Michaela Trescakova

Hello! My name is Michaela, a PhD Psychology student, a member of SUSU and various societies since 2016. I believe I can make a real impact on student experience, by using my extensive contact with SUSU operations over the years to represent real student interests. I am passionate about making a real change.

Experience:

• I have been a member of various societies over the 8 years, the most notable being Union Films - the student cinema in SUSU. During my time in the Cinema Manager role, I have been in extensive contact with SUSU departments, from finance, logistics, bars management, tech crew, activities to COO. I have knowledge about the internal operations of these departments, and I see a lot of potential for improvement.

• The Cinema Manager role gave me an opportunity to work with multiple societies and talk to customers that are less involved with SUSU, that are often overlooked. I have listened to their experience with SUSU (good and bad), and I would love to represent their voice and improve their time here at the university. 

• During my 8 years presence on campus, I have seen SUSU go through many changes – some for the better, some for worse. I can inform trustee board about what worked in the past and what failed, to prevent repeating the same ineffective strategies. 

Challenges and Solutions:

• Funding: Due to the cost of living crisis and increase of expenses, SUSU needs to implement smarter and more cost effective strategies where they can help, but also not attempt infeasible events or improvements no one asked for.

• Accountability: I would push for staff and elected representatives to be held accountable for their spending and that financial decisions are made in the best interests of the students.

• Fairness and Transparency: There has been an extensive debate on campus about fairness of allocating funding for societies – as a trustee, my focus will be to investigate and improve the balance of funding between societies.

• Student Interests First: I believe SUSU does not have a good idea of what students want from their union. I would like to focus on ways to establish more systematic ways to narrow this division, going beyond opinions of individual students.

Personal Goals:

• Student Wellbeing: As a Psychology student, I believe student wellbeing should be our key priority, and I would push for more funding to strategies aimed to help students overcome personal problems.

• Sustainability: I believe SUSU has a lot of useful policies already implemented, but I would like to revise how to track what actually works, and what could be improved.

• Inclusivity and Accessibility: I will work to ensure that the SUSU plans, policies and events reflect interests of all students – everyone should feel valued and supported.

I am committed to make use of my passion and knowledge into representing your interests - I believe I would be an excellent Student Trustee. Thank you for your consideration!