Hola a todos! 

These lines are coming to you from a very sleep-deprived writer. I landed in Madrid today, after a very long flight from Caracas. So, I went to 27 degrees, to 17 in Madrid, to what I suspect will be like 7 in Bath. Talk about easing into the cold… 

Precisely because I’ve been on leave for the past couple of weeks, here goes a very short update.  

On the university side of things: Amber and I brought students to the last council away day. It was an hour-long exercise where council members got to speak to students directly. It was so successful the governance team at the university decided to make it a yearly event! I also presented our upcoming internal SU restructuring projects around student representation at SEAB (Student Experience Advisory Board). Not much to say on that one, other than the fact that I wore my Finnish overalls and people certainly laughed. I also got to attend a scholarship ceremony in the Roman Baths. I love events there, and even more so when there are students involved! Last but not list on this front, I was a judge in the panel for the first ever Library Sparks Competition. Six finalists brought their ideas on how to change the library for the better for students. The winner was a student who had a fantastic idea for an outdoor study space behind the library. Watch this space, as well as university social media, to see how this advances! 

On the SU side: we finally came up with a short list of candidates for SU awards! Well done to everyone who was nominated, it was truly moving to see how many students and groups have given their absolute all this year. It is especially moving when people are nominated by others, to show the positive impact they’ve had in our student community. It’s a shame that we can’t nominate everyone, but I really think the final list celebrates the diversity of our community very well! We also had the interviews and chose the two people who will be the Freshers’ Week Event Managers (FWEMs, for the real ones). This means nominations to be a captain are open! Head to the SU website and put yourself forward now!!! 

Finally, on the national scene, we have National Union of Students’ elections coming up. It is us, your NUS delegates (aka Amber, Hanna, me, and several students who put themselves forward) who get to vote on who these officers are. The same things that motivated you to vote during officer elections at Bath should encourage you to go and read about the people running on the national stage. The NUS can have a lot of positive impact on students’ lives if ran by the right people. So do go and read about the candidates and share your thoughts with me so I can send them to all NUS delegates. This way we can make sure to make an informed decision when voting happens halfway through April! 

Let me close by saying that April marks the beginning of out tenth month in office. This means we only have two more months left as an officer team. This is your time to reach out to us and ask us for anything we haven’t yet done for you this year! In the meantime, stay cosy (?) and be kind to one another.  

Much love,  

Jiji x