SU President Successful for Second Year
Sam Lowe on how it feels to continue his work as SU President.
We ask Sam Lowe how it feels to continue his work as Students’ Union (SU) President, after returning for a final term.
How does it feel to have been successful in retaining a second term as SU President?
Brilliant, it’s a privilege to keep going forward. I can continue the momentum of work I’ve already started, a year just didn’t seem long enough!
What is your vision for next year?
With a strong foundation already in place, my aims for next year are to empower students and provide them with opportunities that will contribute to their futures, careers and unique identities.
This requires a commitment to creating student and staff relationships and, most importantly, building a fantastic team of SU Officers to drive student engagement.
My 2018/19 campaign ‘Building your Students’ Union’ created SU spaces across all campuses, provided drop-in’s, talks, and community groups for students, such as societies, and lead to the curation of a social media presence after high demand. I want to continue with that and make these societies sustainable by adapting to the needs and wants of students while building partnerships with all colleagues
What are you proudest achievements to date, since becoming SU President?
I’m really proud of being a voice for the students and representing them in some really high profile external events. If I had to pick one highlight, it would be our single use plastics campaign, which has come on leaps and bounds.
It all started off when students voiced their concerns and since then numerous changes have been made in our catering departments. For example: plastic cutlery has been replaced with wooden utensils and we’ve introduced compostable sandwich packaging and take away containers. We aim to make changes to stationary in the future too.
At The Green Summit 2019, I felt honoured to represent The Manchester College and The Students’ Union in making a public endorsement of our pledge to eradicate single use plastics on all our campuses by 2022.
I also graduated this year which felt amazing and had the opportunity to deliver a speech at the ceremony. It was an emotional day but a lovely way to close my time as a student at The Arden and UCEN Manchester.
It’s been wonderful to meet The Manchester College students and listen to their stories. Being SU President has given me such amazing pride and great memories to look back on.
Do you have any words of wisdom for our current and new students?
Get involved with as much as you can. You’re here for a short time; join societies or start up your own, volunteer, campaign. If you’re passionate about something, pursue it and not just for the memories. Extra-curricular activity is so advantageous when writing your CV and will help you stand out during interviews, enhancing your overall employability skills.
Most importantly, take care of yourself. It’s good to work hard but don’t exhaust yourself. It’s all about organisation and time management. Everyone needs a break now and then. We have incredible support services onsite that you can access when you need to.
This will be Sam’s final year as UCEN Manchester’s SU President. Which means that all those budding world leaders and political enthusiasts will get their chance to step into the running for the role come spring 2020!
This role comes with some incredible opportunities and benefits and is eligible to any graduating UCEN Manchester students with an FDA, FdSc or HN qualification, or alumni within two years of graduating.
To learn more about our SU visit our Student Life pages.