I cannot believe that I am in the role on my own already without my human safety blanket (who is more professionally known as Ellie Ricks, outgoing President Student Experience). It has been an interesting, exciting, stressful, and busy few weeks getting to grips with the position – trying to remember faces, names, job titles, building names, acronyms and much more.

Since I am an Exeter graduate, I have limited knowledge of the ways of Falmouth University, so Ellie has made sure that a lot of my handover has been very Falmouth focused, so that my knowledge of the institution is on par with my knowledge of the University of Exeter. Representing students from two different institutions will be a challenge, with so many different personalities, policies, perspectives, and more, but it is something I am looking forward to over the academic year.

As well as furthering my knowledge of Falmouth, I have explored all campuses – visiting Truro campus for the first time, familiarising myself with the Falmouth campus and getting to know areas of the Penryn campus that I had not visited before, such as the Institute of Photography for our President Photoshoot. Also, I have had more meetings than hot meals over the past few weeks and triple the number of invites (some even dating to June 2023!) to get to know staff in the SU, at both universities and FX Plus who I will be working closely with to fulfil my manifesto priorities.

My focuses this year will range from sustainability, increasing fun, and much more by working with sports teams, societies, local businesses, and anyone who can better the student experience. I am so excited to shake up the SU and the student experience with necessary changes and improvements, meeting brand new and returning students, working with them, and representing them to ensure their voices are at the forefront of discussions and decision making.