By Margaret B Barrionuevo Camacho
Last February, I decided to run as International Officer candidate for the 16/17’ SU officer elections. After receiving loads of emails from university about nominations and the available positions at the Student’s Union, I booked an appointment with some of the current SU Officers in order to find more about it and also looking forward to hear their first-hand experiences. I managed to meet and talk with the International and Women SU Officers, who were very happy to share their experiences with me as well as answering all my questions (always one too many ha-ha).
Encouraged by their involvement with their roles and their passion to make change happen, I decided to take the challenge and hopefully become the 2017-18’ International Officer. On the first week of February, I and my fellow candidates, attended a ‘Candidate Training session’ which covered all the aspects from running a campaign to recruiting friends to be part of our campaign team. It was a very intense and long (4 hour) session which made me realize the challenge I got myself into! Reality hit me, I had so many questions and so little time to get everything ready. What would be my slogan? How could I design my posters? Who could edit my campaign video? Would I be able to make lecture shout-outs in front of hundreds of strangers? Luckily, I received help from my friends, who supported me throughout the campaign which lasted about 2 weeks! The whole experience was very intense and tiring but I enjoyed every single moment. I stretched myself and got out of my comfort zone by doing public speaking in big lecture rooms; especially the ones in the Diamond, those are massive and scary! I also retook my ‘artistic career’- ha-ha. I had to be creative, from creating a slogan to painting t-shirts and banners; my fingers were multicolored for weeks!
Election results were announced on the 9th of March, where I came second out of the four SU International Officer candidates. Even though I didn’t win, I was so grateful to the 1200+ people who trusted and voted for me. And also very thankful for the whole experience itself, I got to make new friends, challenge myself, and feel supported by my mates. Definitely an invaluable experience, where every candidate was a winner. Many little achievements I am proud of such as; speaking in front of several (uncountable) big lectures, learning to use the green screen and feeling confident to stop and approach anyone, anytime, anywhere. Being a SU Officer candidate is demanding and challenging I assure you, you will feel great after completing it!