VICE-PRSIDENT INTERNAL Jackson Leslie

Hi Vickies!

I hope you all are having a great winter semester and a relaxing reading week! I am Jackson Leslie, VUSAC’S Vice-President Internal, and I am back to give you updates since we spoke last in November. I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

I wrapped up November doing check-ins with councillors. This year VUSAC has 3 first-year councillors, 5 upper-year councillors and 1 international councillor. Check-ins are a great way for me to see how folks are personally (VUSAC aside) and then talk about how they are finding the role. I dedicated the time with councillors to review their assigned portfolios– how they are finding their involvement, discussing expectations and areas we can improve. Across the board, councillors expressed gratitude for the love and support other council members showed– a feeling I share.

In December, I would be meeting with Amelia (Arts and Culture Commissioner), Soo (President), and Ali (Campus Life Coordinator) to begin planning for Gardiner Gala. We had meetings to brainstorm what we wanted the event to look like, capacity, meeting with potential student bands, and catering. To wrap up this month, I chair the Orientation Student Co-Chair interviews. I met with Ali to organize the interview panel, draft questions, and coordinate interview times.

January and February were quite hectic for me, partly because of a short winter break and largely due to the many events and responsibilities that needed to be completed. In January, there would be weekly Gardiner Gala meetings to finalize event details, catering, volunteer schedules, advertising and ticket release as February 2nd approached. Ninon (Scarlet and Gold Commissioner), Soo and I would also frequently meet to discuss and finalize the event details for Semi-Formal that was held on January 20th. I took the week we returned from winter break to have check-ins with the 7 commissions. We spent this time reviewing events/initiatives, their budgets and reflecting on the previous semester– what we liked, didn’t like, and what we would do differently. During the winter break, President McEwen and I were contacted by a professor from St. Mike’s to collaborate on an event featuring an Italian rap artist Amir Issaa to kick off Black History Month. President McEwen and I met to finalize the event details after the break. I also wanted to take this time to talk with her about what she hopes to accomplish during her term as President. Being heavily involved in the Black community at UTM and an advocate for Black excellence, I specifically wanted to discuss her goals for the Black student at Vic. Another responsibility I have as VPI is to coordinate and chair policy review meetings for our governing documents (Constitution, Council Policies, and the Elections and Referenda Code). I have weekly meetings with interested council members to discuss any edits we want to make, which are then presented to council as a discussion item and voted on two weeks later. I then ended the month having check-ins with our 5 staff members.

In February, Ninon, Soo, Ali, and I began planning for Highball. We have been looking at different venue options, catering, and planning what we want the event to look like. Though the event is a month away, I suspect the time will fly by. I finished off my check-in series by meeting with the councillors. I finished up my February duties chairing the Orientation Executive Interviews. I would meet with Ali to assemble a hiring