Eleanor Haywood is on the Media Studies course and is our Community Volunteer of the Month Winner in Cambridge! She has been the editor and president of the Ruskin Journal, ARU’s new student newspaper and some of her duties have been the running and editing of her articles.

“The most enjoyable aspect about volunteering with the SU is being surrounded with likeminded people and being able to leave something behind that will help to benefit others. Creating a new media outlet has resulted in collaborating with other people wanting to be involved in the industry and using this extracurricular activity to help others who need industry work experience.”

“During my time volunteering, I have learnt about delegation, dealing with long-term planning and retention, the importance of organisation, planning and time management. It has also improved my cultural and social awareness, which has helped me to increase the inclusivity of the society so that all members can flourish.”

Eleanor hopes to work in the media industry, in either post-production editing, journalism or brand consultancy. Her role as the editor and president of the Ruskin Journal has helped her to develop her transferable skills and given her the industry experience she needs to make her stand out. Her work in such roles has helped show her competence and her abilities as a leader!

“My inspiration to volunteer has been to help share the skills I have developed with others, improve the opportunities of student media on campus and to expand a section of extracurricular activity. Seeing the newspaper up and running with a list of queued articles and seeing the numbers of visitors rise each week is a wonderful feeling!”

“I love volunteering because it’s inspiring and humbling. It's a chance to showcase skills you have developed, whilst helping others as well as yourself to improve your future prospects. It's a great chance to work with other people who think the same as you do and to have created something lasting at the university that others can enjoy and contribute to.”

Eleanor has shown an incredible amount of dedication to this project and has given the opportunity to other students who have an interest in journalism to showcase their skills! Well done Eleanor, your award is well deserved!