We’re told to get involved at University. “Join a sports club! Be part of a Society! Be more than just your degree!” Not everyone takes this advice and that’s great for them if it’s all they’re looking for, but I never really appreciated how valuable this information is until I started looking back on my time here at Bath.
When I rocked up at University, I never expected to be one of the involved people. I did a lot of extra curriculars as a kid, but as my education got “more important” and my time more “valuable”, I spent more of it studying and felt the pressure to stop participating in all the other activities I once had (not ever by my parents I should add). University was the “most-important” education yet, and I thought that the only way to take that seriously was to devote myself to it.
I went to a Trampolining taster session in Freshers’ Week 2012 on a complete whim. I LOVED it, got really involved and started competing. At the end of my first year, probably in a rush to get people to run, someone suggested that I go for a committee position. I thought I’d be better suited to something a bit more academic, so I took the plunge and ran for the Chair of my departmental society. After that, I was hooked, and I wouldn’t be in the position I am today without the opportunities my Students’ Union gave me from there on out. Everything step I took from rocking up at that Trampolining taster session ultimately led to me becoming an SU Officer.
It was only really at NUS Lead and Change that I remembered that this is what is really important about Students’ Unions – they get people involved, and that involvement leads to empowerment and change. To provide some context, here’s a little bit about what went on at Lead and Change:
I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this NUS event, and frankly I was kinda nervous. Meeting new people and trying to make a good impression, combined what I’d heard about how political the NUS can be, I was very uncertain about what the 3 days would entail. Luckily I headed off with both Lucy and Will from the team, so I had some good old moral support in tow (see pic below). I had nothing to be nervous about though; the people were lovely. The President Student Experience at Falmouth and Exeter Students’ Union, Amanda, and I rocked up on the first day wearing EXACTLY the same outfit (see pic 2 below), and it was clear I was going to fit in just fine.
A lot of the content covered at Lead and Change was along the same lines of the things that we cover during handover as a union (such as “What is a Students’ Union/What is Representation etc) and it was good to recap on this stuff but then with the optional workshops, I made the decision to just pick things I had absolutely no clue about in the hope that I would come out a little bit more knowledgeable than I was an hour before.
I was aware of it before, but some of these workshops made me consciously realise that as Officers, our responsibility extends far beyond our individual roles. We also have a responsibility to you, the students collectively, in helping you fight national issues. Whether you realise it or not, your involvement in Societies and Sports is at the very core of that and this is one of the reasons, aside from being super fun, that the advice to get involved at university is so valuable.
The importance of Societies and Sports in helping students facilitate change was solidified for me when Richard Brooks (NUS VP Union Development) referred to student opportunities as the “engines of Students’ Unions”. Sports clubs, Societies, RAG, Volunteering among the rest are what inspire and bring people into Students’ Unions in the first place, and it’s their activity that keep Students’ Unions off the ground.
It was this that absolutely resonated with me when I went back to the beginning and revisited how I got involved in the Students’ Union at Bath – my way in was through a Sport and a Society, and I haven’t looked back.
I went into this role with the perspective of loving Societies and wanting to improve the student experience, and I of course still do, but I was worried that in focusing a significant part of my energy in helping the 85 societies at Bath reach their potential, I’d lose sight of the bigger picture. Holding onto this message that Student Opps are “the engines of Students’ Unions” has made me appreciate even more just how important everything in my remit is to the overall student experience, and how the representation that the Officers at Bath provide on a daily basis can translate into the bigger picture of the student movement across the country.
As we say in our Open Day and Freshers’ Week SU talks, “We are so much more than just a bar!” and as cliché as it sounds, it is so true (even if I do enjoy a good Weekend Warm-Up). Everyone from an Exec member, to committee members and RAG volunteers – It’s YOU that make our SU here at Bath what it is and you are part of a Student Movement that can help bring about change. I hope our Student Leaders project launching this year will help you all recognise your potential within that.
Get involved, it’s worth it I promise!