Breaking News

Winner Announced: International Students’ Officer – Jenan Kamel

Jenan Kamel has been elected as your new International Students’ Officer for 2020/21. Impact caught up with Jenan to discuss how she’s celebrating her new role and what she is excited for going forward.

I: What are you most looking forward to in your role?

J: I am really looking forward to starting to plan events for our university and welcoming all international and home students in September. I am also excited to start implementing the different parts of my manifesto and developing my ideas through experiences that I face next year and with all the feedback I receive to improve them.

Additionally, I am looking forward to meeting more international people and learning more about their lives and celebrating their cultures. I know there is a lot more to discover about all cultures and so many interesting things to learn about the people who we meet every day.

I will hopefully be interacting with more international’s in the events I organise to reunite them. I’m very grateful for winning this position and of course wouldn’t have made it without everyone who believes in me.

I received many videos from international friends that I have that were very touching and super supportive.

I: What was the highlight of your campaign?

J: I think the highlight of my campaign was the realest part of it, where my friends asked other international students to vote for me and gave reasons why they believe they should.

I received many videos from international friends that I have that were very touching and super supportive as they came from different perspectives with each of my friends expressing how they felt about me since they met me this year and last.

I believe receiving genuine feedback from people around you is a great indicator of who you are as a person for someone who hasn’t met you before. Having all my friends giving reasons why they trust me with that role is the sincerest way to convince other students and hopefully they won’t be disappointed.

I: Were there any aspects of campaigning you found challenging?

J: The most challenging part was when my Instagram account got deactivated due to ‘too much activity’. I started my Instagram account the second day after the voting polls opened and most of my campaigning was done through this social media platform. It was just a bit challenging when it got deactivated since I had to restart everything on a new account, while working on other parts of my campaign. But after the third day everything was running smoothly again so I was enjoying the campaigning more than I found it difficult.

I will hopefully start preparing to welcome these freshers in September and make their journey as easy, beneficial and enjoyable as possible.

I: What is the first policy/program from your manifesto you plan to implement into university?

J: The first part of my manifesto that I have to start planning and addressing is ‘Facilitation plans for international freshers and leavers’. At the moment, it will be more to do with international freshers since I will be taking on the role from September.

Even though no one is sure how everything will go due to the COVID-19 situation, I will hopefully start preparing to welcome these freshers in September and make their journey as easy, beneficial and enjoyable as possible.

I: How will you be celebrating?

J: Since we’re on lockdown in Egypt right now, and I’m not really allowed to go out, I will be celebrating mainly with my family through a BBQ and pool party. I’ll also have a Houseparty…… CALL (since that’s all we can have for now hahaha) with my friends to celebrate!

Jenan Kamel won the election after receiving 107 votes in the sixth and final round of counting.

The full election results breakdown can be found here.

Isabelle Raikes

Featured image courtesy of Mia Haffety.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like our Facebook page for more articles and information on how to get involved.

Categories
Breaking NewsInterviewsNewsSU Elections

Leave a Reply