Rachel Holroyd is running for the position of Communications Officer for Grizedale’s JCR. In her manifesto, she outlines how her degree in Advertisement, Marketing and Management would be a suitable fit for this role. She also mentioned her Design minor and her interest in graphic design to be a fitting experience for the role. In the past, she has made graphics for groups and could easily transfer this skill into the role of Communications Officer.
In our interview, Rachel quickly established her motivation for running was the ambition to give Grizedale more of a community feel to it. She wants to help Grizedale live up to its ‘sociable college’ name. Rachel would love to use this role to get more people involved in college life and to bring people together. This is especially important with current circumstances and ensuring everyone feels included in college life even from their own homes.
When asked what she believes sets her apart from the rest, Rachel cited her constant involvement with the college. As part of the Grizedale intro week committee, she has been involved with planning the 2020 Freshers’ week which has had her interviewing fresher reps. This experience on the committee has had her work closely with various members on the current JCR and seen them work well together. Rachel believes the success of their teamwork shows that this role would not be a big step up for her. She frequently attends college events which means filming them wouldn’t be too difficult as she would be attending either way. In her manifesto, she also outlines her naturally good organisation and planning which would be hugely beneficial for this. These skills will help her ensure information is always kept up to date and no deadlines are missed.
Rachel told us that her first priority in this role would be to ensure students are well informed. As a first-year student, she felt like she didn’t get all the information needed and would like to change that. Her plans would mean all events are advertised clearly and well in advance. Rachel would also like to ensure that information on the JCR and welfare team is shared frequently to enable the student to access support easier. A policy that Rachel advertises is a termly calendar which includes all college events and university events. This calendar would be shared frequently and constantly updated.
Welfare and inclusion are mentioned frequently in Rachel’s manifesto and she talked about it in our interview as well. She wishes the JCR would host more inclusive events for students. Rachel would like to be a driving force in this strive for inclusion. In our interview, she told us how she would like to look into ways to keep people with limited social media up to date with JCR events. The termly calendar and other crucial information would be displayed in the Porters’ lodge to ensure everyone has access to the information. Rachel would also ensure that her posts are visually friendly to all by using alternative text for images to help those who use a screen reader. She would also ensure that all texts on social media posts are large and clear to make it easier for anyone with reading difficulties.
Rachel would also like to encourage positivity through the role of Communications Officer. She thinks it is important for people to be involved in their college, especially in current times. The ‘Match the JCR member to the pet’ game was praised by Rachel in our interview and she would love to create more fun games like that for students to engage with.
