Nat Kirchin completed her Psychology degree in May last year and began her role as Vice President Campaigns and Environment (VPCE) two months later. She hopes to obtain enough votes to continue her work this academic year.
“When I ran last year, I was LGBT+ officer in 2020 and, through that, I grew a passion for fighting for people who don’t often have a voice, especially a lot of marginalised students on campus. So trying to raise their visibility and helping them is important.
“Having done that now for a year, I’ve definitely found a drive to continue doing it.”
Having worked with the LBTQ+ and Disabilities officers towards fighting for the students they represent, Nat expressed how rewarding her role has become and aims to continue to help them thrive.
Nat hopes to improve accessibility within sport, which she has been doing so with the Sports Centre in improving gender-neutral facilities. She also aims to improve the facilities for para-sports by working with the university.
“Now we’re looking at accessibility as a whole; we have a Feel Good Programme to get as many students as possible involved in sport.
“But we currently don’t offer any accessible sessions, so I want to work on that next year with whoever becomes next VPA.”
After noticing a lack of student representation within Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) committees, Nat would like to work on introducing a Training and Support Scheme to ensure EDI issues are being addressed.
Nat hopes to create a Sustainability Project Fund for students who are becoming more eco-friendly.
“I’ve had more students contact me about sustainability projects they need help on. And so I want to make sure they’re not going out of pocket to raise awareness on things like climate change.
“I don’t think it’s fair on students but a lot of them are struggling with money when they’re just trying to do something good for the environment.”
During the four years Nat has been in Lincoln, she has slowly seen the university become greener and more inclusive, which she hopes, if elected, will continue to grow.
“I’m already on a path to doing it. I just need more time to be able to do it. I’m a queer woman as well, so I know how it feels to be a marginalised student at university. I just want to help and support as many people as possible.”