This years Exec Elections sees 21 candidates campaigning for various roles on Loughborough Student’s Union Executive Team for the next academic year. VP Sport has proved to be the most popular position this year, with four candidates all wishing to win your votes, closely followed by VP Rag and VP Societies, which each have three candidates. VP Action, VP Media, VP Education, VP Union Affairs and VP College remain uncontested, but that does not necessarily mean that the five running for these positions can relax over this campaigning period, with the option of RON (re-opening nominations for this role) still against them.
It is promising to look like an interesting week and a half, with results being revealed on Wednesday March 4th during Hey Ewe. Results night is one of the biggest nights of the year, and brings with it intense amount of emotions for those involved, and an amazing amount of excitement for the spectators. LSU Media will be here for the whole ride, bringing you the most up to date information on this year’s Exec Elections, so keep an eye out for us!
UNION PRESIDENT
This role requires the candidate to have a full understanding of the Union and its structure in order to ensure that the Executive team and staff can work closely together, making it possible for us all to have the best “Loughborough Experience”. With the job description entailing that the candidate who is awarded this position must be responsible for ‘upholding the reputational management of the organization and managing relationships with external and internationally based organization and bodies’, it is of paramount importance that this role is awarded to the candidate who can deliver the highest quality of service to the students, staff, locals and visitors.
Ed Reckless and Adam Sellers are both running to be your Union President. Reckless is determined ‘to give back to the university that I have taken so much from’, and Sellers promises that under his management ‘Loughborough would just keep getting better and better’.
VP RAG
With Loughborough Uni boasting one of the biggest and best Rag organisations in the country, the candidates running for this role will have to be able to continue, and find new ways to constantly improve and build on such a well-established section of Loughborough’s Student Union. Rag raised over £1,000,000 last year for various charities, so these candidates have a lot to look up to.
This year’s candidates are Robyn Varley, Rachael Lynch and Andy Tribe. Varley knows ‘that I can give something back to make it (Rag) even better than it is now’. Lynch has ‘got a ton of experience in this area’, and Tribe has ‘loved every minute’ of being involved in Rag since he first got to Loughborough. All three candidates boast impressive Rag experience, and have all been very invested with this section throughout their time at Loughborough, and now are vying for your votes.
VP FINANCE AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES
One of the first main projects that the winning candidate will have within their VP Finance and Commercial Services role will be ‘the organising of freshers week’- one of the most intense and memorable (for some) experiences students have at Loughborough. Not only does this position require the candidate to have a passion for the commercial side of Loughborough’s Student Union, they also need to be confident in their ability to be able to manage the ‘financial stability of the union’.
James Bowker and Charlie Staunton are both hoping to win your votes for this role. Bowker states that he has the ‘necessary experience’ to be VP Finance and Commercial Services, and Staunton wants ‘to make a change’. Both have eye-catching and memorable themes for their campaign, but it’s up to Loughborough students to decide between the two.
VP SPORT
With this role being the most popular one this year – which may not be surprising considering how dedicated Loughborough University is to sport – the chosen candidate for this role will be ‘responsible for the running of all Athletic clubs’ and must be able to encourage and focus on all different levels of sport. Your four candidates for this role are Tom Haslam, Luke Thomson, Lauren Gough and Tom Hickson.
Haslam ‘wants to give students the best experience possible’, and Thomson feels like he can ‘make a really big difference’. Gough wants to ‘change things and help them (the clubs) grow’, and Hickson believes that he ‘can really add to the position’. It will be up to you to decide who gets this highly competitive position!
VP ACTION
This role is all about helping others, be that helping the homeless, or mentoring in schools. Action offers students the chance to make others’ lives easier, as well as having a chance to improve on your own skills. This role is all about community out-reach, and requires the candidate to be confident in their ability to encourage others to improve their CV’s.
This year’s candidate hoping for your vote is Rosie Harvey. Harvey has been ‘a part of nearly every Action project’ and her experience and self-proclaimed title of ‘an Action-Keeno’ is what she hopes will make people realise she is suited to this role.
VP MEDIA
Not only does this role require an understanding of all different aspects of Media, be that TV, Radio, Photography, Journalism and Sound Recording, they must also help to encourage others to progress and develop their own skills. The candidate who gets this role will be responsible for all of Loughborough Student Media’s output, ensuring it is of a high standard, and reflects what a great media outlet this University has.
This year’s only candidate is our current VP Media, Bryn Wilkes. Wilkes is re-running for this position, and believes ‘that if we’re going to keep building this long term legacy (of LSU Media) there needs to be an element of consistency’ in who is over-seeing and managing these projects.
VP EDUCATION
This Executive role is responsible in ensuring that we, as students, have the best possible academic experience and representation within our time at University, and making sure that we are getting the most out of our degrees. Current changes seen this year have been the earlier release of exam timetables and the longer hours of library opening times.
Kailey Hazeldene, who has held the title of Programme President for two years, feels like ‘it’s a natural progression for me to go for VP Education’, and thinks it would ‘be absolutely great’ if she got to have another year in this kind of role. She is uncontested, but it is still up to you if she gets the role.
VP SOCIETIES
This position will require a candidate to be responsible for over 100 societies that are on offer, and will have to ensure that they will do their best to support and encourage students to find another outlet for them to invest their time in, rather than just their academic interests.
Jenna Holmes, Leoni Seville and Alex Williams are the three candidates who are hoping to be able to represent Loughborough’s Student societies and constantly maintain the quality and development of these varied groups. Holmes states that ‘the societies section has meant a lot to me over my three years at Loughborough’. Seville is ‘really passionate about the role and what is stands for’, and Williams wants to make it clear ‘that societies can provide you with a great experience’.
VP UNION AFFAIRS
This role is responsible for the social media output from the Exec Team, making sure it is current, informative and communicated well, ensuring that students are kept up to date with the running of the student’s union. This role also covers the democratic side of things, and will organise Elections, Student Forum and The Union Affairs Committee.
Max Crawford is running for this role and ‘feels that the experiences that I have had over the last three years in various different roles around the union have given me skills and knowledge that is really relevant to this position’.
VP WELFARE AND DIVERSITY
The successful candidate in this position will be responsible for representing the diverse minority groups within Loughborough University and ‘engage and educate all students in appreciating diversity and equality’, as well as looking after the general well being of students.
Gemma Lomas and Steph Noble are both going for this role in the hopes to be responsible for Welfare and Diversity in the academic year of 2015/2016. Lomas feels that ‘it just makes sense’ for her to go for this position, and Noble states that she ‘could lead the section to improve it even further’.
VP COLLEGE
This position on the Exec Team is responsible for connecting Loughborough University with Loughborough College, and ensures that communication of events and opportunities are shared between the two establishments, in order to encourage college students to par-take in all that the University has to offer.
Elisei Ghiorghita is campaigning for this position, and aims to ‘create fun activities and great opportunities’ for all those involved.
Want to find out more about these roles? All Exec job descriptions are available at http://www.lsu.co.uk/
Look out for full interviews with all candidates, which will be uploaded during campaign week, at media.lsu.co.uk
Louise Burt, Label Editor.
