"My name is Sam Ormiston and I am running for Media Officer because I am passionate about the media societies here at Stirling, and I want to make them work for everyone. Having been a member of Brig for 2 years, gaining invaluable experience and meeting an amazing group of people, I want to ensure everyone has that opportunity. Being involved in student media is a great place to make mistakes, learn from them, and improve your chances of succeeding in the industry."
1. Increase membership and offer exciting new opportunities to members
- I want to get as many people as possible involved in our amazing media societies. Joining a media society is a fantastic way to get some hands-on experience, whether that be through writing, filming or radio production. One way in which I would like to encourage new members to join is by setting up extra GIAGs throughout the year with fun activities to get people involved in student media. I would also work to try and get lots of guest speakers with real industry experience to come to media society meetings and run workshops.
2. Strengthen links between media societies and sports teams
- I have loved watching the first few episodes of ‘Bleed Green TV’ but I think even more can be done to publicise and showcase everything that is happening with sport at Scotland’s university of sporting excellence. We have top class athletes and amazing opportunities to take part in recreational sport – Let’s publicise it! I would also like to see more publicity for smaller sports teams, so everyone can realise just how diverse sport is at Stirling University. I would also like to improve our reporting on local sport outside the university, which would strengthen links in the wider Stirling community.
3. Encourage media societies to work together
- It’s nice to have a bit of healthy competition, especially with the Clubs and Societies Awards Ball right around the corner. But I would like to see more joint socials and events with Air3, AirTv and Brig all in attendance. I want to encourage members to try something new. In a world of multi-media journalism, I think it is important to learn about all forms of media, for a better chance to thrive in the industry.
4. Media societies to work for everyone
- Having spoke with a large number of ‘Two Plus Two’ students for my front-page Brig article in November, I realised that many students studying on the Digital Media integrated degree felt ‘left out’ of university life, and were not given as many opportunities to join clubs and societies. I want to explore new ways to get more Forth Valley students involved in student media. One of my ideas is to send representatives from the media societies to Forth Valley once a semester to meet with students to talk about what we do, and how they can get involved.