So here it is. My final ever blog- bloody hell! And if you just look at the right hand side you can see that there have been many a blog.

It feels a bit odd to be writing this. So please do indulge me for a minute or 2. The student movement has been a big part of my life for the last decade (give or take a year or 2 out!). It seems really odd but particularly all my friends (bar my old school ones) are linked somehow to the Student movement. Be it we worked together at the union nightclub, were in a Union society together, where officers together or sabbs together or NEC members together. I’m actually trying to think of any mates that I do have that aren’t connected and I didn’t know when I was 7 and there is only 1! Oh dear!! Hehehehehehe. But you know that’s something good I’ll take away with me. All the friends I’ve made over the past 10 years and the like minded individuals, who I have met, debated with, got drunk with and campaigned with!

At my local FE College I was the Ents Officer and then the president. Then had a year out and then it was off to Bournemouth Uni where I was course rep, RAG Officer for 2 years, Rugby club captain, (the only ever female rugby club president for both the male and female teams), Sports Federation Secretary, duty manager of the SU night club and then President. I did get a degree too!!! Then it was onto the SWD committee, being South West Area Convenor and then NUS SWD Officer. Bloody hell I turned into a hack without even realising it!! Oops. But time flies when you are having fun. But definitely feel like it is my time to leave. Hell I am looking forward to being one of the youngest again instead of one of the oldest!!!

The student movement for me is a great thing and can change people’s lives and the world. You know too often we spend our time arguing with each other, talking, well, shite that we actually forget all the good stuff that we do Just spend a minute now thinking about the last year, what your Union has done and the impact it has had. On a personal level the reason why I know how much impact the student movement can have is because it did on my life. When I had my first full scale mental health melt down at Uni it was the Students’ Union and the people I had met through it who supported me, accepted me and made me see that life was worth living. I can quite happily say hand on my heart at a time when there seemed to be only one way out the SU showed me that there wasn’t. The SU at Bournemouth was awesome and the friends and staff there will never know how grateful I am to them. They changed my world.

So what have been my proudest moments?

• Having an email from a student when I was president who had come very close to killing themselves and then saw an article I had written for our local paper about mental health. They decided to go seek help?. They wrote to me just to say thank you.

• Getting students to chain themselves to university buildings in the year of the threat of top up fees- that photo is still very proudly in my memory box. The VC got so many people emailing her about it but finally Bournemouth Su was out there be active and campaigning.

• The Death of Education march at Labour party demo at Labour party conference in Blackpool October 2003. A demo when over 1000 students from around the country marched in black and silence mourning for free education. A demo arranged by SWANUS demonstrating what Area can do and what student activists can do.

• Changing the NUS Disabled Students Campaign around and getting it to be political and campaigning. I am very proud that when we have lost free education policy at annual conference and LGBT conference the Disabled students’ campaign reaffirmed its commitment to free education!!! Alex keep up the fight.

• Acting up as VP FE last year and actually been a NEC member who can say that they have campaigned and delivered for FE.

• On a personal level supporting people and helping them stand for election in their Unions and NUS. Everyone should have a fair chance of standing for election and knowing how to go about it.

As my old RO and then old membership services manager said to me once I am the product of the Student Union movement and you know something I’m not ashamed of that. It has shaped the person I am today. It has challenged me, created the best and worst times, made me friends, made me meet the biggest diverse group of people ever and taught me so much. To all those who have helped shaped me I just wanted to say a huge public thank you.

So that’s it. There is nothing left for me to say but many thanks and continue changing lives and the world. I hope that people actual realise how much power that NUS has and the potentional it has to make a real difference. Together this year, as a movement, we have done so much, won so many battles and changed so many lives. That is what NUS and the student movement is all about. Don’t ever forget that and don’t ever forget the power we have to change the world. Keep campaigning and fighting.

Sian Xx

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