Exciting year ahead: Taking a break from my studies to work full-time and make the St Andrews student experience the best possible

s I mentioned in my last blog post, in January I hitchhiked from Scotland to Berlin in order to raise money for the University of St Andrews Charities Campaign.

It was my first time hitchhiking and I really enjoyed the whole experience. It was cold (in hindsight I ask myself why anyone would voluntarily choose to hitchhike in the middle of winter?), stressful but also very exciting and it definitely was not the last time hitchhiking for me. I am really proud of my team because we managed to raise nearly £500 for the Charities Campaign.

This semester I am enrolled in two very exciting modules – International Relations & Internet and Representation of Violent Conflict (Research Seminar). Both are absolutely great and I would like to focus my dissertation research in my final year on the internet and how it can empower unrepresented people around the world.
However, the most exciting period of this semester so far was the Elections Week at the beginning of March. St Andrews is (in)famous for taking its student politics very seriously and we traditionally have the highest turnout in student elections in the whole of the UK (almost 50%). Despite this, I have decided to run for the position of Director of Representation (DoRep) in our Students’ Association. DoRep is one of the five full-time student officers who run the Students’ Association, and is ultimately responsible for all projects relating to academic representation, equal opportunities, student welfare and democracy.

After two very intense weeks of campaigning, twelve debates, more than 2,000 hugs (one of my campaign methods), and very little sleep, I was elected by the St Andrews student body to become their next DoRep. Officially, I will assume the office at the beginning of July after three months of a gradual handover from the current DoRep. This is a full-time position that has a University stipend attached to it, and therefore next year I will take a gap year from my studies to work for the Students’ Association. I will resume my studies again in September 2015. Apart from running the Students’ Association with my four colleagues, I will also be one of the three students sitting at the University Court – the highest decision making body at the University – and thus become a student governor and a trustee of the third oldest English-speaking university in the world.

 
Sabbatical Team 2014/2015

 

There is an absolutely exciting year ahead waiting for me and I cannot wait till I start working on all of my campaign ideas and promises. It looks like I will have even less free time than ever before but it is going to be so much fun!

 

Rok plný očekávání: Pauza ve studiu, abych na plný úvazek pracoval na zlepšení studentské spokojenosti v St Andrews

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