Hi, my name is Odreika Mclean, I am a second year undergraduate student in BSc Occupational Therapy and here are the main reasons why I am your ideal candidate for the role of Ethnic minorities part-time officer.
Firstly, as an Ethnic-minorities part-time officer I will help to ensure that issues raised by students and staff around the well-being of Black, Asian and other minority Ethnic students are brought to the attention of the relevant teams and individuals to help to bring about improvements in the experiences of similar students whilst at university.
Secondly, in my role as an Ethnic minorities part- time officer I will also be active in helping to encourage fellow students from a Black, Asian and other minority Ethnic background to put themselves forward during usual student rep elections within each cohort. This will be done to ensure that even though we are a minority our collective voice will be represented continually.
Lastly, I would help to start a platform specifically for 'Anti-racism and Cultural Awareness' - with plans to have selective interviews that would see fellow staff, students and experts by experience take part in topical discussions around racism, micro-aggression, sexism, and cultural affairs on a bi-monthly basis:
-Everyone at the university will be given a chance to decide between a range of different topics from these categories that they would like to see being discussed and the main suggestions will then be selected.
-These discussions on Anti-racism and Cultural Awareness would be virtual online and would run for approximately 20 minutes at a time between a group of five individuals ranging in age, gender, race and cultural background, and recordings from the interview would be made accessible to all students and staff at the university with the permission of participants.
-This will be done with the aim of creating an atmosphere at the university that we can all learn and grow from understanding the unique values and experiences of individuals.
What qualifies me for this role is that I have recently been involved with chairing meetings and helped to raise compliments and concerns of black, asian and minority ethnic students to the relevant level of supports that is available whilst being part of a student success group that is focused on working alongside tutors from my course and other staff at the university to help to close the achievement gap between ethnic minority and non-ethnic minority students in receiving a good honours degree. I also have over four years of experience in dynamic call centre offices where I have worked using my own initiative and within a team to assist the needs of individuals in housing rent, compliance of businesses to the pensions regulator, vulnerable people and managing their debt recovery, as well as helping individuals face to face roles in social care and retail. Therefore, I have the relevant experience, skills for helping indivduals that would benefit my ability to successfullt cary out the role of an Ethnic minorities part-time officer whlst alongside other students and staff at the university.
In closing, if I am granted with the opportunity of becoming an Ethnic minorities part-time officer my main aim and focus will be to continue with supporting the voice of students from an ethnic minorities background at Derby university.