Hey ARU students :) ,
My name is Eoghan (pronounced "Owen") and I am a 3rd year Paramedic Science student looking at running for the VP HEMS role!
I was born in the Middle East in a country called Oman, and moved back to Ireland with my family when I was 2 years old. As a result, my parents bestowed upon me potentially the most interesting thing about me which is my middle name. My middle name, believe it or not is "Sultan", and yes I can show you my passport if you don't believe me!
Anyway, I moved to the UK a few years ago to pursue my career as a paramedic. While here, I have experienced both the best and the worst of university life. I've had the time of my life making new friends, moving in with housemates and going on drunken nights out. I've seen babies being born and helped literally save lives on my ambulance and hospital placements which has brought me vast amounts of joy in my time here. I've dealt with difficult students, patients and housemates in both my job placements and personal life, while also trying to balance my social and uni life (sometimes unsuccessfully). I've cried my eyes out due to stress in the run up to assignment deadlines and exams, and I've also isolated myself from human contact when it all gets a bit too much. I've been there, and believe me it's the last thing I would ever want another student to feel which is one of the main reasons I wanted to apply for this role. I have spent 4 years in Anglia Ruskin Chelmsford and I firmly believe that I have experienced every aspect of uni life that there is to experience. I've seen the Good, the bad and all the rest in between.
To give you a little more background on me, I have worked at 92 on the Chelsmford campus for a little over 2 years and have had the pleasure of meeting hundreds, if not thousands of students through my part-time work. I am an active member of the Level Up! Gaming Society on the Chelmsford campus and regularly attend our socials and events. If you have been around the Chelmsford campus or around 92 I had my hair dyed pink for a time so you may recognise me as the "dude with the pink hair at 92". Apart from my love for gaming, you will regularly see my attending the cinema in town, heading for a game of bowling or pool down by City Bowl next to the Chelmsford campus or chilling in the pub with a cold pint by my side with a smile on my face. I absolutely love a good chat, and feel like I am approachable and kind. I love making new friends and getting to know new people and I feel like my friendly and open approach would make me great for a role such as this.
Now, generally a manifesto would include a bunch of points that I have about improving the university and student life as a whole. However, given that I am soon to no longer be a student, I'm unsure that my current opinions and feeling towards aspects of the university will be similar to the students of next year. Therefore I would like to make it known that I do not have a specific agenda going into the elections. As I stated, my number one priority as an officer would be the students, and I would want to collect and gather the opinions of continuing students going forward and help them with whatever aspects of student/university life they would want improving. This could be done through meeting with students in the first weeks of their courses to discuss areas for improvement in teaching or scheduling, or meetings with faculty/society reps to hear feedback on what they would like to be done or implemented throughout the year.
No matter what happens, my number 1 priority will always be the students. I know what it's like to feel suffocated by university, be that either the social aspects, or through assignments, exams, time-tabling and/or time-management issues. As stated, I've been there many times, and I would not want students to experience what I have had to experience in the past. Having said that, given my experiences in this university I feel I have the knowledge and the networking to get things done and to implement changes accross all of Anglia Ruskin University.
Phew, that was a lot. Anyway, regardless of whether you know me or not, I spend most of my days in the students union on the Chelmsford campus, be that doing uni work, or actually working. So if you see me please feel free to say hello and bring up any issues you may want brought to the attention of the SU. I would be more than happy to hear what the future student body of this university want to say.
Thank you for coming to my #TedTalk.
Lot's of love,
Eoghan Sultan Donnelly xox