Education Officer Blog

Hello and welcome to my first blog post! I'm Julia and I'm here to tell you a bit about my first 2 months as your SU Education Officer. It's been very busy and very exciting getting ready for the academic year and there's so much to tell you about, but for now I'd like to tell you about the July Graduations.

It's interesting that one of the first things we have done as Officers is see off our graduating students. The graduation ceremonies were held in Bath Abbey, where the university celebrated both the delayed 2020/21 graduations but also the 2022 graduations (inculding my own).

It was an incredible experience as, not only were the SU officers invited to be part of the academic procession (people in the fancy gowns in the photo above), but we were also invited to speak at the ceremonies. It was both exciting and daunting knowing I was going to be speaking in front of a thousand people. But the graduands had just spent years working incredibly hard and their families had given so much to support them. They were all there to celebrate and they deserved to be congratulated.

I attended seven ceremonies in total and spoke four times. It was one of the most rewarding experiences in my life so far, as someone who has spent years hiding away from the spotlight. It was pretty nerve-wracking the first time, I'll tell you that!  As I got up to speak and I headed over to the podium, no matter how much I told myself to stay calm,  I still felt my legs go numb as I walked across the stage. A pins and needles like sensation passed through my body as I began to speak. I couldn't see a face in the crowd, just the words written on my script in front of me and a blur of an audience watching me.

But there was something inside that gave me confidence despite the physical symptoms of panic. It was that I was genuinely proud of each and every graduating student. I was put into a position where I could make people feel something and I wanted them to feel appreciated. I wanted them to be spoken to the way I wanted to be spoken to. The moment it became about them, and not about me, it became less scary. In fact, it almost became a fun game of seeing just how engaged I could get the audience to be.

By the time it came to giving the speech a second time, I found myself looking less at my script and more at the people. Suddenly, they weren't as blurry as they had been before.  I could see individual faces. I could see people smiling... And people falling asleep too. Looking at them, reminded me that they were people just like me. This wasn't meant to be scary, it was meant to be fun. Motivating. Inspiring.

I'm so grateful that I got the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and I hope that if you've made it this far down the page that you feel inspired to step out of yours. And hey, I know a pretty good way to do so: through the SU!

There are so many ways you can practice new skills by becoming a rep, getting involved in a society or just coming to have a chat with us. If you want learn something new, just like me, don't be afraid to reach out to me. The SU is here for your benefit, so make the most of it!

More updates to follow soon.

-Julia :)