Charlie's Story

Charlie Wilson

4th year Product Design Engineering, Class Representative, Engineering Faculty Representative

I’m Charlie and I’m a 4th year Product Design Engineering student. I’ve volunteered in a range of different roles since I was about 12 but here I’ll talk about the student representative roles I’ve had while at uni. 

In 3rd year no one came forward to be our class rep. I felt it was important to have student representation so put myself forward. I found it really interesting getting to see the organisation behind classes and empowering seeing the changes put in place by our feedback. I got to know more of my classmates, learn to speak up in meetings and try to improve things for the students coming after me.

When the Union elections were coming up I saw there was a role for an Engineering Faculty Rep. Again no one seemed to be running for it so I took a chance and put myself forward.

I’ve found the faculty rep role quite different to the class rep role. I represent a bigger range and number of students and deal with large scale issues rather than issues to do with specific classes. I have learned to speak up in meetings full of academics and make sure student voices are listened to. I’ve really enjoyed getting to push to improve the faculty in ways I know will continue after I leave university.

Volunteering as a student rep has given me more passion to push for improvement as well as the confidence and communication skills to achieve it.