No time for stopping

St Andrews has a tightknit community and it is said that everyone knows almost everyone in the town. This is one of the reasons why student politics is so popular in St Andrews and we traditionally have the highest turnout in the United Kingdom in student elections to the leadership of the Student Union. At the beginning of March I ran for the role of SRC Education Officer and after running a successful elections campaign, I have been elected to the role. Apart from being responsible for representing student voice on education issues within several University departments (especially in communication with different Schools and the University Library), this volunteering role gives me a vote on the Student Representative Council that decides strategic decisions about the future of our Student Union. This has proved to be great experience because not only I get to meet personally many people in the management of the University, but it is also a great chance to leave my trace here at the University by making the student experience better. Through this role I have also been nominated to oversee the work of Societies Committee that deals with the legal and financial side of student societies and helps with their development. One of the highlights was approving a grant for the biggest academic conference on the Democratic Republic of the Congo ever held in Britain that was entirely organized by St Andrews students and attracted the best experts on the issue to our little town.

In mid-March I drove with my Lifesaving Club (yes, I personally drove on the wrong side of the road) to Bath in order to take part in the British Universities Championships. Although I did not win any prize, it was a lot of fun and also a great opportunity to see fellow lifesavers in action. Unfortunately, after attending the Championships I did not have much time to train back in St Andrews, partly because of the closure of one of our swimming pools and partly because I had many other responsibilities that kept me busy. However, I was very happy that as the Club Treasurer I managed to consolidate the club finances in the past year through a combination of better budgeting, applying for University grants and also obtaining an external sponsor. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I organised a series of fundraising events for the RNLI. This was amazing success and during the week we managed to raise over £440 for them. One of the fundraising activities was also my personal challenge – MoragCarry – in which I carried a lifesaving manikin everywhere for an entire week. I was walking with her in town, going to lectures and tutorials, to work and the Library and absolutely everywhere else. I got many supportive comments and managed to raise almost £200 just by doing this. I had great fun fundraising money for charity and realizing it is something I might want to do in the future, I decided to run for a position on the executive committee of the University of St Andrews Charities Campaign that manages all charitable work by students here in St Andrews. I have been elected a Halls Coordinator and next year will be responsible for promoting and coordinating charitable events in all halls of residence across the town.

Me and Morag at the beginning of our week-long challenge to raise money for the RNLI

In April, we got to choose our modules for next years. This was an important decision because after 2 general years, we finally get to specialize within our discipline. I am really excited for all 4 modules I will be studying next year, but mostly for the module called International Relations and the Internet that is a new module taught by an expert on cyber-terrorism and will analyse the role of the internet in international politics. I literally cannot wait for next year to start soon enough!

Thank you everyone who supported me on my way so far and I would like to send special thanks to The Kellner Family Foundation that made all these amazing adventures possible for me.