Hello dear reader and welcome to another MPStimonials! This week you have the pleasure of reading all about the role of Secretary - written by yours truly (Sarah, for those who don’t know) x

My ‘journey’ to becoming secretary is a slightly unusual one. At the end of my first year, it was the position I originally wanted to run for, and I went as far as to meet up with the current secretary, Billy, to find out all I could about the job. However, when I thought about it more, I realised the job I really wanted was Public Relations Officer, so took a gamble, ran for that instead, and got it!

At the end of 2nd year, there was literally a million* people running for chair (*figures may be exaggerated slightly) and I threw my name in the bucket too. It wasn’t to be, and I ended up running for Secretary, got it, and now, I honestly wouldn't change a thing! I’m so glad I got Secretary, all the aspects of the job really suit my characteristics and skills, and it’s a really fun position to have on the committee!

The headline level jobs that most people know the Secretary to be responsible for are taking the minutes, doing the agenda and writing the society email. Writing the email is by far my favourite aspect of this job. I love compiling the email on a Sunday afternoon, although writing it from Donegal is no joke. Every Secretary puts their own stamp on the email, and I’d hope that, along with some funny gifs of our members, my emails have a friendly and funny tone to them! It’s also great that I now know how to work MailChimp, as it’s a really useful software to know how to use.

Aside from the headline level tasks, a little known job of the Secretary is to act as a mediator should disagreements arise within the committee. This doesn’t happen often (thank goodness!), but when it does, I have to sit down with the people in disagreement and we talk through the problem. This can be quite a difficult task, as I really have to separate my own views (which inevitably, I will have) from the situation, and take an impartial status. I think (hope!) that I’ve achieved this throughout the year, as it’s something that I’ve struggled with at times, but it happens so little that I don’t really mind.

A massive positive about being Secretary is that I have a lot more time to get involved with different aspects of MPS, and different societies in DCU! Last year, my position was quite heavy, but this year, while it’s by no means easy, there’s definitely less of a workload, meaning I have more time to try out different things!

That’s about all I can cram into one blog post about Secretary! It’s a position that I’ve loved having this year, and couldn’t recommend it enough. If you’re thinking of running for committee next year, and Secretary is on your radar, PLEASE don’t hesitate to send me a message and I’ll give you the rundown on the position and some tips!