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Hey, I’m Katie, and I’m a second-year computer science student. I have been a member of CompSoc for two years and would love the opportunity to become president and to make things even better than they already are! Whilst I have not been a committee member before, I truly think that I have the correct experience to manage this position and to help CompSoc to thrive. I have developed leadership skills through many experiences in my life, such as being a Camp Counsellor in Camp America, where I was in a different country and had to cope with a large amount of responsibility. I was also a Crew Trainer at Mcdonald’s (Maccies warriors rise) so I have learned to work under high volumes of pressure, which I think makes me well-suited to this role! Aditionally, being a student ambassador has helped me develop strong communication skills and the opportunity to work with a diverse range of people. This experience has made me passionate about creating an inclusive and engaging community-something I would love to bring to CompSoc as presdient.

I have so many ideas to create exciting academic opportunities for our members, in particular to expand LeedsHack after its success this year! I know there's already a subcommittee for the Hackathon, but I would love to be involved with LeedsHack next year and to potentially expand the event to collaborate with other universities, as this is such an important event to make network connections and to acquire new skills. In addition, I would make sure that there will continue to be a huge focus on making valuable industry connections, and hosting work related events to help our members to secure summer and year-long industry placements. It is also really important to me that we continue to provide opportunities for all our members and to remain as inclusive as possible, and so I would prioritise running workshops, such as for women in technology.

Along with the academic side of things, I also think that it is key to continue with the social side of things. I would ensure that fridge to fridge, the biggest social event within CompSoc, continues to happen at least twice a year (maybe even three times 🤞) to ensure that unsociable computer scientists can get out to socialise!, and that other great events such as the pub quiz and pixel bar will continue next year! In my opinion, it is also essential for us to continue running sober socials for our members that don’t drink alcohol, and if I was president next year, I would have lots of ideas for these. For example, it could be great to start an annual CompSoc hiking trip, helping our members to socialise, relieve stress from the difficulties of our course, and most importantly touch grass. We could also run more inter-society events similar to the paintballing event against physics society. Running these events could be a great opportunity for our society members to make connections with other like-minded students!

In addition to these academic and social events, I also have a few ideas to change the way that CompSoc runs! It would be such a great opportunity to create an alumni network for CompSoc, which in the future could then aid us and our members in gaining industry sponsors and placements. To help our newer members grow and settle into University life, I plan to introduce a buddy system, where our first-year members can opt in and they will be matched with a second, third- or fourth-year buddy. This can help to ease the stress of starting Uni and will mean that they have a mentor to guide them through the confusion of coursework, exams, and finding placements.

CompSoc is not only a great society but a community. Vote Katie today for better industry connections, an inclusive society, and more fridge to fridge!

Hey, I'm Miranda. I’m a BSc Computer Science student currently on placement and will be back for my third year next year. As a society member since fresher’s week and a committee member for the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of being involved with running the society and organising events for a long time, so I know how things work and what keeps our members happy. This is something I’d love to continue doing as President. My organisational and practical skills would help me to lead committee members effectively and support them to get the most out of their roles, delivering maximum fun and career success for society members!

This year I was one of the lead organisers for LeedsHack. I managed the participant engagement and experience side of the event, which involved everything from organising challenges, creating the Devpost page, coordinating events and workshops on the day, and my most important job, supplying deodorant in the bathrooms (unfortunately there was quite a lot leftover…). I’ve also led the development of our new website at luucompsoc.co.uk, which was key in getting new members and attracting sponsors for LeedsHack by giving us a professional online presence showing that we are an active and inclusive society. As Equality, Diversity and Inclusion secretary, I developed our community for women and non-binary people through our Rewriting the Code partnership and networking workshop… and I did all of these things while working a 9-5 on placement.

I want to broaden the focus of the society, keeping the social aspects that we know and love while also leveraging and developing our industry connections to secure sponsorship and partnerships with tech companies. This would give us more money to invest in our members, subsidising events, while also supporting our members in their career goals and providing development and networking opportunities to people of all backgrounds. I also want to support the LeedsHack team to build a solid foundation for it to become a bigger and better annual event, as well as focusing on community within the society - it’s often hard to get to know people, even on your course, after fresher’s week, but being able to meet and network with new people is such a valuable skill that I want to support our members to develop through more informal chatty events and workshops.

If you think this sounds good, I’d appreciate your vote!