This month, the student leaders from each CSU campus met in Orange for the annual CSU Student Leadership Conference. It was a week full of workshops, keynote speakers and collaborations between staff and students on how we can contribute to the student experience at CSU.
This year’s theme was ‘Your Voice at CSU.’ It was all about empowering our voice as students, how to listen and be heard. In light of the theme, we did activities that gave us an opportunity to:
- Give feedback to CSU staff. We participated in a ‘Think Tank’ where we got to pitch innovative ideas on how we can improve the university.
- Unpack our wants and needs as students. We split off into break-out sessions to explore specific aspects of the Uni, such as communications and give suggestions tailored to our different needs, whether we study online or on-campus.
- Gain insight from speakers. The speakers on Conference included Tanya Hennessey, Penny Locaso, Emmanuel Rodriguez and our very own Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Jenny Roberts. These speakers shared key findings from their personal and professional journey on being a good leader and having a voice.
Here are our favourite highlights from the week:
Vittorio Travan, SRC President | Bathurst
“My favourite speaker was Tanya Hennessey. She was really relatable and gave the experience of what CSU graduates go through, including the journey of students who may not achieve what they set out to straight out of uni. It was a good reminder that success may come slowly and to accept that.”
Emily Grose, SRC Vice-President | Port Macquarie
“What I took away from the keynote speakers – own your own mistakes, it’s okay to make mistakes and people are 
there to pick you up, to help you out. You don’t have to take all the stress on alone, you do have a team supporting you and that’s what you need when you’re a leader.”
Bernadette Flannery, Residential Advisor | Bathurst
“I’ve learnt that having an impactful voice means having a passion, drive and being willing to stand up for what you believe in. It’s also about working hard, in a group and team, to make your environment a better place.”
Brenden Grainger, SRC Member | Port Macquarie
“For my leadership role, I’m taking away the ability to make a decent change amongst the CSU community and being able to have my voice heard. CSU is for students, so our voice should be at the forefront of everything that CSU does. Conference was worthwhile, and I would recommend it to anyone.”
