Day in the Life - President

Hiya everyone! If you are reading this I am assuming you are thinking about running to be a Sabbatical Officer (the best job in the world). I am going to take you through an example of what a day in the life of President at RHSU could look like. However, a day is never the same in the world of Students’ Union so my day to day life can look very different but here is an example 😊 

8:45 – 8:55 – Walk to work  

9:00 – 9:30 – On a Monday I start my week with Live Issues. This is where the senior leadership of the University and the SU discuss any ‘live issues’ that have come up over the past week or the weekend that everyone should be aware of. 

9:30 – 10:15 – Around this time I would normally check over my emails, create my to do lists for the day and have a cup of tea.  

10:15 – 11:00 – CEO/ President 121 I get to have my weekly catch up with Tony.  

11:00 – 11:30 – 121 with one of my VPs. As President I have biweekly 121 catch ups with the other Sabbs. This changes year on year but this is what works for us this year. 

11:30 – 12:00 – Catch up call with Alice Gibson (RHUL EDI Officer) about RHSU EDI Framework. 

12:00 – 12:30 – Love Yourself Week campaign meeting. 

12:30 – 13:00 – Lunch time. I am trying to meal prep at the moment. I normally have some couscous and chicken, and I make sure to keep this time free because a lot of the staff at RHSU will eat lunch together and it is a nice break in the day.  

13:00 – 15:30 – Once a month we film SabbCast today we filmed episode 6 (if you have not already check out our podcast then you should definitely do that). 

15:30 – 16:00 – Restock Community Cupboards. 

16:00 – 16:30 – Check my calendar for tomorrow and make sure I do not need to prep anything. 

16:30 – End of workday. 

16:45 – 22:00 – Today I ended my day in spin class, ate dinner with Bana my housemate, journaled (this is one of my new year’s resolutions, wish me luck!) and went to bed and that's it! 

My favourite thing about being President:   

I am so beyond grateful to be President this academic year! You honestly get such a rounded experience as President. You get to sit on a variety of committee meetings such as University Council, Academic Board and EDI Committee and ensure student voice is at the heart of every conversation, be chair/deputy chair of Trustee Board, work on Priority 8 and lead a team of amazing VPs. My experience as a Sabb would not be the same without the incredible people around whether that is SU Staff, University Staff, students or my team. The people really do make the job! However, I think my favourite thing is seeing the impact you can have on students. For me, this year is getting to see the launch of the Community Cupboards. 

The hardest thing about being President:   

I am going to steal my answer from last year and say I think the hardest thing for me is feeling like I do not have enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do in my time as a Sabb. I think discovering a work life balance is something that is really important and something that I do not aways get right but I am working on it, and I am 1000% better than last year. I think also, this year has been harder because I know everything I am doing is definitely for the last time but I cannot wait to see what the next team of Sabbs get up too! 

My advice if you are thinking of running to be a Sabbatical Officer:  

As someone who has been a Sabbatical Officer for two years, my biggest advice is just to go for it and believe in yourself because you will learn so much throughout the process of campaigning that you will never look back and regret doing it. I could not recommend being a Sabbatical Officer more. It is cringy to say but it honestly is the best job in the world. 

If anyone would like to chat about anything to do with being President or a Sabb please do not hesitate to reach out! Book a meeting with me here!