Sabbatical view: my time as president

‘This has been the most challenging and rewarding year of my life’

In the Students’ Union constitution the role of the president is: “Representation of members, development of policy, Co-ordination of union affairs, strategic development of the union, safeguarding of union finances, management and development of services.”

This is a pretty roundabout way to say that the president is responsible for absolutely everything that the SU does. If I was to narrow it down to three things, the president is responsible for: ensuring the smooth running of the union, more so on the student side of things but also with staff; ensuring the union has a long-term strategy, and that this is followed; and being the public face of the union.

While, obviously enough, these three points don’t cover everything, they encompass what the president will find themselves doing. Unlike any of the other officers on the union, the president does not have a specific job title. This means that they will find themselves at the bottom end picking up a lot of loose ends that aren’t covered by other officers, and on the top end overseeing and co-ordinating things that are above the other officers’ heads, such as union strategy and university policy.

While the importance of being the public face of the union cannot be stressed enough, the president will also find themselves dealing with making the Union work. This means that they will be doing an awful lot behind the scenes, leaning on the other officers to get their work done, making sure that spending doesn’t go over the top, that everyone in the union offices get along, and much more.

This job is the most interesting, hectic, unusual and rewarding that I have and most likely will ever have. People ask me if I would like to do something like this as a career, but I really don’t think that there is any other job in the world that is like this. This year I have had the opportunity to do some of the most exciting things. For example, if it weren’t for the fact that half the country was flooded and subsequently frozen, I would have been part of a nationwide charity event to push a sleigh from Dublin to Galway.

Each day in this job is so different from the one before. I can come into work in the morning with a definite plan for the day and something will pop up that needs to be attended to immediately, and at the end of the day I find I could have done 101 things, but they will have been nothing to do with the plan I had.

This has been the most challenging and rewarding year of my life. I have witnessed the highs and lows that this job throws at you and learned a lot about myself.

For anybody running for president, good luck. If you get elected you will embark on one of the most interesting journeys life is likely to take you on. You have a year to make your mark; make it, and enjoy yourself.