About Me

I grew up in a small town called St Neots, just outside of Bedford. It's a nice town but there's not much to do (although they built a cinema in 2014 which was good.) My mum worked in a department store in the town and my dad did a few different jobs - he worked at a printing company, a truck company and a pregnancy test manufacturer. He definitely did more than that but I can't remember for the life of me what they were! 

I went to the same secondary school as my mum and was even taught by the same teachers! I liked secondary school and wanted to go to uni, but my school was a community college and faced big cuts because of austerity. My school has faced over £180,000 worth of spending cuts since 2010. 

I went to the only Sixth Form in my town, inventively named St Neots Sixth Form. I had a good time but was growing increasingly annoyed with how the school was being run. I organised my sixth form into an informal student union, focused on environmentalism and student wellbeing. We called ourselves the St Neots Health and Environment Committee and had over 60 members, a healthy chunk of our sixth form! We organised and travelled to protests in Cambridge for the Fridays For Future marches. Our small community stood up against the government and its inaction on climate change. 

I worked through lockdown as a cleaner at my local primary school, and was proud to be a key worker in the middle of a national crisis. Giving back to my community was (and still is) very important to me , and the role gave me purpose and direction in a time where everything was uncertain and scary.

I started at UEA in September 2020, and moved in to the (in)famous Ziggurat student accom. I had a great time there however it was very difficult going through my first year of uni without getting to know people and doing my learning entirely online. In winter of 2020 a second lockdown was announced and we were all told not to return to our student accommodation (although they still wanted our money). I helped organise a rent strike at UEA, giving interviews to local and national media ( I even did an interview for BBC Radio 1!) It was a great experience and led to the university giving each student £800 back on their rent. 

This got me really engaged in student politics, and in my second year at uni I ran to be a part-time officer in the Student Union! I ran to set up a network of 'warm banks' on campus - warm spaces for students to use during the energy price hikes. I won my election and worked with the university to open a dedicated, warm social space called 'The Warren', which is still open at UEA to this day!

I also ran to be an NUS Delegate in 2022 and attended my first conference that same year! I met some great officers and worked on some important policy that has guided NUS the past two years. Since then I have been very involved with NUS and all the work they've been doing. 2024 will be my third National Conference and I am looking forward to meeting the next generation of student leaders.

UEA SU NUS Conference Delegates 2022