Kia Delgado Derteano is one of the candidates for the role of International and Welfare Officer in this year’s SU elections. Forge Press sat down with her to discuss her motivations, the importance of the role and her manifesto, as well as her plans for the campaign.
Kia’s motivation stemmed from her year as the current Ethnic Diversity part time officer for the student union. She wants to focus on those areas that are “overlooked”, with a main goal of helping all students “to have their voice and interests represented”. Kia has found “both the international community and the welfare services have helped me succeed in my degree” and have helped her to “find a home in Sheffield” as a city. Kia talks from her own experience, expressing that “I want this to be the case for everyone.”
This role is especially important in Kia’s opinion as it “is very important to have international representation” at university. In this role, she believes it is important to acknowledge that “many people end up struggling, or not knowing where to look for adequate support”. Hence, Kia places emphasis on providing guidance and easy to access to a variety of support networks within the Student Union, further revealed throughout her policies in her manifesto.
One of the main policies Kia proposes is to have “a better employability service for international students”, as this is often neglected, especially on the online careers service platform. This would entail establishing “workshops to aid students applying for sponsored jobs”, a “filter on the website” for jobs with sponsorships, and also jobs in other countries. These changes, alongside a range of “alumni networking” would reduce the anxiety around employment after graduating, for all students in university, not just home students.
This also would motivate Kia to “start a conversation about the visa conditions for graduate skilled worker visas”, as she is aware these create “a lot of inequality”. Her main reason behind this is to “highlight the experience of international students and ask for better rights” for those who cannot do so independently.
Another key policy in Kia’s manifesto is “to diversify the mental health service”: making sure the staff reflect the “diverse student population”, especially those of marginalised racial and gender backgrounds. This would instantly improve the mental health service due to the recognition that “experiences are all different and it’s only fair that this service reflects that”. Kia personally has benefited from this service, and “helped her stay grounded” throughout her study, and wants to make this a more accessible service for every student on campus.
In terms of the plan for her campaign, Kia’s priority is “to be everywhere”, with a priority of “talking to people”, outside of the “specific set of students involved with the SU” that she engages with in her current role. Kia’s campaign is predominantly “inspired by people I know, and the conversations I’ve had”, and this will be reflected throughout her campaign in the coming weeks.
Kia also aims to utilise social media within her campaign, both to communicate her ideas clearly to a wide range of students, yet also “to have fun with it”, revealing her own personality and characteristics to the student body.
