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► Abi Pettit
Hi I’m Abi, a 3rd year Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies Student and am running for the position of VP Activities and Communications. In the past year I’ve had increasing involvement with UPSU being a course rep, sitting on the University Parliament as an Independent Representative and have been recently voted in as NUS delegate. I’ve also taken part in volunteering activities, among others as a Freshers’ Angel and with Beat Bullying project, CyberMentors. I am an active member of clubs such as Snowriders and have had increased involvement with The Law and Criminal Justice Society.
There are a number of things I wish to do if I were to be given the job. Firstly let’s look at UPSU:Media. Currently there are projects such as CAM:CRU and UPSU Radio. Both have grounds for vast improvement in different ways.
The CAM:CRU has notably been forgotten about in recent years and offers a lot of potential. I want to be able to get more students involved in it, particularly those on relevant courses, to contribute, make films and show what life is like in Plymouth. These projects could be shown on the large number of TV screens throughout the union and showcase the talent of our students, an opportunity that so far has been missed.
With Regards to the UPSU Radio, it is still very much in the development stages. But I know I could make it bigger and better. Although it is not financially feasible to make the radio station FM yet, the way it is distributed could be improved by looking into a way of subscribing to the current podcasts, possibly through a media player such as iTunes. As well as this I wish to get more people involved as the radio station grows, with more shows and bigger publicity.
Looking at Volunteering, I have personally not known how to access information and contacts with regards to volunteering that is relevant to my course. If I am elected I want to increase the awareness of UPSU volunteering opportunities that are tailored to individual courses, something that will benefit many that have specific careers in mind in an ever growing job market.
As for looking at the responsibility to societies, there is one issue that often comes up do with the funding budgeted for societies. Currently only £2,500 is budgets for all the societies in UPSU compared to around £35,000 budgeted for sport. Although sport does require a considerable amount more, this means there is very little for societies. If I am elected I propose to review the current budgeting for societies and see if more money can be found for them.
So why vote for me? Well I am extremely passionate in what I believe in and I believe I would be brilliant at this job. James Redfearn has done an excellent job the past two years and has set an extremely high standard, one that I will continue to achieve and hopefully exceed during my time in office.
