Tuesday 26-09-2017 - 15:34

You just started university. Time for important and educated life decisions even though you feel like you’re on holiday during fresher’s week. You’re likely to have a million and one things to do in your first weeks so why put extra pressure on yourself?

 

I’m here to tell you why. Becoming a class rep is good not only for things like your CV, which you now have to start building, it’s also good for loads of other reasons. Here we go.

 

1. Get to know your lecturers

 

People that curate your course are the people you want to be able to get in touch with and feel confident when doing so. Problems arise even in the best of universities and learning how to solve them alongside your lecturers instead of just discussing it in-between seminars is going to help you in the long run.

 

2. Become the go-to person for your peers

 

You will be able to build relationships and become more approachable by gaining the trust of your fellow classmates as you go along. Class rep training is issued before you start your position so don’t worry - they will give you ideas on how to best represent others’ thoughts and feelings respectfully.

 

3. Open more doors

 

Leadership skills aren’t something one is born with. Developing them is not easy and often challenges your behaviour. However, gaining and improving your soft-skills is super useful if you want to advance into higher official positions within the university or your employment.

 

 

And that’s just a few reasons to volunteer to be a class rep. Let your programme leader know you’re interested and be ahead of the game!

 

by Rebeka Lužaitytė

Fresher Team 2017