Sofia Thomas has been elected as your new Community Officer for 2020/21. Impact caught up with Sofia to discuss how she’s celebrating her new role and what she is excited for going forward.
What are you most looking forward to in your role?
I’m really looking forward to making positive change for UON students and the general public alike. I want to be a voice for the students and make sure that the policies I pursue always have the best interests of our student body at heart. It’s amazing to be in a role where I can actually make such huge changes!
What was the highlight of your campaign?
Online campaigning was SO weird but honestly I don’t think we particularly had any low points? Even when I was worrying about engagement my ‘jam’ (the inner-circle of my campaign team) managed to stop me stressing too much. It technically wasn’t part of the campaigning period but filming my video was really fun – it was before lockdown and I was actually allowed to be within 2m of my boyfriend and best friends, that was a lot of fun.
My ‘jam’ (the inner-circle of my campaign team) managed to stop me stressing too much.
Were there any aspects of campaigning you found challenging?
I always knew that running in this election was going to be hard – the main fear was that my social media would just be an echo chamber of ‘vote Sofia for Community’ so we had to make sure we were appealing to loads of different groups to get those votes in. It was difficult but it was still fun. It was also hard being away from my friends and only being able to facetime/zoom/microsoft teams call, but that was still better than nothing. I’m also sad we didn’t get to have an election Ocean or Crisis but I’m sure I’ll make up for that over the next year when we’re actually allowed out.
How will you be celebrating?
On election night I was sat with my mom and as soon as I found out I had won I had to facetime my Grandad to let him know I’d secured the bag. I spent most of the night on the phone to various people, but I didn’t get to speak to my boyfriend properly until like 11:30pm because I kept getting distracted! Today (the day after) I’ve spent the day doing absolutely nothing – like literally NOTHING – elections are mentally and physically draining (even online ones) so I’ve had a day of napping and watching tik toks. The amazing Millie for Sport (our outgoing sports officer) came and dropped me some gifts off (from a safe distance) because we’re both from Birmingham and she’s one of the best people on the entire planet, so it was amazing to see her. Unfortunately, I still have my dissertation to write so I have to get back to work ASAP.
I want to be able to listen to the concerns of students and work to alleviate them!
For those who don’t know, please sum up your new role as Community Officer!
The Community Officer role involves working with the Union’s network for Hall Committee reps, Living Out reps and the rest of the campus community. I’ll also be working with other members of the SU to communicate our needs and concerns to members of external bodies such as Nottingham City Council and the Police. I’ll be working alongside NTSU’s new VP Community and Welfare Officer to ensure that all students live in a fairer, safer and healthier community. I want to be able to listen to the concerns of students and work to alleviate them!
Sofia won the election after winning the third and final round of counting with a total of 858 votes .
The rest of the election results breakdown can be found here.
Mia Haffety
Featured image courtesy of Mia Haffety.
