When Sarah Franz, newly elected Guild Education Vice President, approached Alicia Gibbs about running with Illuminate for a position as Guild Councillor in the 2016 Guild elections, it was safe to say Alicia was apprehensive.
On the one hand, Alicia had so much interest in getting involved with the Guild and believed that her strengths in problem solving, expressing ideas diplomatically and respectfully, and genuinely listening to other points of view – would all contribute to making her the perfect fit for the job. On the other hand, Alicia dreaded campaigning and knew that this was not on her list of personal strengths. In fact, trying to convince busy and disinterested strangers that they should not only vote in the guild election, but they should vote for her was pretty much Alicia’s worst nightmare. Alicia adds “I do make a concerted effort not to let fear stop me from doing things that I really want to do, so I decided to dive in”. And thanks to her can do attitude, Alicia has been officially elected as a member of the 2016 Guild Council.
Of the ten Guild Councillors elected, Alicia was awarded the third highest number of votes. This was a complete surprise to Alicia, saying that it is a credit to the support she received from fellow social work students and she could not be any more grateful. The election process provided Alicia with a new perspective on our political system; in particular, that the skill set required to get elected may differ from the skill set required to do the actual job.
With elections over, Alicia is looking forward to her term commencing, adding “I am honoured and excited to be able to work with Sarah and the rest of the guild council to make the experience of being a Curtin student – and in particular, a social work student – the best it can be.”
Congratulations Alicia on this outstanding achievement.
