Hi, my name's Amy and I’m currently studying Adult nursing. Being a mature student and a mum to 4 children, I was so nervous about starting university, the fear of getting comments of "wow, you are starting this quite late", "why didn’t you go to university when you were younger" - it overpowered me I couldn’t understand why I was feeling so many emotions at once. Fear, excitement, lost, worried, I put it all down to not knowing how I would come across to others and it felt like the first day of school where I was worrying if I would make friends and how I would get used to the new environment and most importantly adjust to many situations. All the comments I feared I would hear, never came.
Being new to campus you also realise that there are so many other individuals who also are new, so you are not alone in how you feel. I found out about nursing representation on my induction day, I was informed that all individual groups in every cohort select someone to represent them and I was interested because I have always enjoyed supporting others, but it meant I could also be a voice for all students. I put myself forward and it was voted I would be my groups rep.
Representation has been vital in my development at university, I have grown in confidence, gained valuable skills that will support me throughout university but also in my career. I continue to make new friends and everyone is so unique and has their own individual skills that you do learn from each other. I was also part of re-launching the nursing society without becoming a rep first I don’t think I would have had the drive and confidence to do this.
I fully recommend other students becoming a rep, I’m so happy that I got this opportunity as a nursing student. Being a rep allows you to adapt to new situations, discuss upcoming changes which then leads you to be able to inform other students of important updates. You can voice your concerns and make valuable changes which could affect not just yourself but all the others on your course as well. It’s given me so many skills which will really help when we take our next step after university. I’ve enjoyed every minute of being a rep - mostly listening to others, joining meetings which discuss upcoming changes and the concerns raised by all students, meeting new people and even writing articles for the student newspaper.
My favourite memory so far is attending Union awards where I received my Gold Accredited rep recognition. Having set goals allowed me to step outside my comfort zone and do things I really would not have done without the support from the representation team who are all amazing. They’re always there to support you and being a rep you feel truly valued. So if you do get the opportunity to become a rep, take it! Better still put yourself forward, you won’t regret it.
- Amy Pile, Gold accredited student rep.