In the lead up to our Online Annual Assembly, our current NSE want to give our members and potential candidates an insight into their roles. Here we have our Deputy President, Chloe Griffin from Tipperary.

Hey everyone! My name is Chloe and over the past year I have been the Deputy President of the ISSU. 

Even though anyone running for this year's NSE won't be running for the role of Deputy specifically I hope this blog gives you another insight of what to expect if you are running in the presidential race. As you will have seen, there is no direct race for the role of Deputy President and so, this role is automatically given to the runner up in the Presidential race. I ran in this race last April because of the potential that I knew ISSU had and because I wanted to really build on the work that the union had done in the past which I had been so lucky to be involved in. 

As deputy president, you feed into a lot of the work that the organisation does as a whole. There have been so many fantastic moments for ISSU this year and it’s hard to choose one that stands out. 

When we set out to plan this year, grassroots engagement was top of our list of things that we wanted to improve on. We carried out 17 regional councils, electing 36 regional officers which has had such an incredible impact and has really helped us to reach out to more students, increase our membership and get more students involved in our events and realising their voice. We even expanded our Skills Academy to Munster this year which we hope will continue to grow and grow. I was also really happy to lead on the reform of the ISSU constitution this year and I’m really excited to put it forward to our members at an EGM once we get the opportunity post COVID-19. Of course, the last couple of weeks have really been ground breaking for student voice in Ireland. Students have not been shy in voicing their opinions and getting really engaged with us which is one of the most rewarding things to see as an NSE member. 

For anyone thinking of running for the role of President, you do need to be prepared for the possibility of being Deputy. The biggest difference between the two is really that the President is the face of the organisation and the deputy is by their side every step of the way but in more of a ‘behind the scenes’ role. There is a huge amount of work involved in the role and it is very unpredictable. It’s so important to ensure that you have the time and most importantly the passion to dedicate to this position if you are thinking of running, balancing everything is difficult but it’s doable for sure. This year our President, Ciara, and I pretty much worked together on everything apart from a few individual projects here and there. A huge part of the role is supporting the president and also the NSE, I’m so proud of everything we have achieved as an NSE this year. We have set a lot of groundwork for the organisation going forward and we have had so many amazing students get involved along the way. 

If you’re thinking of running in the presidential race, it's vital that you have a really good understanding of the organisation and that you have a couple of really clear goals that you think will take this union one step further. You also need to make sure you have the time and the dedication to put into it. There are so many things that are done in the background that you don’t see on social media and it’s something to be aware of if you’re considering running. Media and the more glam side of the role are really very small components of the work involved overall. If you have any questions about the role feel free to send me an email, chloe.griffin@issu.ie 

I’m so excited for our Annual Assembly on the 9th of May and I wish anyone running in the presidential race and other NSE positions, the very best of luck. Putting yourself out there and creating a great campaign is hard work but it's completely worth it no matter the outcome. You should be really proud of yourself for wanting to get involved and for wanting to lead change. 

For more info on how to run for the NSE click here. Deadline for nominations is the 26th of April!