Running in the Student Elections

This year, I put my name forward to run in the student elections as I believe that if I want to become an art teacher, having a place on the Student Union will provide me with the experience of working with others, and would help to build up my CV.

First, we were briefed on what was expected from us over the upcoming weeks. The first order of business was writing my manifesto.



Link to Manifesto

I then got to work on my campaign strategy. We were given a plain white t-shirt and a couple Sharpie markers to design a top and promote ourselves. However, I didn't think this would look very professional so, I looked into booking myself in for a printmaking workshop.

But, after looking into it, I couldn't attend one of these sessions without attending a health and safety session beforehand, and when I tried booking myself into one of those, estudio said only the course leaders had that ability. So, I emailed my lecturer.

Unfortunately, due to the uncertainty surrounding the recent Covid-19 outbreak, he didn't get back to me until after campaign week had started so, I decided not to make t-shirts in the end.

Instead, I made a series of posters; ten of which, I was able to print for free through the Union, and any additions would come out of my £5.00 budget.



Link to Posters

I decided to print roughly £2.00 worth of flyers, and spend the remaining £3.00 on sweets that I would hand out over lunch time throughout campaigns week. Once again, the panic regarding the coronavirus outbreak made this task more difficult as the canteen was often very quiet.

On the day the voting opened, I was planning to attend a hustings event in the canteen however a few days before, I received an email saying this event had been cancelled. This is a shame, as I was hoping to get better at public speaking, as I often lack the confidence when networking or delivering a presentation to the class. However, there is nothing I can do.

Instead, we had the option to record ourselves answering questions and then this video will be released in place of the cancelled hustings.

Link to Hustings Video

During campaigns week, I talked to as many students at lunch time that I could, and also posted online daily about voting, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Unfortunately, I didn't win enough votes.