City East Undergraduate Student Rep

Hi everyone,

Since the Board Retreat (30-31st January) I have attended the USASA and UniSA Symposium (5th February) and the NUS State Branch Planning Day (16th February).

I found both events/workshops very interesting and informative. As this is my first year as a Board Representative I have very little experience with the workings of USASA and the NUS. I am very grateful to have been involved in these events/workshops and am keen to learn more and have more involvement as the year progresses.

I also attended both City East Orientation Days (19th and 21st of February). As these papers were due on the 20th I am only able to share my experiences from the 19th of February.

As it has been a number of years since my own orientation, I was nicely surprised with the student turnout and enjoyed talking to new students about university life and USASA. It was great to meet some of the students involved in the volunteer program and chat with staff who were helping at the stalls. I hope this year is successful for all students and that they know they can turn to USASA at any point in their university life.

Thank you,
Jade

Hi everyone,

This month has personally been an eventful month for me simply due to my current placement in Port Augusta. I’ve slowly begun to settle in and am taking this opportunity to learn as much as I can about the workforce and career I hope to spend the rest of my working life in.

Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule, I have not been able to attend the Education Committee meetings. Hopefully, I will be able to attend in the future as I become more competent at my placement site and can choose when I can take breaks to join such meetings.

At the time of submitting this report, I have not been able to meet with Bridget Laffy due to my placement roster, differences in time zones, and rescheduling due to illness.

I hope that at the upcoming USASA Board meeting I will be able to give a verbal update on any meetings I have attended after the submission of this paper.

I have also been in contact with students in both my own degree and similar degrees that undertake placement in regard to the Placement Experience Survey. I believe this survey will be a great opportunity to combine and highlight the troubles and difficulties students experience whilst on placement and allow for discussion on overall improvement for students and placement hosts.

Thank you,
Jade

Hi everyone,

In March, I was thankfully able to participate in more USASA related events and workshops around my placement schedule.

On the 28th of March, I was able to schedule my individual catchup with Bridget Laffy. It was lovely to meet her and talk to her about what I do and just chat about our general shared interests. Thank you, Bridget, for being so accommodating with my hectic placement schedule.

My degree allows its students on placement to take their two-week break either during the normal mid-SP2 break or at the end of the placement, resulting in a larger mid-year break. I have chosen to take my break as per the mid-SP2 break which has allowed me to be able to attend the SASH workshop (Understanding & Responding to Disclosures of Sexual Harm) on the 11th of April and the (upcoming) USASA Board Strategic Planning Day on the 18th of April.

I had never participated in any SASH-related training before so I was keen to absorb everything that I possibly could from the workshop. Anna and Kiana were very knowledgeable and eager to create a safe environment for discussion, which I used to my advantage to expand my knowledge and ask questions where needed. This training/workshop was highly valuable and my new understanding of SASH and how the University can support students of all degrees, including those who are approached with disclosures, will be very helpful going forward.

As I head into my final stretch of placement, I’d like to thank once again everyone who has been understanding of my commitments. Going into May, I hope to retain my online presence regarding discussion around placement concerns of students and am keen to see the results of the placement survey which was launched some weeks ago.

Thank you,
Jade

Unfortunately, I have not been able to participate in any USASA related activities this month due to my placement schedule. I have been enjoying seeing moments from the previous months' activities on my Instagram and can't wait to be back on campus next semester where I will have more opportunities to participate.

My time in Port Augusta is quickly coming to an end and whilst it has meant I have had to become less active as a USASA Board Member I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn about the workforce of that of a regional laboratory. I will admit I was disappointed at the outcome of the two regional student rep nominations/elections and believe that these positions will need to be discussed in detail as we head towards the new student association - taking into mind how these campuses are used by students and how a slightly altered student representative role could be beneficial. I'm keen to discuss this topic further as completing a placement in a town not too far from the Whyalla campus has sparked an interest into the work/study lives of regional students.

Can't wait to see you all in person for the meeting next month. Thanks, Jade.

Report to Members

Hi everyone, This past month has been quite like my previous reports due to my placement schedule. As of this meeting I have completed my time in Port Augusta and have finalised my Honours Project which I would say is one of my greatest achievements during my time at university.

On the 17tn of June I had a catchup with Bridget Laffy to discuss my time on the board thus far. We discussed the potential of engaging in another training day/session in the next month and how I was finding the general flow of the board meetings. Whilst these meetings are slightly different to other groups and boards, I have been a member of, this doesn’t discourage me from trying my best to engage with other members and ask questions to further my understandings.

Bridget also shared with me the de-identified data from the UniSA Student Placement Survey which I had been keen to see since the idea of the survey was first discussed. As I am only familiar with my own placement experiences as a Laboratory Medicine student it was very interesting to read through the vast responses and see any similarities and differences. There are some great ideas and discussion points within the responses, and I am very keen to see how USASA and UniSA will be able to collaborate to ensure that students are getting the most out of their university experience when they are required to attend placements as part of their studies.

Summary of Actvities

• 17 June- Catchup with Bridget Laffy via Teams

Report to Members

Hi everyone,

The past month was majorly a break from university for me after completing my placement in Port Augusta in SP2. I was able to attend the June USASA Board Meeting in person after several meetings online with less-than-ideal internet connection and I very much enjoyed the level of communication and discussion that is achieved at the in-person meetings.

On the 8th of July, I had a meeting with Oliver regarding the outcomes of the Placement Survey. We discussed ideas to map out the acquired data and formats for presenting the findings to the University and staff. I went away from the meeting with a plan to go through the raw data and sort the responses into the different academic units. Many responses were from students of the Clinical Placement Unit (CPU) which includes my own degree, so I was able to relate to and show a deeper understanding of the characteristics of these responses based on my own experiences. By this Board Meeting, I would have participated in another placement discussion meeting with Oliver and Deepak on the 25th of July, so it will be interesting to hear their thoughts on the data and share my own findings since segregating each response into its own academic placement unit.

On the 10th of July, I participated in the USASA Board Charter Discussion & Policy Register meeting which was ran by Bridget Laffy. There was some great discussion by those involved and it was nice to reflect on the values and purpose of the board and its members with the knowledge of being a current and first-time board member – whereas this discussion would usually be held at the board retreat, and I would have had no personal experiences as a board member to fund my understandings of our purpose.

Illness unfortunately meant that I could not attend the SP5 City East Orientation which I am quite disappointed about as I enjoyed the SP2 Orientation so much.

Thanks,

Jade Hancock

Summary of Activities

• June 26 – USASA Board Meeting
• July 8 – Placement Survey Discussion with Oliver Shephard-Bayly via Teams
• July 10 – USASA Board Charter Discussion & Policy Register
• July 17 – City East SP5 Orientation (Unable to attend due to illness)