MyMDXSU: Steph's Story
By Stephanie Stevens, MDX Design Craft student (first year) and School Voice Leader for Art & Design
#MyMDXSU is a series of stories from Middlesex students whose experience with their Students' Union has impacted upon their life or studies for the better.
Read Steph's journey with Middlesex and MDXSU below...
My journey with my Students' Union started with a step, a leap, a fall - but in the end I got back up again. This is #MyMDXSU story.
It began with Student Leaders' Conference during my first term of my first year at MDX. I had been elected as a Student Voice Leader for my course, and had expected to go along with my classmates and spend most my time playing Angry Birds. As it turns out, I ended up on stage - opposing a motion that had been put forward, and voicing my views on sexism and inequality.
After the conference people congratulated me on my speech, and the then President of MDXSU told me, "we need you at the SU,” and that’s where it all started. This first meeting was followed by more meetings and working closely with MDXSU on several projects - researching how the university support homeless students, and attending the London Mayoral assembly, while making friends and becoming more educated on and interested in political issues.
However, around my 19th birthday I had a realisation that life wasn't where I wanted it to be.
I realised I had made no real friends at Middlesex, I lived with people that hated me, that I was slowly but surely failing the first year of my degree and I was struggling with severe depression and suicidal thoughts. Teary phone calls, hospital appointments and the isolation had started to hit home, and I wasn’t happy anymore. I didn’t want to leave my house, attend events or meet new people. I was miserable.
With a lot of persuasion from guys at the Students' Union, I put myself forward for the role of Art & Design School Voice Leader in the MDXSU elections in February 2016. I was trying to distract myself from everything going wrong in my life by trying to get involved, and the SU was the only thing that had given me purpose since moving to London.
I won School Voice Leader. I was unopposed, but I won. But it was too late. I had officially failed the first year of my degree - a degree I don’t like anymore. I felt I'd accomplished next to nothing during my year in London. I had lost all passion for a subject I loved, battled with depression, lost and then gained over a stone in weight and plunged myself £20,000 in debt. I was so disappointed in myself and in the fact I had let other people down. I decided to move back to Cornwall.
My friend asked me to go and see the advice team - I had to see them anyway to let them know my decision to quit my degree - who suggested I stay over summer and see if I still wanted to leave. I also let the Students' Union know that I wouldn't be returning the next term, and so wouldn't be able to fulfil the School Voice Leader role which I had been elected to. Regretfully, I had decided to give up the only progress I had made in the entire year.
After three months of retail work over the summer to pay bills, my parents asked what my plan was, to which I had no answer. It was like my entire world was shrouded in a dark cloud.
At this point, one of the friends I had made at the Students' Union decided to buy me a card and chocolates, telling me that “this was just one chapter or your life." I began to think about things I had always wanted to do, or always wanted to learn, and as it turns out there was a course at Middlesex that offered exactly that. I made enquiries, and while the university told me I couldn't transfer to a new course, I could start as a first year if I wanted to. So I did, I started again. I picked myself up from being on the bottom, and I started again.
The people I met and the friends I made at the Students' Union helped me realise my potential. They helped me realise who I was, and who I wanted to be. I may have fallen, but I got back up again!
Now, I love my new course, I get to help people who are struggling as a School Voice Leader, I'm working at the Students' Union as a Campaigns Intern, I've started campaigns, I've joined sports teams, I'm a president of my own Society, and I've found friends who appreciate everything I am and want to be! Everything I didn’t have last year I have now and it's all thanks to the Students' Union. The people I met through the SU helped me get my life back on track, and I love spending time there, with the people that had my back from day one.
Whatever your aspirations, however you're feeling about your course or your life right now - the Student’s Union can help you. Just like they helped me.
If you are struggling with work, life or studies at the moment, please don't struggle alone. Speak to a friend or family member, contact the university's support services, or get in touch with the MDXSU Advice team.
How will your journey with your Students' Union begin? Find out more about our societies, Liberation groups, events, elected roles and more on our website, or get in touch with us at mdxsu@mdx.ac.uk or on 020 8411 6450.
Do you have a story you'd like to share? If you would like to contribute to the MyMDXSU project, please email studentvoice@mdx.ac.uk with your names, course and a brief outline of your experience. If you'd like to find out more, give us a call on 020 8411 5125.
