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Hey everyoneeee, I’m Issie and I am running to be your welfare rep for 2025/26! There are many reasons why I would absolutely love this role in committee but firstly a bit about me…

I am currently a second year student and joined modern in my first year. From the moment I joined those GIAG sessions I knew modern was the society I wanted to be a part of. The caring and kind group of dancers and how organised modern was, was everything I could have hoped. Since then I’ve competed in the competition teams and performed in multiple shows. I’ve met best friends for life in this society!!
Outside of university I am a part-time Carer for Elderly people all across Leeds. I work for a Company called BlueBird Care where I drive to customers houses to carry out my tasks. Whether this be with their own personal care, or even just sitting and having a chat with a cup of tea I always put 100% into every client giving them the best care that they deserve. I would bring this mentality into this role, caring for every person, always putting your needs first. I am fully medically trained both with mental health qualifications and physical health qualifications so I’m covered in all areas🫶 and I am happy to help anyone at anytime. Even if it’s 3am and you rang me…I’d be there!
So moving onto the reasons why I would love to be your welfare rep this upcoming year. There are many reasons why, firstly Kira this year has done such an amazing job and I would love to continue that into next year. I am also very good listener and happy to listen to anyone. I will work with everyone to make sure they feel supported, not just in modern, but also in university as a whole as it can be scary sometimes.
There are many things I’d love to put in place as a welfare rep. I would continue the weekly Welfare Wednesday posts, have an increased number of sober socials and a continuation of mindful Mondays. I would also love to introduce an anonymous google forms document for students who may want to speak about something or ask a question but doesn’t want to be identified. This way we can post the responses to questions either on our Instagram page or through emails so everyone can be helped😃. Around competitions and shows I would love to introduce positive postcards. This involves us all writing a post card anonymously complimenting someone. These will be popped into a box and I will hand them round in classes. This is a great way to boost confidence and positivity into Moderns society and will keep morale high💕. Mental health workshops will also be something I would look into. Around exam/assignment deadlines it can become a lot for us all and also before competitions and shows. Because of this I would love to organise sober socials such as a yoga sessions or meditation. This will help to relax us all 🧘‍♀️. I will continue Kiras amazing work donating money to charities and fundraising throughout the year.

For sober socials, I would like to make this a more common thing. These will range from meals out and coffee dates, to going on walks/hikes around Leeds. I would aim make regular sober socials every few weeks as I know not everyone in modern drinks alcohol, so they should be just as regular as Wednesday socials.

Overall I would be so happy if I was your welfare rep next year and I hope you consider voting for me.

Lots of love,
Issie Xxxx😘😘

Hi I’m Ailish, a first year studying medicine and I would absolutely love to be your welfare rep next year. This year I have been taking jazz classes and was in the advanced jazz competition team. I have loved every second of being a part of modern this year.

Adjusting to university life was incredibly daunting, as I’m sure many people can understand, but the supportive and positive atmosphere at modern has been like a family away from home. If elected as your welfare rep I will aim to keep and enhance the atmosphere of inclusivity and warmth. I will ensure the society is a safe space by continuing the Welfare Wednesday posts as well as dancer of the week. I think Welfare Wednesdays are particularly important as they raise awareness and foster inclusivity within our society and the wider community. In addition to this, dancer of the week is a key source of motivation which recognises the effort and exemplary contribution of dancers within the society.

As Welfare Rep I want to ensure there are as many opportunities as possible catering to people's different interests outside of dance. Wednesday socials are a big part of the society and a great way to have fun outside of class. As someone who doesn’t drink myself (if you know you know ;)) I also have a vested interest in sober socials and as Welfare Rep I want to ensure inclusivity for everyone within the society. This is why at every social whether that be a Wednesday regular or a sober event I will aim to have a clearly identified safe person/ people so everyone knows how to access support for any type of issue. I hope this will enable people to feel comfortable accessing support particularly at the time of the event so everyone can continue to enjoy socials just as much as I have this year.

On the topic of sober socials, I would like to organise events such as bring a board night, a nature walk and karaoke. In addition to this I want to offer members the opportunity to put forward ideas of activities they would enjoy. I would then implement a voting system to allow people to vote for what sober socials they would be most interested in. I also think sober socials are a great way to integrate new members into the society. The get to know you sessions and the “give it a go” which introduce freshers to modern life are a fantastic approach that I aim to continue next year. I would like to implement a buddy system which groups freshers with those who are also in their classes as well as buddying them with a returner to show them the ropes. I think this will enable freshers to integrate fully into the modern family by facilitating connections with fellow newcomers.

Finally, one of the key reasons I am running for welfare rep is due to my personal interest in charity work and fundraising. Before coming to university, I campaigned for women's health and the mental health of young people on a national scale as an elected member of the UK Youth Parliament. From this experience, I gained skills such as advocating for the voices of us as young people that I will transfer into raising awareness and money for the charity modern chooses to support. I hope to replicate the successful fundraising around the Christmas Show while also increasing charity initiatives year round. I would like to do more collaborations with different societies to increase awareness and support of our chosen charity. Furthermore, I want to do more smaller scale fundraising such as bingo, bake sales and pub quizzes.

Thank you so much for reading and I can’t wait to spend the most amazing next year with you all (hopefully as your welfare Rep).

Dance Love,

Ailish :)

Heyy everyone! I'm Erin and I'm running for your Welfare rep for 2025/26. I’m going into second year studying Childhood Studies and do advance tap classes (but next year hopefully you will see me in contemporary and jazz classes too!). My experience in first year has been amazing which has been made so much better by being a part of modern dance and doing competitions for the first time. A lot of you might not know me as I have only been in tap this year, however I'm excited for the opportunity to meet more people and have the chance to work with you in the committee too.

Outside of dance, I have a huge love for different cultures and travelling around the world, I’m a children’s actor and I have also been a healthcare support worker in the hospital, treating the elderly by helping them with their daily tasks and needs like personal hygiene, scans and manoeuvring. These experiences have strengthened my empathy, patience and communication skills which I believe to be essential for a welfare representative. I’m extremely passionate about supporting others and ensuring their wellbeing which I believe shines through in my personal relationships with friends, family and communities like dance! During the competition season this year, I was honoured to receive the society’s Most Helpful Award, highlighting my natural ingrained commitment in supporting others in all their endeavours. This recognition underscores my dedication to fostering a positive and compassionate environment in which I hope you will all be able to feel comfortable reaching out to me in, with whatever it is you need assistance in or questions you may have.

If I was elected for your Welfare Representative, my primary goal will making everyone feel included, valued and truly a part of the society, through fostering a healthy joyful community in our classes, competitions, socials and outside of dance classes. One of the ways I’m hoping to achieve this is through more sober socials!! If I'm honest I have only been to 1 dance social so far as I don’t really drink a lot or go clubbing often, so I would love to create more regular socials that aren’t so focused around drinking. This will be from coffee shops, meals out and walks to games nights, crafting and quizzes so that we can unwind together, strengthen relationships and foster a crucial sense of community that unites our society. This is really important to me as I know not everyone drinks and fostering relationships in our society can bring massive benefits to our mental health and wellbeing.
In addition to more sober socials, I would love to engage in more fundraising activities!! In the past I have worked in the charity sector, leading workshops for ‘hard to reach’ children to improve their education through the arts, and I'm hoping to work more in the charity sector with children in the future to promote a positive change. I am eager to continue expanding our society’s charitable fundraising through activities including charity quiz nights, book sales and baking competitions. The Christmas season is also a wonderful opportunity to give back to those who may not be so fortunate, so I'm envisioning the dance show to have more fundraising opportunities but also giving to the local community by giving food to the food bank or doing a Christmas themed charity run/walk.
In addition to continuing welfare Wednesday and mindful Monday, I propose creating more fresher welcome sessions to ensure they feel more included and comfortable within our society during their first semester. I know I felt a little lost at the beginning of starting university, not really knowing many people in the society, so meeting friendly faces in and out of dance classes would be a great way to make the freshers feel more included. I would achieve this by creating get to know each other sessions where freshers have a casual environment like a games night or coffee catchups to encourage healthy connections which could then be strengthened within dance. I would also develop a way for freshers to get to know the wider community of dance through monthly alternative dance style classes. This would be connecting other dance society’s like Irish or belly dancing with ours in order to foster outside relationships but also give our society a chance to try a new dance style and get to know each in bigger dance classes.
Lastly if I was elected as your welfare representative, I would create an anonymous support system so that you could ask questions or for help without the added stress of disclosing personal details. I would love for everyone in the society to safe and welcome to talk to me in person about anything, however I understand that not everyone feels comfortable with going to speak to someone for help. So, I intend to set up a system for our society to reach out for help easily without feeling the pressure to talk to me in person.

I would be so happy to be your welfare Representative next year and I hope you vote for me. Thank youuu Erin xx