We caught up with the new president elect of the Students' Union at the University of Essex Adrian Chira to find out about his plans for the year ahead, what inspires him and why he thinks we all should take risks sometimes.
Can you tell us about yourself and your experience at Essex?
My name is Adrian Chira and I am a third year Computer Science student here at Essex. Coming from Romania, it was quite difficult at the beginning of my first year, I had a lot of problems due to the language barrier and culture shock. However as I progressed I made a lot of friends from all over the world, gained a lot of experience working for the Students’ Union, Nightline, frontrunners and had eight other positions. I started enjoying my time here at Essex and wanted to contribute my part.
Why did you decide to run for the president of the Students’ Union?
It was last year during the Summer Ball, Becky Newbury, the then VP Services & Communications told me that I would make a good sabbatical officer. I took it as a joke and didn’t give a second thought about it. It wasn’t until the Christmas holiday, when I went back home that I realised that you need to be in power in order to help others, and that finally motivated me to stand in the election because I really want to help out and provide the student community with the best they can have.
In what ways do you think you can make the Students’ Union better?
Well, first of all I am very friendly and approachable, I don’t feel any more superior just because I was elected to be the next president of the Students’ Union and I will do my best to tackle problems student face. As such I have a lot of projects in mind, for example, introducing an online Students’ Representative Forum (SRF), scholarships for international students and plans to create more student jobs instead of hiring external employees.
Are you confident that you can deliver your promises?
Yes, I am very confident that these promises will be delivered because I have a lot of support from the student community and the Students’ Union. When writing my manifesto, I had students’ benefits first in my mind and a great deal of ideas came from the student community itself. I strongly believe in the backing that I have and that I know I won’t be fighting alone.
How will you work effectively with your VP team?
I think the most important thing is to get to know each other and the Students’ Union is doing a great job by providing us with three months of training. We will be trained in the same way and get to know each other in the process. Also, I believe we all have similar ideas and a common goal which is to help students and give them the best. That makes us an excellent team and I am convinced that working together as a team with the VPs will be pleasant and lovely.
What are your biggest tips for current students?
My biggest tip is to dare more, even if you know that your chances are slim. Despite not being able to reach your goal, you will still learn a lot of experience from the process. The second tip I would like to give is to take risks, if you don’t take risks then you’re actually taking the biggest risk.
What are your plans after your Students’ Union’s presidency?
I am not entirely sure about it yet but I would love to travel around the world for a year to see all my beautiful friends I have made here. I would also like to start a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to counter human trafficking because I am really sympathetic about the increasing number of victims who suffer from it.