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Hi everyone! I’m Ellen, and I'd love to be your Welfare Rep for next year!

Over the past 3 years, Modern has become such a huge part of my university experience. As current President, I’ve had the chance to see just how special this society is and how much it means to so many people. I would love the opportunity to give back to Modern in a new way by helping make sure every member feels supported, included, and genuinely happy within our community.

For me, welfare is about creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable, valued, and able to enjoy everything Modern has to offer, both inside and outside of dance. I want to continue building the welcoming, loving atmosphere that makes our society feel like a family, while also introducing more opportunities for members to connect and look after their wellbeing.

If elected, I would love to organise a wider variety of sober socials and wellbeing-focused activities, including things like yoga, pilates, walks, and other relaxed socials that allow everyone to get involved. I’d also love to create the first ever Modern Run Club, something social, fun, and positive that people of all abilities could join.

Another goal of mine would be to organise a large charity fundraiser involving all Leeds dance societies, bringing everyone together to support an important cause while strengthening connections across the dance community.Most importantly, I want to ensure Modern continues to be a safe, inclusive, and supportive space where everyone feels seen, appreciated, and encouraged to be themselves.

I’ve absolutely loved being President this year, and I would be so grateful for the chance to continue contributing to this amazing society as your Welfare Rep. Thank you so much for reading, love ya! 💕

Welfare rep- Grace swales
Hi, I am Grace and I’m running for welfare rep because student wellbeing is crucial to ensuring our society is welcoming to students. As a sociology student I understand how important inclusions, belonging and community are to wellbeing and feel I would be a perfect candidate for wellbeing rep. I feel very strongly about having a society where all members feel welcome and supported. Dance should be a space where everyone feels comfortable, welcome, supported and included regardless of their background, experience, or confidence level. Therefore, I am running for welfare representative as I believe it’s important to have a society that offers a welcoming community where both new and returning members feel valued and included.

Over the years I’ve gained experience in dealing with welfare, I’ve picked up some great skills that I’m excited to bring to the role as a welfare representative. One of my volunteering experiences was two years at York Hospital, where I often chatted with dementia patients. This taught me how much a little kindness, listening carefully and having real conversations can mean. It made me understand how important it is to make everyone feel included and cared for, which is something I’m aiming to do with modern dance society. I’ve also learned that being patient and showing compassion is key to making everyone feel welcome and at ease. As a welfare representative, I’m going to use these skills to create a supportive space where everyone feels valued. I also supported my Sixth form welfare team and would provide support and help to those who would come to the welfare room and sit and chat to them and help them with there welfare workbooks. This gave me a hands-on experience dealing with mental crises and issues faced by students.

As a welfare representative, I want to continue the weekly welfare Wednesday posts to raise awareness about the challenges faced by students, especially dancers. I also want to support our fundraising efforts for various charities and provide opportunities for our society to make a difference. I’d like to focus on YoungMinds, as youth mental health is crucial today where an increase in support for young mental health is needed. I will also continue the fundraising for breast cancer and other charities. I will work hard to ensure our society has organized fundraisers. This year, I would like to encourage the society to come together for fun activities that raise money for charities. This will strengthen our community and create a more positive environment. For example, I would like to organize a modern bake sale on campus where students can buy baked goods. This will reach a wide audience and raise awareness for the charity and our society.

I want to introduce more sober socials to our society. I would like to increase the number of socials where people who do not drink can take part and feel welcome. These could include coffee walks, pottery painting, puppy yoga, and many other ideas where people can get to know each other in a sober environment.i will arrange a start of the year vision board special where the new members and returning members can get to learn about eachother and also provides mental wellbeing creating goals and aspirations. I will work closely with the social secretaries to include these socials. I would also like to collaborate with MOOVA and the university of Leeds Pilates society to get our society discounted tickets to their social Pilates and other events. This is a great way to get to know each other and fitness is important for mental wellbeing and can help calm and reduce stress, which many university students experience. I also want to ensure that students have support and can talk to someone about any issues so will provide drop in sessions where members can speak to me and ask for advice and i can give details of university support and also helplines and websites that can provide the top support.

My experiences in sociology, volunteering, and dance have all shown me that people thrive when they feel connected, heard, and supported. As Welfare Rep, I would work to create exactly that kind of environment where everyone feels they belong. As a hard and dedicated worker, I will ensure that then wellbeing is well looked after and I will take pride in my role.