First update

To begin with, my manifesto points is:

? I will create a safe community space where BAME voices are heard and valued. Our experiences within the university can sometimes feel minimised and dismissed. Therefore, I would like to have monthly forums, as your chosen representative, I can give you feedback on what is happening in and outside the university, that affects us as BAME individuals.

? I will create opportunities for BAME students to network with people from various fields. This would be through working with the careers service and the student union to create accessible virtual and in-person seminars.

? As I am passionate about mental health and well-being, I will create a group/forum to discuss issues impacting our mental health. This would be peer2peer focus groups. I will work with the well-being centre to conduct these groups efficiently.

Since beginning my role as BAME Part-time officer, I have worked toward achieving my manifesto points. I attended various meeting that have given me ideas on what I would like to achieve in my role.

The first meeting I attended was with the VP of Wellbeing and Diversity. In this meeting, we shared what our manifesto points were, and shared ideas on how to achieve some these goals. From this meeting I was able to gain feedback on how I should have a networking event that was also a forum in order to gain feedback from students. I had a 1-2-1 meeting with the student voice which gave me action points to carry out.

From this meeting I have contacted societies that I think would give me an opportunity to connect with BAME students. I introduced myself to these societies and sent out a questionnaire where I asked them to share with their cohort. In this role I really want to work alongside societies in order to create a BAME community, where people feel supported. I have been planning an event I would like to host where I get a potential speaker to talk about their career and experience as being black, Asian or from and ethnic minority background. This event would give BAME students the opportunity to network and create connections. I have achieved this by looking into different alumni on social media. I have also contacted the careers department for help. I plan to carry out this event in the new semester during February.

I have been working with psychiatry society and I wrote a small blurb for my favourite BAME psychologist. I was able to write a summary for them and they posted on their social media.

I have created this questionnaire to collect feedback, feel free to fill it out as this would help in putting in place thing that would benefit students. Feedback questionnaire (google.com)

Thank you for reading my blog and feel free to get in contact with me through my email: tafadzwa.nyambuya@students.plymouth.ac.uk