P residentia L thoughts

Our (outgoing) President writes an open letter to our (incoming) President

Dear Molly,

It must be more frightening to run for election alone. To stand in front of your fellow students and ask them to trust you, with no-one else to take any attention away, takes a lot of courage. Your election is a huge personal achievement, and you fully deserve all the rewards that come with it.

You are very well suited for this. In the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of watching the 2017–18 committee mature as they settle into their roles, and you in particular have consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership skills. I’m envious of your ability to take in a lot of information, stay calm, and just make things happen. I have no concerns about how you’ll do over the next 12 months.

It’s no secret that I’ve found this job hard. But that doesn’t mean you will too. You’ve seen the mistakes I’ve made and I know you won’t make the same ones. I feel like I’ve only just started to get good at being President, but I imagine you’ll seamlessly pick up where I left off.

“Can you talk about something other than TCSU?”

This is a sentence you’ll hear a few times from your friends, but they’ll still be there for you when you need them. Trinity is a big college, and as cold as it can feel sometimes, it’s home to some of the warmest people I’ve met. You don’t have to revolutionise anything, you don’t need to make everyone love you, and you probably won’t make everyone love Trinity either—but I have no doubt that you will do great things for Trinity students, and you will be appreciated for it by everyone.

The burdens you now shoulder are great but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is inexpressible.

I wish you the best of luck, Toby