Two people are running for communications vice-president: Aidan Rawding and Daniel Konopelski. Rawding (she/her) is a second-year journalism student, while Konopelski (he/him) is in FYP.
Communications vice-president duties include managing KSU social media, sending out the This Week At King’s (TWAK) newsletter, and organizing KSU documents for council meetings. Candidates are listed by order of first name.
Aidan Rawding
Q: What experiences equipped you for this position?
A: I’ve had the opportunity to be a Junior Don here at King’s this year. I have knowledge of the student community and how it functions, and I really get to observe firsthand how students like to take in information, and what forms of communication are most successful.
As I mentioned in my platform speech, I’m the creator of the support posters that were made last semester… I made those posters with their information on them for students, so they know where to reach them, where to contact them and what services they provide. I also managed an Instagram account for my floor, which kept them in the loop about community events, and I think this could really translate well to my job as communications VP, because I really have to be up to date on what’s happening in our King’s community and be able to translate that into a quick and easy to read a tweet or Instagram post with visuals.
I’m organized, I’m tech-savvy, I’m a hard worker, and because I’m a journalism student, I have knowledge of not only the King’s community but the Halifax community.
I will say, I love graphic design and media – I’m like a Canva Queen. I was on my high school yearbook club, and I was involved with a lot of the graphic design and the layout and everything for the book… I played sports for most, for most of my life – in my childhood, and all of high school – so I really know what it takes to function on a team and how to communicate well with team members to reach our goals.
Q: What do you feel is the biggest issue for students on campus, and what do you plan to do to fix it?
A: From a communication standpoint, I think the first thing that comes to mind is the severed communication between off-campus students and on-campus students. I think – and I can speak to this personally – that a lot of students sometimes don’t know about the things that are offered to them, such as the green shield: our insurance plan. As a student, I didn’t really know how that worked, or how I could use that to get money back on prescriptions and things like that.
My goal here is to help people, wherever they are, understand things in a way that’s accessible and bite sized – because we’re all so busy, right? We have this newsletter that I would be responsible for called This Week at King, and I was thinking it’d be really fun to make a five-minute podcast every week summarizing the newsletter for people who don’t really feel like reading through the whole thing, or thinking of some fun ways to advertise the newsletter in the first place to have people sign up for that. Things like that!
Q: What is one thing you have done at King’s to improve the lives of students?
A: Like I said, the support posters for Isa, Jordan and Rhema are something I’m really proud of. I think that was a time where I was able to recognize that my community really needed to … if they were, by any chance, struggling, they would know where to go for that support, whether they felt comfortable doing that or not. I wanted to make sure they knew. I wasn’t going up to them and being like, ‘Hey! There’s these three people, you can talk to them whenever you want.’ It was a more passive, more subtle way, but I think it really worked. I was able to acknowledge that my community needed to know about the supports, and I was able to step up to the plate and create an effective solution.
Q: Accessible and current information through KSU communications is essential, especially when thinking about information surrounding COVID-19 and the Union Health Plan. Despite this, the KSU website has been sparsely updated for the past few years. What do you feel needs to be done to make this website fully useable?
A: I know that pictures haven’t been updated in a long time. The team photo is still the same as it was a few years ago, when other students were in the KSU positions. That would be a good one, because you’ve really got to put a face to a name, right? Consistently updating the website – I’m sure I can plan some ways to do that with my colleagues if elected.
There are ways for, text to be included. Lots of pictures, visuals. When I do update the website, or if there are things that are on the website that students may not know about, I’ll be sure to be posting about these things, tweeting about them – even word of mouth is a great way to get the word out about updates and things that are happening at the school. Yeah, being consistent in updating all of our platforms, I think is necessary.
Q: KSU communications are nearly entirely social media-based. Some students don’t use social media. How will you make KSU communications more accessible?
A: Everyone has different ways that they like to receive information. I think word of mouth is really underrated way.
For people who are auditory learners, or who like to receive their information through audio, I think a five-minute podcast could be super cool, and if it’s available on like, Apple Music, or Spotify, or Apple Podcasts, per se, I think that could be a more appealing options to students than reading through that long email newsletter.
Daniel Konopelski
Q: What experiences equipped you for this position?
A: In March of 2021, when I was really nervous about getting into King’s, and I wasn’t sure who else I was going to be interacting with, I reached out to the registrar’s office, and they got back to me and said, currently nothing is up right now, but perhaps you could start an Instagram page.
I was able to develop my graphic design skills from there, which is really important for this position… It also includes event planning as well, where I was able to be in touch with some of the registrar’s office assistants – we planned a Zoom Kahoot.
I was able to promote [the] pen pal program where we were able to sign up and be paired with some other person who was going to go to King’s. We were chatting with them for the latter half of the summer before we headed off to King’s.
Q: What do you feel is the biggest issue for students on campus, and what do you plan to do to fix it?
A: Obviously, there are two main focuses that I think address … issues clearly, which are authenticity and availability.
My goal is to try to keep that welcoming environment that the KSU is known for, as well as being as transparent as possible through the whole King’s community with updated notices on the KSU, throughout various bulletin boards, Brightspace posts, emails, TWAK, [and] social media profiles.
I also plan on improving these communications further by erasing the language barrier. As we are on unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Mi’kmaq people, I have used Mi’kmaw in my campaign rather rigorously. French was the other language I am using in my campaign, given that we have a small French-speaking population. Beyond that, I plan on pushing for a braille printer with our physical posters, to make sure that those with visual disabilities are able to understand the message that we’re trying to get across and ensure that everyone gets the message.
Another issue that has been brought up is that there are not a lot of people available, given that we are also in a pandemic which has also taken a toll on student mental health. My plan is to just be available – whether it’s on office hours, on social media, or just passing by on campus.
Communication is so important regarding the KSU. In fact, community is what this college thrives on, and without good communication, there is no good community.
Q: What is one thing you have done at King’s to improve the lives of students?
A: I’ve been the first-year representative of the King Students Union, where I have brought forward so many different issues involving FYP.
I [have] stayed well beyond my office hours in case any students wanted to come in and just needed someone to talk to. If there is something that needs to be improved on, I have to take note of that. In fact, I was also one of the seven people to stay behind for the winter break, and I was able to write a relatively long day-by-day informal report to bring back to current [executive] members, which included some action items involving student life and how that can be improved and hotspots on campus regarding Wi-Fi, as Dalhousie’s Wi-Fi is rather finicky. With improved Wi-Fi, students will be able to access their information a lot easier.
Q: Accessible and current information through KSU communications is essential, especially when thinking about information surrounding COVID-19 and the Union Health Plan. Despite this, the KSU website has been sparsely updated for the past few years. What do you feel needs to be done to make this website fully useable?
A: I’ve noticed that too. In fact, in this past year, it was barely updated whatsoever. I feel like I need to, because as the communications vice-president, it is my responsibility. I have to understand the programming language and the various steps in order to update that website: council documents that are brought up, meeting minutes that are also included as well. Along with that, I can add issues of TWAK. My plan is to also use French and Mi’kmaw to create two other versions along with English, so that it’s [accessible to] a wider audience. [I’m] planning on updating the website so that it is up to date with this current exec. as it is a very important conduit.
Q: KSU communications are nearly entirely social media-based. Some students don’t use social media. How will you make KSU communications more accessible?
A: I plan on pushing for a braille printer, along with making separate [copies of] posters – ones in English and French and Mi’kmaw – all of which will also be included with Braille, along with various texts and fonts with sharp contrast so that [they stand] out to people, and so you can process the information being given regardless if you have a visual impairment or not. I know other people suggested that I start a podcast involving TWAK; like “This is your this week at King’s” in a minute. I[‘ll] upload an oral interpretation of what will be happening at King’s, along with doing announcements for various programs through our various representatives. I plan on being in touch with the current exec., the future exec., and the future councillors to get our message heard across all programs with in-person announcements.