Committee Address

executive committee

Gabrielle Oehlmann Treasurer @_gabriellesusan This year I’ve had the honour of being the Treasurer for UTSoC. I am so grateful for this experience, it has been so rewarding and helped me expand my horizons both professionally and personally. I’ve gained valuable experience with managing budgets, grants and accounting for expenditure. Through the nature of my role as treasurer I have been able to work behind the scenes in all portfolios and watch all their amazing projects blossom from the early planning stages. I’m so proud to be a part of such a hardworking society and I am so thankful to the amazing UTSoC committee for making this experience as amazing as it has been. I would like to especially thank Cordelia, Izzy and Ainsley for being incredible leaders and my awesome treasurer junior Harry for stepping up and being an incredible help. I am so excited to see what UTSoC does next!

Ainsley Jones Secretary @_ainsleyjones_ Being a part of the UTSoC team in 2019 has meant that I’ve been surrounded by the most compassionate people. Every single day I’m amazed and inspired by the team, whether it be by their drive to support communication students, their ideas or how they manage to juggle so many things at once. As the UTSoC Secretary and a part of the leadership team, it has meant that I have had the opportunity to work with each portfolio and help them produce their initiatives. This has included organising meetings, taking minutes at meetings, emails, all things admin and being there as a helping hand to all the portfolios. We’ve also worked on CUTeSoC communication through our group pages, chats and our catch ups, which have been such a fun way for everyone to get to know each other. Thanks to the UTSoC 2019 legends. I! Love! UTSoC

Anna Lei & Calvin Lu Socials @_annalei Calvin Lu For the first time, the socials portfolio was led by two directors. To us, it was a surreal experience that put us through challenges and setbacks, but ultimately it saw us grow as people and we are incredibly privileged to have been given this opportunity. The numerous events that we organised and hosted, such as First Year Camp, The Hunt and the Annual Ball, saw us continuing traditions and enriching student connections. Our End of Semester Party was in collaboration with Reverb UTS, MuscUTS and Backstage, and the relationships established are as valuable as ever. It is so rewarding to see all the hard work, dedication and big ideas come to life and have students benefit from this. We’d like to thank our juniors for their hard work: Cynthia Nguyen, Annie Pham, Tarana Fernando and Cassie Parker.

Rachelle Tacadena Marketing @rachelletaco The marketing portfolio has been a rollercoaster in 2019, building our social media presence and keeping our community connected with each event, opportunity and initiative launched. We have worked alongside every portfolio and collaborated with multiple UTS clubs and societies to promote their ideas and bring them to life. A big shout-out to the Social Justice team and their #smashthestigma campaign with batyr which has been the most engaging (and equally inspiring) online campaign of this year. Two colourful (yet dense) spreadsheets, some challenging event pushes and hundreds of posts and Instagram stories later, UTSoC has been an extremely rewarding experience for the marketing portfolio, and we have all grown immensely. Alisha, Jacinta and Abby, my juniors, have worked so, so hard.

Kaung Aung Education @kaung_ng The education portfolio surely has been on a wild ride this entire year, with the Big Orange Little Orange programme the main focus for the year. We had events that included ice skating, Vivid, Timezone and cherry blossoms, just to name a few, and giving first-year students a chance to strengthen bonds with older students that will last all throughout university. More recently the education portfolio was involved with YOU Week, which found great success in terms of raising awareness for mental health and the #smashthestigma campaign alongside the social justice portfolio.

Brendon Song Sports Brendon Song Being the sports director has been a wonderful learning experience. The goal has been to hold a variety of events that offer fun new opportunities for members to meet each other. We focus on health and fitness in our weekly workouts, “Let’s Get Physical” and Colour Run but have alternate events such as Laser Tag and a FIFA tournament, a collaboration with Football Appreciation Society and Gamers Guild. I’d like to express my gratitude to my juniors for the hard work they have put into the sports portfolio this year. Thanks to Sam for being a great ambassador for “Let’s Get Physical”. Thanks to Envera for her creative input in discussions. And thanks to Olivia for her passion for all things UTSoC.

Aaron Liu Creatives @aaronliiuu It has been one hectic year for the creative portfolio! It was hard work ensuring UTSoC has the highest quality and aesthetic content that also aligns with UTSoC’s vision and message. This year, we wanted to incorporate the work of Music and Sound Design students, to broaden our creative horizons and provide opportunities for professional experience. This year we also tried to be a bit different, our first ever ‘Let’s Get Physical’ video had a reach of 1k views, and our first comedic Ball promotional video had a total reach of 2.1k views. Abbey, Annie, Dylan, Georgia, Tash, Oliver and Pia, y’all have all been absolute mad dogs with creating content from videos, to taking photos, creating graphics and composing music, and I could not have survived this year without these homies. UTSoC 2019, y’all have been heeectic!!

Melanie Wong Social Justice @m_wong182 Being the social justice director for UTSoC has taught me so much this year. A lot of the time, seeing society and people experiencing the worst can lead me to find the best in others. First semester focussed on refugee rights by fundraising money in a film screening of the documentary ‘The Staging Post’ for the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre in Indonesia. In Semester 2, the social justice portfolio redirected our focus to mental health awareness with a series of online initiatives and events. The photo-series #smashthestigma has seen high levels of engagement on social media, as well as being reposted and shared by UTS Engage. We also collaborated with The Big Lift to host the Charity Trivia event, raising money for headspace. We finished the semester’s activities with a stall at the UTS Timeout Week Mental Health Fair, giving out baked goods in exchange for an uplifting message or doodle. This year has been so, so rewarding and allowed me to collaborate with so many passionate individuals, for which I’ll always be thankful.

Shantelle O’Riordan Careers Shantelle O’Riordan Being careers director has been a rewarding and eventful experience. Our goal for this year was more than just raising UTSoC’s profile in the industry but ensuring our members receive true insight and guidance into navigating their career. We ran three successful panels and a Careers Masterclass, collaborating with other societies and thus building relationships with industry experts. Being a part of UTSoC has also been invaluable to my university experience as I have two great jobs in the industry and made lifelong friends.

Natasha Spencer Partnerships Natasha Spencer This year, a new direction was clarified for partnerships, aimed at solidifying UTSoC’s reputation as a bridge between students and industry. Alongside normal duties of supporting UTSoC’s other portfolios via aiding with reachout and leveraging sponsorships, three new focuses have been in development throughout the year. The first of these has been the creation of relationships with peak industry bodies such as PRIA, the IAA and more. The second is the increase of benefits for Communications students by constructing a bank of UTSoC-exclusive discounts on products, services and industry events. The third is the development of a new website to make a digital space more functional for both students and potential partners.

Sunny Adcock First Year Representative @sunny_adcock Being First Year Representative has been such a rewarding experience. Going to First Year Camp with my fellow first years and UTSoC members was an experience I’ll never forget. Without that camp, I wouldn’t have forged many of the bonds which have become so important to me now. It made the transition from high school to university far less daunting. Coming back from camp and attending various fun UTSOC events, only to see that that same comradery from camp was still there, was so welcoming and reassuring. Having a community I could go to for guidance made such a huge difference, and helped me build my leadership skills, uniting the first year cohort in the process. I’m really glad to have been First Year Rep in 2019 and can’t wait to see what 2020 brings for UTSOC.