Hello! My name is Hollie Lucas and I am running for the position of Vice president Activities and Events in your Student Union. I have spent the last three years studying Criminology and Sociology at Falmer and I have very much enjoyed my student experience. I have attended many of the events that have been on offer and I feel I have a good idea of which events work well, which ones need to be developed and also the areas where there is space to come up with some completely new ideas for activities and events.

University is about so much more than just getting your degree and meeting essay deadlines. It’s about the people you meet, the experience you gain and the memories you make along the way.

If elected I aim to ensure every student knows how important they are to the Student union and that there are events on offer that appeal to all. I will work with International Student Society, LGBT and other groups to make sure everyone feels they can be part of the student union events and activities.

Clubs and parties

A key change I will look into is finding a venue to host cheap weekend student nights for Brighton students, if you have placement or a heavy workload it is not always possible to go out during the week and it can be so expensive at the weekends!

We also need some more variety on the club scene, especially in terms of the music played. I think we need a Monday night student night that is a bit different to the already fabulous Oceana Wednesdays.

I have put on two successful charity band nights this year and it has shown me that we have some very talented students and I want to give the opportunity to student musicians and DJs to show us what they can do.

Freshers, RAG and more

If I am successful in this election I look forward to planning Fresher’s week and Rag week. I always enjoy these events more than anything else during the year. I love the way that on the pub crawls you might leave the house with a couple of friends but you end up being part of a group of hundreds of like minded people all out to have a brilliant night. I will look into having events like this more often during the year.

Other events

Although getting drunk and going to clubs is all part of the fun of being a student it would be nice to have some events that don’t result in a hangover. Some students have young families so perhaps it would be nice to have ‘family friendly’ movie nights at one of the campuses or maybe a healthy cooking class in one of the cafes. I study at Falmer and I realise that the lack of an on campus student bar is an issue; I cannot realistically say I can provide you with a bar but I can provide more on campus entertainment and make better use of the facilities that are already there.

Fundraising

As a Student Union we are in a good position to raise money for some good causes if we have the right events I know some of your courses rely heavily on socials and fundraisers and I want to help with that by giving more support from the union to course based societies.

Eastbourne and Hastings

I plan to actively go out onto campus not just in Brighton but also over at Eastbourne and Hastings and speak to students about what they want. I know Hastings well and I recognise that it doesn’t have the kind of nightlife and clubs that Brighton has and I aim to work with the newly elected Hastings Ents rep to ensure that students who live there have the best possible entertainments package. I am also aware that there is no longer a Vice President Eastbourne and Outreach but I will make sure that the voice of the students in Eastbourne is still listened too in all areas of activities.

This is YOUR SU

The events and activities I will be involved with organising are for the enjoyment of you, the students so it is important that if there is a particular kind of event you want that you get in contact and let me know your suggestions and I promise I will make time to listen to and consider everything you suggest. I am approachable and looking forward to hearing your ideas.

Sports teams and societies

How can we make the most of your activities, trips, socials and your sports fed night? Do you love the Oceana Wednesdays? Or do you fancy a change? Let me know and I will help, because these are the events that you will look back on in 20 years time and think, those were the days!

I will continue to work closely with Sport Brighton, and be sure to consider every team and society no matter how big or small, I am unbiased and ready to listen to what you want. Looking through a list of societies now I had no idea some of them even existed! I plan to help increase advertising and hopefully get more students involved with extracurricular activities. I hope to encourage students to play sports with friends just for fun.

So please vote for me to be your No.1 VP Activities and Events and let’s work together to make next year amazing!

For more info check out my Facebook Group: Please VOTE FOR HOLLIE to be UBSU VP Activities and Events 2010!