Shaping the future of the Students' Union
As one of the Students' Union Trustees, Hugh Jaques (Chemistry, 2000) has been instrumental in ensuring the Union meets its goal of making student life the best it can be, providing a guiding hand to make sure it continues to runs in a safe, legal and financially-sustainable manner. Hugh continuously guides the board with integrity and with the heart and mind of someone who has the Union's best interests at heart.
I got a lot out of my time at University and was lucky enough to land a great job straight away with Mars Incorporated, where I’m now a strategic capability director. My journey from undergraduate to experienced business leader gave me a genuine sense of wanting to give something back. I could have just written a cheque, but that wasn’t enough. So I spent three years volunteering as a trustee board member with the Students’ Union. It was a two-way process and stretched my thinking constantly.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the University, Hugh was recently awarded an 'Alumni Volunteer of the Year and Longstanding Volunteer Award'.
One of my volunteering awakenings was seeing how such an agile organisation successfully negotiated a period of tremendous change. As a collective we made improvements around mental health provision, ethical investment policy and approved investment for new services in the Portland Building. Adding skills to your CV through volunteering is great, but giving back gives you a feeling of satisfaction that’s hard to match. You should expect to learn and be challenged as much as you challenge and impart learning to others.
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