Officially known as the community action and student fundraising officer, Alex Hancock and Sam Whewall are the candidates looking to take responsibility of RAG (Raise and Give) from Phil Krstic.
Alex Hancock, a first year social science student, is currently the events officer for the society. He has organised a variety of events including the upcoming sky dive which is one of their biggest events this year.
Hancock wants to join in other RAG groups across the country including many events on a national level. He said that events such as cross country bike rides would create national recognition for the society.
He said: “I want to create a better word for RAG and raise the publicity of the society through local media to let local communities know what the society is doing.”
Hancock also believes that word of mouth is the best form of passing on information about RAG events to fellow students, and says that: “I plan to create a newsletter to distribute across campus which will let students know what is happening.”
Hancock’s manifesto mentions plans for ‘unique’ events across the society and when challenged about this he said that he wants to broaden the socieities horizons by organising a variety of acitivies including working with other RAG groups on a treasure hunt across Europe.
The second candidate, Sam Whewall, is a first year English student and is also currently involved in the society. Unlike Hancock’s national ambitions, Whewall wants to concentrate on RAG at a local level and claims that there are a lot of people across the university who don’t know what RAG is.
Whewall wants to make the name grow and makesure that students know what RAG has to offer as he believes awareness is a huge problem at the moment.
Whewall also says: “I want to go out into the local community and raise money by going to residential homes and local schools. I think by going out into the local community one small act will show people in society that not all students are as bad as they are perceived in the media.”
Events such as RAG raid have been big for the society and Whewall wants large media coverage of such events, saying: “I want large publicity for a variety of events to get our name heard.”
Like Hancock, Whewall also backs the newsletter idea to get RAG heard across campus and wants to bring back an Ideas Book which would help people put together their ideas for new charities and fund-raising events.
Time management is a critical thing as part time officers will be expected to take over the role whilst studying for their degree.
When asked about how they will juggle their role and education, both candidates were confident they could manage the heavy work load. Hancock replied: “I think my role within the students union would tie into my course a lot, it’s about finding that balance and I think it should be easy.” Whewall said: “My course is demanding in its own way but I think I can focus and manage my time well.”