- Why do you want to stand?
I’m currently taking part in four separate Tabletop Roleplaying Games within Myth. The Myth community has been a big part of my University experience since the beginning of my course and I’ve made many close friends through the society. I want to take on a larger role within Myth and help the community to grow into the best that it can be here at Staffordshire.
I’m a reliable and dependable person, I keep level-headed in stressful situations and take my responsibilities seriously. I’ve gained experience in holding leadership positions during my time working as bartender, where I often had to take charge due to my bosses being away or unable to deal with the matter at hand at the time.
I like to consider myself to be both friendly and approachable, I think people would find it easy to come to me to express their thoughts and ideas for the society and have a smooth discussion on what the financial implications may be if we were to implement them into the society.
Due to my previous jobs as a waitress in a café and bartender in a local Pub, I have a good understanding of managing finances. I was required daily to write up bills and take the customers money, charging them appropriately for food and drinks alongside working out and paying the wages of myself and other staff there.
- How would you represent Staffordshire University Students?
I’d be willing to listen to any ideas that society members may have and discuss the costs and benefits of them. If the ideas are agreed to be beneficial to the society and the members I will take them to the Students Union and pitch it professionally.
- If you could change three things about anything to do with being a student at Staffordshire University, what would they be?
The things that I would change are;
Cheaper accommodation prices, alongside cheaper washing prices for students in university accommodation - I say this due to the fact that if you look at student accommodation that isn’t ran by the university you can see a significant drop in prices some of which is £40 per week cheaper. This can help students massively.
Maintenance of the PC’s improved – At the end of Semester 1 almost all of the PCs were taken throughout the day. As deadlines grew closer, many of the PCs began breaking down and weren’t repaired quickly which resulted in greater competition for working PCs amongst students. I also noticed that some of the PC’s did not have the correct software that had to be brought up with the University so students could do work.
Better/updated PC’s in the library or have more 24 hour rooms – I believe this is a big issue as when the rooms are full for labs or lectures quite often it’s hard to find places to do work, as a games student I was unable to go into the library for most of the work as software I need isn’t usable on these older, more outdated computers. Even basic programs like Microsoft Word and Excel could be quite difficult to use on some of these Library computers as they’ve become slow and vulnerable to periodic crashing.
4. What do you think is the biggest issue facing Staffordshire University?
The computers in the library need to be updated, they are often incredibly slow to use and don’t feature the software needed for many Games and Programming students to complete their work. This could also be avoided by making more of the labs in Cadman or Mellor 24 hours to allow more students to work near deadlines as the 24-hour rooms often get full and renders some students unable to do work if the do not possess the correct software at home.
5. What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Students' Union in the next 12 months?
I think that communication between the Student Union, the Societies and the students could do with some improvement. There have been issues in various societies that I feel were exacerbated by not enough communication by all parties. I think that it is important that the Student’s Union can maintain healthy levels of discussion as it builds trust between society members, the committee and those within the SU and can prevent avoidable issues some societies may face.
6. Please tell us about a priority campaign that you would run if elected?
I would review the money we are allotted through the union and membership and try to acquire more resources for the society such as extra Player Handbooks, more maps and other books of Tabletop games the society may not have already, depending if members would like to run them. This means that communication with other committee members and society members is crucial in order to gain a full understanding of what resources we need as a society.
7. Why does that campaign matter to students?
This campaign matters to students as it gives them a wider range of resources. Being able to purchase new and different Tabletops, as well as different resources for existing Tabletops, will allow the society to grow, being more attractive to players who aren’t keen on D&D and accommodating to existing players who are looking to explore different styles of games.
8. What can you offer that no-one else can?
I have a good sense of empathy and patience, I’d be willing to listen to anyone who wished to raise concerns or ideas to me. I’m friendly and approachable so society members would find it easy to come forward and converse with me.
9. Sum up your election campaign in less than 140 characters.
I want members to have a bigger role in the society, telling us what they would like to implement and how we could improve in any way.