Sarah Plant – Community Officer Candidate

Her Campus Leeds spoke to Plant to find out why she wanted to run for Community Officer and more about her campaign and manifesto.

Why have you chosen to run for Community Officer in this year’s leadership race?

It’s easy to forget while at University that we are part of a bigger community, and that there’s a whole city outside of our campus. I would love the opportunity to create better links with that community; get students’ engaging with local residents and local projects more, empower students to feel that they can make a difference in the city that we live, and encourage students to engage politically with local issues that they really believe in. I really want students not only to love their time at Leeds University, but to love their time spent in the wider community, too.

What experience do you feel that you’d bring to the role?

I’ve lived in Leeds now (bar one year spent abroad in Salerno, Italy) for five years. Four of them studying full-time at Leeds University, and more than a year of it spent in full-time work in the Yorkshire area. Currently I study full-time and work twelve hours a week in the Community Department of the Union, which has given me a great insight into what the job of a Community Officer entails. Alongside that I am a member of LSR and LUU Film Society, and I volunteer both with the Union Bardon Grange Project and outside of the Union with the Hyde Park Picture House. In short, I actively and passionately engage both with the opportunities the Union offers and the opportunities that can be found in wider Leeds, too. I have a good sense of the issues that students and residents can face, and I think I’d be perfect for the job of creating ties between our campus community and the community of Leeds.

What do you hope to go on to do eventually?

I am a bit of a dreamer, so for me this is a difficult question! I have 1,001 (maybe more) things that I’d like to go on to do. These change daily. However, my interests and passions lie in writing, travel, film, charity and conservation work, so a job (or a paid hobby) in these fields would suit me just fine. If I got to pursue a passion of mine and make a difference to someone somehow then I’d be happy. At some point in the not so distant future, I’d like to complete a TEFL course and travel to São Paulo, earn money and meet people by teaching English, and learn Capoeira!

Can you talk us through some of the key points of your manifesto, and how you would hope to implement them?

Sure. I believe our University should be an eco-friendly campus and I aim to work with the University to help implement systems that emulate the systems found in the Union. You can currently recycle on campus, but not everywhere. I want to further the work that’s already begun to make it easy for you to recycle wherever you are on campus. I’d like to see compost bins in the library, because everyone knows that food can and will be found in the library no matter how many signs there are. In line with the Leave Leeds Tidy Project’s ethos ‘Renew, Re-use and Recycle’ I’d like to arrange a second-hand course book sale for student to recycle and put money back into the pockets of students rather than the pockets of Amazon and other huge booksellers. This will have the knock-on-effect of reducing our collective carbon footprint (no bus miles and no air miles to get our books)! It could be as simple as hosting a large marquee on the grass opposite the Union building for a week at the beginning of each semester.

Another way of helping students love their time at Leeds is to help them feel happy in their home. Providing an LUU Online Housemate Finder would help to match students who need a room to those who are looking for a housemate. It cuts out the stress and hassle of searching for adverts on University notice boards or toilet doors and means you don’t have to be in Leeds, or even in the country to sort out a place to live; perfect for international students, those on a Year in Industry or Abroad and Postgrads. To add to this, I think it’d be beneficial to students’ bank balances and needs and wants to lobby landlords to provide more 9-month tenancies.

Finally, I want to encourage students’ to spend more in their local area by working with and extending the Love Local shopping scheme that Ben Fisher has been working on establishing this year. With the recent horse-meat scare, it’s never been more topical to raise the issue of knowing what you’re eating. Buying locally offers the best way of knowing the origins of your food, while supporting local businesses and reducing carbon emissions. To encourage better local shopping habits, I’d like to work with local businesses to offer more student-friendly deals.

I have more ideas, so if you’d like to check them out then head to my manifesto!

http://www.leedsuniversityunio…

How’s the campaign going and what can we expect from you over the next couple of weeks?

Campaigning is hectic! Being a final year, with a looming dissertation deadline and various other commitments, it is certainly a big challenge. But it’s one of the greatest things I have ever signed myself up for, if not one of the biggest juggling attempts I’ve ever attempted. With only one week left ‘til voting closes, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled. I’m sticking to my guns in choosing not to be gimmicky. I’ve not even included my face on my posters so far as I’m keen to encourage students to vote for me because they agree with my manifesto pledges rather than being familiar with my face. We’ll see how that pans out…! If you’ve seen the slogan ‘Vote Green. Vote Plant’ then that’s me! However, I’m limiting how many posters I put up because I want to keep my use of paper use to a minimum; communicating my policies without going over-the-top in an effort to be at least a little environmentally responsible. The materials I use for my campaign will be renewable, reusable or recyclable. All of the Community candidates have also pledged to recycle all of the paper and recyclable materials used, in a collective attempt to get other candidates to follow suit.

How are you managing to balance all of this alongside completing the third year of your degree?

See above! It’s a juggling act. I can’t deny that the academic work has been put on the back-burner for the past few weeks! Once voting closes, whatever the result, I’ll be straight back to the books with extra effort to make up for lost time! You’ll see my hanging around Eddy B from March 8th til the end of term!!

If you don’t manage to get elected, what are your plans after graduating?

I don’t have a Plan B lined up for me as such. Firstly, I’ll RELAX and chill out in the sunshine (let’s hope we have a summer). I’d love to stay in Yorkshire because it feels like home for me now, and staying in Leeds would be even better. Living abroad again would also be amazing. So I guess I’ll decide that part when the time comes.

Finally, why should we vote for you?

You shouldn’t blindly vote for anybody. I’m a big believer in that. So you should read my manifesto and then decide if you agree with the points that I make. As a person I’m a good listener, I’m determined and passionate about making changes for the better, and I thrive best when surrounded by people who care about making a difference too. I’d feel privileged to be elected as the representative for you all and I’d try my utmost hardest to make our Community a better place. That’s why I think I’d be a great member of the Student Exec. 

Image Sources:
All Sarah’s own.

• Leeds leadership race
• Leeds students
• Leeds Union