I’m a sucker for saying ‘yes’. I take things on before thinking them through or agree to plans only to panic at the thought of actually doing them. It’s not that I don’t want to: I’m chronically either busy, sleeping or recharging. My flatmate says that, for someone who claims not to like people, I sure talk to a lot of them. And it’s true. I’m not a people person. I also talk to a fair amount of people. But I’d say it’s because I like having varied, new experiences, so come across different crowds because of that. In my time at Warwick University, I’ve taken on a few exec responsibilities as well as attending other society events. Her Campus, BoundBy and Tabletop are the main three that I’ve joined because of uni, as well as my recent involvement with BeaconLit Book Festival back home, volunteering at Warwick Arts Centre and joining the End Period Poverty campaign. So, how do I (if at all) balance these exec roles alongside my actual degree?
Let’s think chronologically. Her Campus has been my longest-standing exec position. Around two years ago, the lovely Georgia (now our Chapter Leader) messaged the course groupchat asking if anyone was interested in joining an online magazine that she was setting up a branch of. I was interested even before I realised that it was a space for female writers. As well as writing articles (averaging one a week when I’m on the ball), I’m co-editor with Sophia and attend most of the weekly meetings where we organise upcoming events and the publication schedule. Because I’ve been doing this since first year, it’s easily the most manageable of my commitments. Plus, I’m surrounded by a great group of women who I’ve learnt from and laughed with. The article-writing isn’t exec-y, so to speak, but it’s something I genuinely enjoy and it’s useful to check in with the team to see what I could write about and when a rough deadline is. As for editing, I check with the exec which articles are finished, or contact the non-exec writers with any suggestions. Georgia will usually then give the writers a heads up about when their article will be published. The meetings are usually between 20-40 minutes because we’ve got a good thing going on and, to be honest, the current focus has been primarily on promotion and seeking new exec/writers for after we graduate.
My biggest challenge has been writing consistently, which is more because of time management and difficulty holding myself accountable. The nature of my degree means that my workload can be massively heavier on some weeks than it is others and, because most of the other exec also study Creative Writing, it means Her Campus can feel the toll. We might have a static period in publishing articles, or have less of us at the meetings, but we always push through. And we each understand that our degree comes first. If I were organised enough, I would probably get around this by having articles in the bank, ready to be edited and uploaded for when I’m busy. As for editing, it’s hardly a significant challenge: Sophia and I will distribute the workload and can always message the Chapter Leader if it’s still more than we can do. The editing itself doesn’t take long and I love to read what others write. So, while I have a few responsibilities within Her Campus, the fulfilment I get from it massively outweighs the occasional ‘oh I really need to write that article but I have so much uni work to do’ panic. At the end of the day, it’s a platform to give women a voice, to be expressive and without judgement. I don’t see it as an obligation but an opportunity.
BoundBy is my other online magazine that I became involved with at university. Our website can be found here or at Boundby.poetry on Instagram. My coursemates and I cofounded the collective after seeing a gap in the market for budding poets who want a professional space to share their work. We’re coming up to our one-year anniversary and have decided to continue the magazine post-university rather than pass it on to second-year students. We are, however, looking for student representatives to liaison with so we can continue to run workshops and socials. Hint hint. I’ve enjoyed the challenge of setting up a poetry magazine from scratch, especially as it was a completely new experience and (if we’re being real) none of us knew what we were doing. I used my experience with Her Campus to advise on initial promotion and our poetry tutor was incredibly supportive. Massive thank you to Vance, Grace and Joseph for all the effort you have put into launching and maintaining our website because this was the most complicated part. An unexpected challenge was deciding as a group on our branding; on being clear on what sort of poetry magazine we were. We’ve made some minor adjustments since we launched but I’d say we’ve been pretty consistent with our ethos.
Set-up aside, BoundBy has also been relatively low commitment. We did have monthly releases but have recently switched to quarterly to make it more sustainable post-university. For the monthly releases it was hard to find a time where we could all meet to discuss the poems and other categories and events we wanted to run. Moving to quarterly releases, we have a lot more time to vote, edit and discuss the submissions, not to mention we can celebrate the editions for longer. In terms of specific exec responsibilities, I’m currently more focused on arranging our workshops. I of course go to the meetings and help brainstorm the next categories but am trying to work on making in-person sessions exciting. Overall then, BoundBy has been fairly easy to balance with my degree, especially now that we’ve switched to quarterly publications. There have been times where I’ve struggled to fit the in-person exec meetings around my timetable and other commitments but, because the magazine itself is all online, I can always message the groupchat and keep up with the admin. And, though I do submit for the magazine (anonymously, of course, and that doesn’t mean I’ll get published), this is very different to the amount of writing needed for Her Campus. It fits in nicely with my degree because I write a lot of poetry for it and pick the better ones to submit. Overall, I wouldn’t change a thing about my involvement with BoundBy and am excited to see where it goes.
Finally (and most time-consumingly), is Warwick Tabletop Games and Roleplaying Society. I’m both the Vice President (VP) and Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Officer (ED&I Officer), which is certainly a handful but I’m grateful for the overlap of the two exec positions. For example, as ED&I Officer I actively work on representing our demographic within the soc and ensuring all members have events that include them. As VP, I arrange “irregular events” like the Murder Mystery, collabs and quiz nights, so am always looking for feedback from members about what they’d like to see. ED&I Officer doesn’t require a set time commitment but is more something that I keep on my mind when I’m at events and on the Discord. VP, however, really requires me to check in with members and fellow exec. We have a 6-day weekly event schedule, 150+ members and are active on multiple social media platforms. I’m responsible for room bookings, planning and leading fortnightly exec meetings, sending follow-ups to exec regarding outstanding tasks, arranging socials, responding to online enquiries, making the termly event schedule, creating rotas for open days and longer events, sorting out training and attendance for Societies Assembly, co-planning the merch order, organising the Annual General Meeting and more. There’s a lot to do and to call it varied is an understatement. I’ve also co-created an Instagram account for the society, supported with making promo and have had a big clearout of our storage cupboards.
Perhaps I was over-ambitious when I ran for two exec positions, but it’s nearly the end of Term 2 and I’ve (mostly) made it so far. Also, I’m supported by some wonderful people, particularly the President, Ben, and the Tech Officer, Fern (who was the VP before me). If I could go back, I’d still run for both positions, but would probably set myself more reminders and do quicker follow-ups. Admittedly, I was struggling a few weeks ago to balance Tabletop with my degree and this resulted in my stepping back for a fortnight. I had 2 x 3,500 word essays to write, was behind in my dissertation and was relying on Sparknotes to summarise the required reading. It wasn’t my finest moment. But, I communicated this with the relevant exec and was clear that I would respond to time-sensitive questions. Everything worked out in the end and I’m so grateful that I did it because both essays went in without any penalties.
From my experience as Tabletop exec, I’ve learnt that communication and organisation are paramount to the smooth running of the society. I need to be honest with myself and others about what we’ve got to do and how long we’ve got to do it. There’s no point in making unachievable deadlines because it creates unnecessary stress for everyone involved. With the Murder Mystery, for example, we needed to push it back a term after a few unproductive attempts to make initial arrangements. It was a combination of having heavy uni workloads and also not setting manageable tasks. I’ve also realised that it’s important to have compassion for others: if someone takes a while to respond or I send a chaser message, it’s usually not personal. Everyone has their commitments and challenges to navigate.
If I were to do it all again, my advice to myself and others would be to utilize organisational tools religiously. It absolutely is possible to balance multiple exec roles with your degree (and have a social life) but it takes some foresight. Even if using a calendar, writing in your notes or setting timers seems excessive at the time, they can be incredibly helpful and you can always wean yourself off. Building good habits is the hardest part and you can never start too early. Most importantly though, be honest and communicate often. You don’t have to say yes to everything and there are opportunities everywhere. Sometimes you can’t do everything (if only I practised what I preach). Even just voicing your exhaustion can help, you don’t need to pile off your responsibilities if you don’t think you need to. But at the end of the day, university is largely about studying for a degree, so that should be the priority. While there have been moments where I’ve reassessed my commitments (which I acknowledged later than I should have), I have grown so much from each of them that I can’t see myself without them. I hope that sharing my story has been helpful to others navigating similar paths. Remember, no one knows what they’re doing, and adjusting as you go is part of life. You’ve got this.