AU President

Sophia Reitano

I’m a second-year marketing and management student. Sports have always played a humongous role in my life. I’m from the US and we have a massive sports culture, so growing up, I was involved in lots of sports. I took part in club volleyball for five years, and we travelled all around the States. I was also a competitive dancer and we actually won the national title. My other main sports would be tennis, golf, track and field, football and softball. I’m also a student ambassador and an International Welcome team-member.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BE AU PRESIDENT?

I want to bring my passion for sports to Exeter, I really want to get people involved and engaged in sport. I’ve got a few ideas to get more people excited about sport, I think that we need more events. In the US, before any kind of game, we have tailgating, a massive pre-sport festivity to get everyone in the spirit, everyone excited to root for your team. I think if we could have activities like that, that would get more people involved. Also, I think we should have an ‘Exeter Olympics’ where anyone who wants to be involved gets randomly split into groups to compete. We could have an opening ceremony at Timepiece, and then throughout the weekend there would be a round robin of everyone playing all the sports and all levels could be included. Maybe we could talk to the University gym and see if we can have a prize of £50 off the sports membership? Freshers’ Week is often the main week to try all of the sports and societies, but it’s crazy because you’re moving and settling in and trying to make friends. So, I think that if during Reading Week, once everything has settled down, we have a Refreshers’ Week, to allow more people to try different sports and societies.

What is the biggest challenge you will face in the ROLE?

What will you do to combat toxic cultures in au societies?

how will you ensure both men’s & women’s sports are supported by the au? what is your biggest weakness?

What is your MOST MEMORABLE NIGHT OUT IN EXETER?

I think it would be trying to represent everyone’s voices. I know there are over 20,000 students here at Exeter, so making sure that everyone’s voice is being heard could be difficult. But I think everyone should have a chance to contribute their opinions on things that they want fixed.

I think toxicity could be combatted by bringing everyone together through large events. We could have all the club captains meet together, to ensure a united culture. If there is the opportunity to become friends with everyone, then people would not want to spread negative energy around.

I’m a female, right? So you might think that I would prioritise female sports, but I’ve been involved in all kinds of sports. I believe that everyone needs to be able to have a chance to be represented. I would talk to all of the club captains to make sure that everyone is included in decisions and that everyone in the student body is heard. I assume that more girls might follow the Student Guild and other University Instagram pages, as it can be more of a girl demographic. So, although I mentioned doing polls on Instagram, we could also stand outside of the Forum and take a convenience sample. This could ensure that we have an equal sample of boys and girls.

My biggest weakness is probably that I’ve got a lot going on in my life; I like to do a lot. Every day is busy, I have lots of things going on. But from this, I have learnt how to prioritise, and how to multitask to get things done. I know that if I get the chance to take on this role, there are lots of meetings, sports and things to do, but I feel like my previous experience of always being involved in multiple things will help me out with that.

A few weeks ago we had a tennis match against the Cardiff Twos. We were supposed to lose because they were two levels higher than us. We lost the doubles but three out of the four of us won our matches in the singles. That was a really amazing experience and going out after was great!