep organise and help run the Course Rep system who are becoming more and more vital for student satisfaction especially with the lovely 2012 fees looming. You can be a course rep by signing yourself up for nomination in your department- you were passion enough to take your degree course, be passion enough to be involved with it and help make the changes you think it might need!
Now you know a little bit more about me- I bet you are desperate to come and throw yourself into my Education & Welfare life?! Well, please don’t physically throw yourself at me, it would be a little problematic as I am borderline hobbit so I probably won’t survive the encounter however… panic not young Hogwartians, simply look out for numerous things you can get involved in from being part of an event (by attending, promoting or performing), becoming a representative for your year group on your course, becoming part of RAG board, international sub-committee/ Executive Officer or running for a position on the Inclusion and Representation Senate!!! It’s so easy to get involved!
Now that’s enough blahblah for me… I hope I have cleared up a few things for you so I am not just that random girl in the SU who-does-some-cool-stuff-for-students.
Ooo.. don't forget to check me out on Twitter too! @SURHUL_EdWel…. I’ve learnt to Hashtag now… I think#
If you’re going to party hard, make sure you’re playing safe.