For Katie Capstick, the journey to becoming the next VP (Campaigns and Communications) has not been easy. This is a position she has really worked for. “I was up all night on the Thursday night before the nominations on the Friday, and I just put my name down to see what happened. Then I was working for the whole weekend, and I had cheerleading practice as well; I was really busy.”
At this point, Capstick believed that she would not have enough time to make a manifesto and posters, let alone run an entire campaign. “And then I thought: anything is possible,” Capstick told SCAN. “I thought: I’m going to write a manifesto overnight; I’m going to make a million posters, print them off and post them all over the university.”
Capstick – who did not know she was going to even run for the position until the day the nominations closed on Friday Week 6 – had to overcome a lack of self-confidence to even run for the role. “I wasn’t going to run,” Capstick told SCAN. “I didn’t believe in myself, and I needed somebody else to believe in me.”
“I’m very political on Facebook and some people don’t like that, but I don’t care because I know I’m helping somebody,” Capstick said. “I got a message from [President] Laura Clayson saying ‘I know you want a job in LUSU, so why don’t you run for FTO and see what happens?’ So I thought, ‘do you know what, I’m going to do it.’”
Now that Lancaster’s students have elected her their VP (Campaigns and Communications), Capstick feels vindicated. “I feel I’ve done my best, and I know I will do the very best for this university because I don’t want to leave,” Capstick said. “I love this university – that’s why I did my master’s. I love my master’s degree, but I love this university so much more. I love it. I don’t want to leave. I cried in third year when I thought I was going to leave and then I thought: I’m going to do a master’s, I’m going to stay. And this year was the same – I’m still not ready to leave.
“And I want to work for the Students’ Union because I love it.”
Now that she’s won the election, what above all does Capstick hope she will achieve in her time as VP (Campaigns and Communications)? “I want to support any student who wants a campaign to run. Even if it’s a tiny campaign – just a little bit of social media, for example. Everything helps, and I want to support that. I want to empower every student who cares about something and support them.”
“One of my favourite points in my manifesto,” Capstick continues, “was about bringing campaigns to big student events,” taking inspiration from the successful “Out in Sport” campaign at the 2014 Roses competition. “[I want] more student campaigns, spreading them and getting student media to help promote it – just everything at once, together. We can make a big difference.”
In terms of what she is most looking forward to, Capstick said: “I’m looking forward to working alongside the other FTOs [Full-Time Officers].
“I was never a President of a JCR or a society – I was always too afraid to go for those positions – and to finally be in a position like this and see the other side of the University will be eye-opening.”
