By Christina Lépine — Contributor

As students come back to campus or experience orientation week events, they might come across the Students’ Representative Council’s (SRC) new executive team for the first time. The Executive Council’s term started on May 1. The Council, consisting of Sophia Stacey, president; Christina Lépine, vice-president of academic affairs; Olivia Woods, vice president of student life; Bryn Empey, director of events; and Brandon Leblanc, director of finance, worked hard throughout the summer break to plan a school year full of events and initiatives for students.

The executive council started off strong as they spent the month of May undergoing training and relationship-building with stakeholders across and outside of campus. Our president, Sophia, had the opportunity to travel to Ottawa and Montreal to represent Bishop’s students at the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) Conference and the Student Care health & dental plan meeting. The Student Care meeting helped her to acquire knowledge permitting her to answer questions more clearly about the health and dental insurance offered to Bishop’s students. Sophia also took on the external affairs file this year, meeting weekly with the Quebec Student Union, which the SRC is part of, and attending CASA’s National Advocacy Committee meetings. More recently, she has been advocating for developments in the local transit system as students have expressed that the bus system in Sherbrooke is unaffordable and inconvenient. 

As vice-president of academic affairs, I started working on many Senate committees with my team of student senators. I had the opportunity to sit on the hiring committee for the dean of social sciences and to appoint the humanities senator, Sonoma Brawley. She will sit on the hiring committee for the dean of humanities. I have been advocating for a better flow of information and more transparency regarding university services. I have also been advocating for more awards, bursaries and scholarships, academic integrity, work and internship opportunities, fair compensation, the return of a student success week in the fall and more. 

Our vice-president of student life, Olivia, has been working alongside the athletics department to provide more support to SRC sports groups and to assist with implementing the new club sports program. She mentioned, “I am very thankful for their support in this process”. She has also worked on new support systems for SRC representatives and general councillors to revamp outreach initiatives to students. She has also been taking on different policy reviews to ensure all our systems are updated for this upcoming year. Policies will be finalized soon as the new student code of conduct is released. 

As for our director of events and director of finance, Bryn and Brandon have worked closely to plan a variety of events for Bishop’s students. They have worked diligently and collaborated with sponsors to offer a memorable orientation week to all incoming students. They have started planning for upcoming events that have been popular each year. The events require great time management and organizational skills to run smoothly and to ensure that students are having fun in a safe environment. 

This year’s executive members are very excited to welcome all new and returning students on campus, our new principal, the dean of humanities and dean of social sciences. We look forward to engaging with more students this year through outreach initiatives and enhanced communications, our general elections in the fall and advocating for all of you. Should you want more information, it is possible to consult the Instagram page @bu_src.