Label met up with Kailey Hazeldene in order to find out more about her new ideas for this role, and how she can help improve our educational experience here at Loughborough.
Why are you running for this position?
I was a rep for two years and I’m a Programme president at the moment. So I feel like it is a natural progression for me to go for VP Education. I go to most of the meetings now and I enjoy going to them. I find that’s what I enjoy doing more than my degree at the moment. I find I’m always looking forward to the meetings now, so if I could do it all for another year I think it would be absolutely great.
What makes you more suited than other candidates?
I have worked really closely with Amy this year and I go to a lot of the meetings that I would be going to if I was VP Education next year anyway. I sit on senate this year, three programme presidents are elected for this by other programme presidents, so that’s a role I already fulfill. I was also involved in the pilot scheme this year where programme reps were elected for the first time online. That’s hopefully being spread across the university next year so I feel like I could support that a lot better than people who didn’t experience it this year.
Tell us about your campaign theme?
I am going to be ‘Kailey Rapunzeldene’ for the 10 days. As you can tell I’ve got very long blonde hair so I will be wandering around like a Princess for the whole of campaigning! There’s a song in Rapunzel called ‘I’ve Got a Dream’ so that’s going to be my tagline (not Martin Luther King!). There is going to be videos released quite regularly, as well as a Twitter page and Facebook page. There is also going to be a surprise, which I won’t give away! I’m hopefully going to have 3 tiaras, one for myself and two for people to be putting on in pictures. I’m also going to have 4 sets of different t-shirts. 4 t-shirts will have 4 of my pledges on them to promote my ideas. On a night out if you manage to get a picture with all 4 t-shirts, which you can then tweet to me and I will then send a cupcake to your house/flat, so look out for that.
What would you say is the most important aspect of your manifesto?
The accountability aspect; I’m hoping (if I get elected) to introduce a VP Education ‘Question Time’, which would be either on LCR or LSUTV. I would make sure each term that I go onto radio or TV and give students the chance to send in questions and I can give updates on my priorities. People can pick out things on my manifesto too as I feel like, as it is an elected role, I should be held accountable for everything. VP Education is probably where that applies most as we are all here primarily to get a degree, so if students aren’t having the fairest or best experience then my role will affect that.
What’s the most important part of your manifesto?
I’ve got a 5-point manifesto, and I it’s all important. The first point is ‘Continuity’ so making sure Amy’s priorities and projects are fully embedded. She has done such a great job so it would be shame for her work to slip away. I will continue some of her priorities for example with the extended library hours with it being open a week longer during exam time for 24 hours. My second point is the accountability, which I’ve explained previously and I believe it’s quite a new thing so that’s really important. I think it’s important that I don’t just have a really good campaign and then do nothing in the role for a year. My third point is standardising SSLC’s, I think it’s important that everyone knows whom their rep and programme president is and that everyone knows the way in which the university works and how things can be taken higher. Everyone has a right to be represented equally so I want to make sure that happens. My fourth point is informal working spaces across campus. There aren’t very many places other than the library that are open for long hours to study in, especially for different courses. My final point is exam bunching – it’s currently acceptable that students can have four exams in one week. I believe that doesn’t let students give their all in exams which can lead to people’s degree mark not representing what they actually know.
In one sentence why should people vote for you?
I genuinely feel like I am best for the role and I would make sure that everyone is equally represented across the campus.
What are you most looking forward to about campaigning?
Speaking to everyone and getting to talk to people I wouldn’t normally meet. I’ll do a lot of door knocking and lecture shout outs as well as on nights outs too. Hopefully I can get across to people how important the VP Education role is especially if people use it correctly.
What are you least looking forward to?
Probably budgeting the £100 as that will be hard! Campaigning also relies on you asking people to help you out a lot too so I’m just hoping everyone gets on board with my campaign.
What have you spent your budget on?
So far, I’ve only spent £20 on my outfit and £10 on printing. I’m planning on spending the rest on trying to get cupcakes made.
What part of campaigning are you going to focus on most?
I think social media will be a big part of campaigning, which my campaign team will be really good at. I personally will be focusing on the door knocking to meet people myself, but a large aspect of my campaign will be online.
What made you want to run for this position?
I think I realised that when I went for programme president I sort of put myself forward even though I was nervous about the role and what it entailed. But once I started doing it and realised it all came naturally, I thought I may as well do the full run!
What do you like about the way the role has been carried out this year?
I think Amy has absolutely put her all into it! She’s been really enthusiastic and you can tell that she has really enjoyed it. She’s really inspired me to want to run so I think she’s done an absolutely brilliant job and I’m hoping I can carry that on.
What new ideas will you be bringing?
The accountability factor and the VP Education question time. I just want everything to be brought up in the question time where I can show people exactly how I am making progress on the 10 priorities I set. I want to be told I’m not doing a good enough job if that’s the case, as it is an elected role.
Tell us something not many people know about you?
I’ve got a grade 3 in bassoon. But I probably won’t be using those skills in campaigning!
What three characteristics do you have that make you well suited to this role?
I’m confident, organised and responsible.
This interview was conducted by Sophie Brennan, News Editor and Dannie Jones, Label Marketing and Events.
To find out more about Kailey’s manifesto, click here.
