It’s all very well us telling you what a fulfilling experience being an Officer can be, but one of the best ways for you to actually see if it’s something you want to do is to see what our current officers are up to!

Here are a number of our recent Officer and Rep wins!

Lukas Poischbeg, Arts Department Rep:

• What was the issue? Dance studio bookings were only available in paper form. This was inaccessible for off-campus students when not on campus, and often confusing to navigate.
• What action was taken? The issue was brought up at programme board meeting and in-person conversations with faculty and staff.
• What changed? Trail booking system was planned for January 2022 with a hope that an all-online system can be implemented for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Harrison Cohen, Froebel College President:

• Harrison spoke to security about issues with gates being inaccessible for students. The aim was to make a change to allow access to all students. This was approved and now all students have 24/7 access to Clarence Lane gate and should have vehicular access to Froebel Gate until 11pm. Students have now felt safer since this change.
• He broke a record for the amount fundraised in a single night - £1227.70 at a charity waxing event for Movember - a great night enjoyed by many students.
• He hosted an Instagram “isolation” daily challenges in December which had over 200 students interact - this supported students when so many were isolating.
• The return of Froebel annual events such as Welcome Dinners, off-campus events, and Christmas Dinner have been a success - all either selling out or reaching full capacity with students feeling excited over the events.

Sharon Omonor Azams, Black Students Officer:

• Sharon paired up with Growhampton during Freshers’ Fortnight to create a video about the Edible Campus to highlight role of culture, race and identity in food-growing and food choices; this was also to encourage volunteers to use the Growhampton space to explore these issues and for Growhampton to provide culturally appropriate food for students and staff.
• Growhampton also connected Sharon to AfroEats, a food enterprise set up and by Roehampton Alumni and Hive employee Annoh Brobery, who provided Ghanaian food to students during a mental health conference for Black History Month (in October).
• Other things she has completed: #TuesdayThoughts Instagram campaign – informative posts on different aspects of racial inequality. Joined SET’s RECs – useful working group to ensure diversity in events and grow the network between Black students! Weekly Bible studies – fellowship for Black Christians on campus.

Jai Patel, Whitelands President

• Jai collaborated with Growhampton to establish a new growing space at Whitelands, including a herb garden and composting and veg bed area.
• Set up a WhatsApp group for Whitelands volunteers and facilitated a monthly Whitelands Wilding growing session.

Lorena Russo, Environmental & Sustainability Officer

• Lorena has regular 1-2-1s with Growhampton on food-related environmental themes to engage students and staff, including food waste, plant-based options at the Hive Café.
• She has an upcoming collaboration in late Feb / early March on how to empower students during the current energy crisis, specifically looking at minimising impact of energy costs in purchase, prep and storage of food.
• Growhampton have provided a platform and contacts for Lorena to engage Growhampton volunteers and academic staff, in addition to external contacts at other SUs in terms of sharing best practice and knowledge.

Farrah Alice Black, RSU President:

• Farrah teamed up with Oli (VP Community and Welfare) to help run the S.H.A.G week campaign (Sexual Health Advice and Guidance) They received good engagement and positive responses from students - both at their workshops and the library stall.
• She worked alongside PTO’s and Growhampton to create and run a food diversity and sustainability campaign “Plant Powered Roey”. From Monday 31^st Jan to Friday 4^th Feb, each day there was a themed discussion on Zoom, as well as an informative Stall in both the Library and Whitelands Foyer.
• Farrah completed the recruitment process and we have now welcomed in a new Societies Co-ordinator. She has been working with him to develop her manifesto plans for improving the inclusivity of societies and supporting the arts and humanities
• She has continued work on securing a funding increase from the university for the Period Project, to be able to source environmentally sustainable sanitary pads from Green & Grace for the library and all four college spaces.

For more updates from our officers, both full-time and part-time, check out our blog section on the RSU website.