Student Guild Elections 2023: Get to Know SPARK
Students at UWA will have the opportunity to elect next year’s Student Guild Council later this month. Campaigning has begun and this article introduces the SPARK ticket.
Voting begins on the 18th of September and end on the 21st. Polling will occur on campus but you can also apply for a postal vote by the 15th of September by 4pm at the latest. Every UWA student can vote and voting is not compulsory. See here for more information and to apply for a postal vote.
What makes your party different?
Indi Creed—SPARK Presidential Candidate
SPARK is a true cross-section of the UWA community—we were founded on the principle that the average student should be representing this community, and we’ve followed that principle year after year. Our ticket is made up of real students, spanning multiple clubs, FacSocs, Colleges, and degrees, who’ve all contributed to campus in their own way, and who are all united by a passion for doing good and working hard to make sure our peers have a worthwhile experience at UWA.
We know Guild politics can be cringe—so let me assure you, this is not politics as usual. This is just a bunch of students who want to get sh*t done. SPARK also is, and always will be, politically unaligned, but politically engaged. We know how important it is for the Guild, as a student union, to fight for student’s rights when it comes to the ‘big picture’ stuff—like the cost of housing, cost-of-living, study allowance, and University fees, to name a few issues. To do that effectively, we can’t be tied to anyone else’s political agenda. We are the party that will always consider the student as our first and ONLY stakeholder, and that is what will always drive all of our activism.
We also take this election and our roles in the Guild seriously. Even when we didn’t have the Presidency, we were the ones hitting home runs from the sidelines. We’ve never been complacent and we never will be. SPARK knows that the student body deserves hard work, at every stage, and from every position on Guild Council. I know, and my team knows, that it’s a massive privilege to serve, and so every day we wake up wanting to do our best. At SPARK, we asked ourselves a few questions leading up to the election—“What can we do to improve the student experience at Uni? How can we engage students more?” We’re here to put students first and to make real change. We’re here to make sure that the Guild is more than just the sum of its individual parts.
What’s your vision for the Guild in 2024?
Indi Creed—SPARK Presidential Candidate
Everyone’s journey at UWA is different, and SPARK’s vision has always been to support your Uni journey, regardless of what that might look like: what degree you’re doing, whether you’re a club leader, whether you’re at college, or if you’ve never stepped foot on campus.
SPARK has been working on building up the campus experience for students from all corners of UWA over the last two years. In 2024, we want to utilise the Guild’s ability to meaningfully connect with the student body and enhance positive culture more—so that all students, from the moment they start their degree, know that the Guild is here to support them, fight for their interests, provide services to enrich their experience, and get them going in the right direction at their University.
SPARK’s vision for the coming year is centred around outreach—taking the work of the Guild directly to the student body, making sure the Guild is accessible, and that you feel the work we’re doing is making a tangible impact on campus. For those just taking their first steps at UWA, we want to ensure that first years are as well-placed as possible to get the most out of their degree and their experience. So, we’re building an Orientation Hub which will include all the critical University and Guild support services, as well as information on clubs and societies, sports and hobbies, and all the different communities that make up our campus, to encourage students to get involved from day one, as we believe that UWA has something to offer everyone.
For those looking to learn more about how to make the most of their time at Uni, we want to make Guild events and initiatives more approachable. That’s why we’re overhauling ‘What’s On?’ and building a new Activities Compass which builds off our Orientation Hub, providing weekly information about everything happening on campus, from study nights to quiz nights to campus festivals. UWA is constantly bustling with life and activity and we want more students to know about it and how to participate.
For all students, we want to prioritise building a positive, integrated UWA community. For SPARK 2024, a big part of that is pushing for the Guild Masterplan, to make the Guild Village the heart of our University. We know Guild Village can be the place to be at UWA, a place to catch up with your mates, meet new people, get your daily coffee or snack, and importantly, interact meaningfully with your student reps. I know first-hand that the person in the line behind you at IGA, or someone you stop and talk to at an event ticket-stall, can become a friend for life. We want more students to have the opportunity to get out of the silos of their high school social circle, degree, or college community and meet someone from a completely different corner of campus.
We’ve experienced all year that a massive concern for students is the cost-of-living crisis, and how much harder it’s becoming to get a job in the professional workforce while you’re studying or after you’ve graduated. While we can’t guarantee voting for us will get you a job, we are focused on empowering students to help you land on your feet after your time at Uni. That’s why we want to introduce Headstart, a career mentorship service tailored to your goals and aspirations. We want you to walk in with a vague idea in mind of what life after your degree might look like, and leave knowing what clubs to join, internships to apply for, and volunteering and networking you need to do to get there. Supporting you to secure your future is a key part of our plans going forward.
If there’s one thing I want you to remember when you see our flyers and faces popping up all over campus and on your feeds it is this: SPARK is the party that listens to students all year round and puts in the work to bring you effective solutions. We’re motivated, dedicated and passionate about improving the lives of every single student at UWA. For the last two years we’ve been driven by a belief that the Guild has the power to transform your time at Uni for the better, and we’re committed to bringing you along for every step of that process. With your support we can make 2024 our best year yet and make your time at Uni something you look back on fondly, no matter who you are, where you live, or what you study.
What’s your party’s best achievement from your past year on the Council?
Indi Creed—SPARK Presidential Candidate
Honestly, this is the toughest question of the whole lot, but definitely something super relevant to any student considering voting for us—you’ve got to be confident we’re actually doing stuff, right? We started off with a massive O-Day: 12k on campus, which is crazy. We brought in Tav Wednesdays every week to bring in some weekly fun.
We’ve been working across multiple departments to address the National Student Safety Survey—from providing critical contributions to the Safe and Respectful Communities Framework, to revising how Residential Advisor resources are structured at the Colleges, overhauling Safe Clubs and Events Officers, improving Student Leadership Training. We’ve brought a barbershop, a pizza shop, and recently Tutti Frutti to Guild Village and the Ref. We re-started Sundowners at the beginning of the year, which was a heap of fun, and also a fantastic avenue for club collaboration and a great introduction to our thriving club culture for the Freshers.
If I had to pin it down to one thing though, it has to be our negotiations regarding the Student Life restructure. SPARK was super united in Council to get behind the NTEU and our student community to fight for a better deal—we saved literal jobs, in essential services. That’s something I’ll never forget about my time in the Guild, and something tangible that is really significant in safeguarding the student experience at UWA.
Which of your policies are you most excited about?
Rob Whitehurst—SPARK Education Council President Candidate
It is honestly an impossible task to choose a policy that I’m most excited about. This year, the SPARK team has created amazing feasible ideas that we’re confident will benefit all UWA students. Even though it was really tough, I’ve selected the three policies I’m most excited to implement with SPARK in 2024.
First up, I’m super keen to focus on making sure we all get fresh lecture content in our units. It can be so frustrating watching back a lecture recorded in 2012 given how much we pay for units each semester and we don’t think it has to be this way. That’s why I want to implement a mandatory expiry date for lecture recordings to make sure that after a certain point, lecturers have to keep their content relevant, and students are getting a fair deal for all the fees or debt we’re racking up to come here.
Next up, another initiative I could talk about all day is our plans to introduce written feedback for all exams and summative assessments, in addition to a minimum turnover time for your marks. We’ve all been there, when you get an exam mark back and you have no clue where you went wrong, or when you’re waiting weeks for an assessment from Week 3 and you aren’t able to calculate what you need in the exam to pass the unit. We think that these are problems that can be easily solved with a student-centric learning approach at UWA and that is what we’ll push for in 2024.
Last not but least, I am so excited about our upcoming Activities Compass. The big idea is to keep students connected in real-time with everything going on at Uni so we can all get involved and find an aspect of campus life that we can call home. We know it’s an ambitious project and it’s gonna take collaboration across the whole Guild, but in my opinion it’s big ideas like this that make the Guild so exciting.
What do you think the Guild is lacking at the moment?
Sammie Smith—SPARK PAC Candidate
I think awareness of what the Guild is and how it can support students and add to our student experience is the biggest area that could be improved. It seems like there are a decent number of students at UWA who are unaware of the resources and services provided to them by the Guild. As a third year student myself I noticed that I too was initially quite in the dark in regards to how the Guild functions and how they support the students. This year we’ve honed in on that as a key focus of our plans for 2024 and we’ve got some exciting initiatives such as the Activities Compass, Orientation Hub, and LMS-integrated Guild services module that we hope will highlight the difference the Guild can make for all students on campus.
What’s the most compelling reason for students to vote for you?
Paige Brandwood—SPARK Women’s Candidate
The most compelling reason for students to vote for me is my unwavering dedication to promoting an equitable, safe, and inclusive environment for all women and non-binary students on campus. With a proven track record of advocacy, I will tirelessly work to address issues like harassment, discrimination, and empowerment, ensuring that YOUR voice is heard and respected. I truly believe that together, we can drive meaningful change and make UWA a better place where everyone can feel comfortable to be their true selves and achieve their full potential.