After being involved in both LUSU and the Women’s Rugby Union club as captain, Ellie Sutherland says that she wants to “give something back.” She has a desire to continue to make sure societies and clubs remain happy and successful and believes she can confidently deal with any problems people may have within them. She is excited about working with people in the activities office to make events like Campus Festival and Christmas markets “as successful as they have been in recent years” and also wants to gain more student opinion about what should happen in these events and students desire for things like Graduation Ball.
Sutherland has a notable involvement in sport and she feels this is a unique selling point for her especially when it comes to organising Roses. She has developed both her teamwork and organisation skills through being Sports Secretary at her college and feels she has been successful in raising awareness of the Carter Shield competition. Additionally her role in the Carter Shield involved her being an Inter College Sports Officer which she thinks has given her very good negotiation skills.
Of this experience, she said: “I feel this demonstrates my ability to work with many different people, a quality that I see as being important for this job role. I also show great commitment to anything I become involved in, and again, I feel this is essential to the job role. I have also demonstrated the ability to work under pressure and to time manage very well with commitments I have had over the last year. I am known to many groups already within the university and feel that I have developed good working relationships with them.”
Sutherland is determined to give Roses a “large publicity drive” for the 50th anniversary of Roses next year, with the method of using big posters like last year and getting as much coverage as possible within the university. She would also like to host a large event “with input from SCAN, Bailrigg FM and LA1:TV,” adding: “I would like to see interviews with players, members and supporters throughout the lead up to the weekend and the weekend itself.”
The key issues for Sutherland if elected will be communication between clubs and societies, which can be “improved upon”. Additionally, she wants to reduce the “difficulty sometimes experienced by students when trying to set up new societies”, as well as placing increased focus on the big events.
One of the most challenging things Sutherland sees about the role is the amount of pressure and organisation that comes into job, but she feels that she has gained sufficient skills to deal with these pressures calmly and effectively. As for what she aims to get out of the position overall, Sutherland stated that she “hopes to be involved with setting up new societies and helping others thrive and meet their full potential.”
