With the new school year starting, AMS President Owen Rocchi, Vice-President (Operations) Ayan Chowdhury, and Vice-President (University Affairs) Ruth Osunde spoke to The Journal about their summer initiatives and plans for the fall semester.
Team OAR inherited the JDUC revitalization project from previous AMS executives which was originally set to open in May but has been pushed back to November of this year. While Team OAR didn’t provide any specific move in plans, they explained the services tend to be more difficult to move in whereas commissioners can set up easily.
This summer, the executive team learned to collaborate with one another, having each run for their respective positions individually rather than the usual three-person slate format.
An initiative the team took on these past four months was reviewing the previously controversial recognition policy which was instated during their predecessors, Team KMV’s, term after the policy received backlash.
Team OAR also touched on an online platform called EmpowerMe, a service provided to students since the fall of 2019. This platform allows students to attend up to eight virtual sessions with trained mental health practitioners to help with any mental health issues they might be facing.
Moving forward, the executive team wants to increase community engagement and improve transparency within the AMS.
Transparency
Transparency is a priority for Team OAR. They plan to stream each monthly AMS Assembly on YouTube, the highest legislative decision-making body of the AMS with representatives from all societies, and use social media platforms to disseminate accurate information about the student organization’s endeavours, Rocchi explained.
“[Streaming each AMS Assembly] will make it a lot easier for students to check in on what their student government is doing and to really bolster communication,” Rocchi said.
Although several assembly meetings have been livestreamed in the past, Rocchi hopes this partnership with the AMS Media Centre (AMC) will guarantee every assembly is streamed and easily accessible to students.
“We want to make sure that we’re providing correct information, so students are well and properly informed. Sometimes, it takes a little bit of time to craft the statement, put things together, cross check our sources, and make sure everything is correct, but the goal is to never ever lie to our students,” Osunde said.
For Osunde, transparency has always been a priority.
“We always aim to be transparent, and I think that’s something that we’ve tried to embody since we started our terms. It’s something that last year’s team was also very diligent in transitioning us in as well. I think the AMS strives for that transparency piece,” Osunde said.
Working as a Team
While Team OAR was elected individually, they’ve utilized the summer months to learn how to work as a team.
Rocchi highlighted despite coming into their positions separately, their passion for students and the work the AMS does has allowed them to connect as a team.
Over the summer, the executive team and other AMS employees have “built that synergy to be able to work together,” Rocchi said.
To create this camaraderie across all levels of the AMS, Team OAR is increasing the number of AMS socials, allowing employees to get to know each other on a personal level while still maintaining respectful working place relationships.
Community Engagement
This summer, Team OAR increased their engagement with the Queen’s community through LinkedIn, a platform that was previously under-utilized. They’ll continue to reach students using social media channels this fall.
“We’re a lot more active on LinkedIn now, which is a platform that we’ve had, but we’re looking to broaden our engagement,” Chowdhury said.
According to Chowdhury, LinkedIn, alongside e-mail marketing, are two examples of outreach methods the AMS used for recruitment during hiring periods.
“[These methods] showed great engagement and results with a lot of students becoming aware of what the AMS does,” he added.
Moving forward, Rocchi wants to spread the word about the AMS Food Bank, an AMS run service that collects non-perishable food to distribute to the community.
“It’s a huge initiative that I’m really passionate about because it gives students something tangible to see and show them that the AMS is out there working for them as a lot of our work is done behind closed doors,” said Rocchi.
Tags
AMS, JDUC, Summer in review, Team OAR
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