Want to be part of real change?
COVID-19 has turned all of our lives upside down, and for many students this has been particularly difficult. From an online Freshers to isolating in halls, endless Zoom calls to academic safety nets, University has definitely looked very different this year. This panel brings together students who have spent the last year in the thick of it, campaigning and lobbying for increased support during this time. Covering issues of wellbeing and mental health, accommodation fees, safety net policies and value for money, our guest speakers will be sharing how and why they got started with student activism, and what they have achieved since
Find out how you can have a similar impact here at Herts! Tune in to hear about the experience of the panel, along with their top tips on how to bring about real change

https://herts-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/97133900201
Meeting ID: 971 3390 0201
Speakers
Bella & Jake
Bella is a final year English Literature with Italian student who wrote an open letter to her university in November asking for new mitigation policies to be put in place. Her letter got over 2,000 signatures. Jake, a final year Politics and Sociology Student, had just started Students For Academic Mitigation and he invited her to join S4AM. They have been working together to get academic policies implemented by their university which has involved; campaigning, press articles, and starting a national petition with 20,000 signatures. They have since begun helping students at other universities start similar campaigns by providing material and advice
Mayo
Mayo is an Electrical and Electronic Engineering graduate from the University of Greenwich and current Greenwich Students’ Union (GSU) Officer. She's been involved in leadership from a very early stage having contested for President of the General Assembly at a Model United Nations Conference in New York, 2014 and serves as Director of another Model United Nations Conference in 2015. She is very passionate about her faith and as a result she was President of Believers LoveWorld Society while studying. In her role as GSU Officer, she has led on delivery of an Officer Visibility Campaign(aimed at increasing the accountability of elected officers), 2 Black History Month Campaigns, 2 BAME Leadership projects, campaigned for free intercampus shuttles, supports Postgraduate students and is working on Building a more inclusive university amongst other campaigns such as support for students during a pandemic. Mayo is passionate about showing others that they too can make a difference and creating platforms for others
Megan Ball – President, Winchester Student Union (2019-2021)
Megan is a two-term President at Winchester Students' Union. In her role, she directly oversees demographic student representation, democracy, community relationships, equality & diversity and housing. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Megan has taken the lead on various student activism campaigns at Winchester including: successfully lobbying the University, twice, for rent rebates and the early termination of housing contracts, co-writing a no-detriment policy, lobbying local and national government to better support students, urging landlords in the private housing sector to provide financial support, and supporting & co-organising student fee & value for money protests
