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Hi! I'm Fin, I'm a first year law student and I'd really love to be the next president of Leeds STAR. STAR was the first society I joined and it has been so rewarding for me. The conversation classes, the pub quiz (which I came second in 💪🏻💪🏻) and Elevate have genuinely been some of my highlights of first year. The conversation classes especially as I have been able to meet incredible and fascinating new people, who I otherwise never would have met, at the community centre. I have found being able to engage with people about their life stories, families, culture, etc so invaluable this year and I really hope to continue this going forward.

I’ve been passionate about helping and volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers for a few years now due to the active dehumanisation of refugees and asylum seekers by the current UK government. This summer I am volunteering at an immigration family reunion clinic for refugees not eligible for legal aid, providing them with free legal advice on how to secure their immigration status and any other issues they may be facing living in the UK. This is an area of law I am hoping to pursue in the future as a career path.

I’m dedicated to making this small community grow, because people deserve the opportunity to get involved with STAR and benefit from it in the same ways I have. From talking to people this year, it’s a matter of not knowing about the work STAR does, rather than not wanting to get involved. I want to continue the network Leeds STAR has with Rainbow Junktion, Pafras, Solidaritee and also try to expand to other non-volunteering based societies and with a greater reach. I want to promote the society more, recruit more volunteers and give people more opportunities to get involved, whether that’s with more give it a go’s, advertising around campus, or more charity fundraiser events.

Overall, I believe I'd be a good fit for STAR President because I'm a clear and efficient communicator, I'm comfortable with being in a position of authority and leading a committee due to previous experience as well as being a very chronic organiser.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my statement, I hope you all have a good summer!! 💫