We heard from Nicolette Langendam earlier this week about her personal journey in becoming a student trustee. You can watch her here as she describes this important role for us. We've also provided a transcript below.
Hello – I'm Nicolette. I'm one of the student trustees of the Open SU.
As a student trustee, we are part of the bigger Board of Trustees, and we support the organisation in making decisions about its direction and its future. We do so by discussing subjects like finance, risk, governance, and strategy. Those are four subjects that I really enjoy going deeper into, getting a bit more knowledge and going beyond my studies. I also really enjoy getting the experience, being part of the Board, and being part of that decision-making process.
Another reason why I really wanted to be a trustee is because I really wanted to bring the student perspective into the discussions. I think a Board without student trustees has reports and statistics, but I don't think they can tell the entire story. So as student trustees, we bring that perspective of being a student with a full-time job – as a caretaker with other responsibilities, or maybe just with difficult circumstances in general life.
We try to represent the community by asking questions, challenging assumptions, and sometimes asking questions that would be overlooked if we were not a part of the discussions.
I think student trustees are quite important. We are not only part of making sure that organisations stay financially stable, but we are also making sure that students are a part of every decision, and that Open SU can continue with their aims to be there for students and students' needs, and to really make a difference.