President to encourage student voice
The new student president at Palmerston North polytech UCOL wants the student body to speak up.
Karla Davis was elected as president of the Association of Students at UCOL last month and one of her goals is to get other students to sit up and take notice.
Davis, a first-year nursing student from Palmerston North, has been acting president since last month, following the departure of Izzy Paterson.
The 22-year-old Davis will officially become president next year and said she had a lot she wanted to do.
‘‘I want to get [the students’ association] known more and get our name out there,’’ she said. ‘‘The students don’t know who we are as much as they should and about the services we provide.
‘‘I want to get my name out there to get more students engaged.’’
This week the students’ association has been running events for mental health education and Davis wants to make sure students can connect with each other.
Voting turnout was low for the election and that’s something else Davis wants to fix.
Many students are apathetic or unaware about student politics.
The students’ association offices are across the road from the campus, so Davis didn’t want people to think they are segregated from students.
Davis said she went for the president’s job because she was interested in working for students – ‘‘to be the voice and to be the advocate, to have that voice for students that don’t necessarily have it for themselves’’.
Being involved in politics was a foreign concept for Davis until recently. She was a student representative last year, when she was doing a health and science course, and was vice-president this year until she took over from Paterson. ‘‘I didn’t used to have anything to do with politics,’’ Davis said. ‘‘I didn’t watch TV, I knew nothing. Now it’s all changed, especially at a national level.’’
Grace Beddis is an association vice-president in Palmerston North and Frances Watson a vicepresident in Whanganui.