#keelebecause

The freestyle skier competed in the single and dual moguls, reaching 12th ahead of World Cup and Olympic skiers.

Sam said: "I competed against some of the very best in the sport and learned a lot, especially about being calm under pressure and how to perform in front of big crowds. Competing in the games alongside some of the world’s best mogul skiers and numerous Olympians was a great experience and certainly inspired me to continue skiing with the hope of reaching the Olympics one day.

“It was a huge event - over 2,500 athletes from all around the world were there. Without the Key Fund I would never have had that experience as I pay for coaching and everything myself.”

Sam's long-term goal is to compete for Great Britain in the 2022 Olympics and to join the World Tour as a freestyle skier and moguls specialist.

I'm currently a second year student, scarily half way through my degree and Keele has enabled me to personalise my degree to give me the best opportunity for my future. 

The workload is not any different from studying any other degree but it relies on time management and organisation as you become part of two schools. Two schools that become your home. My degree has and continues to equip me with the essential skills through field trips and timetabled classes. Geology has taken me to the Lake District for snowball fights with my course to experiencing breathtaking geology in Pembrokeshire for the week. To then travel back to intriguing anatomy and neuro labs staining brain tissue to identify neurones. My intellect and personal skills are constantly challenged throughout. 

Not only does my degree open my options for future prospects but it allows me to display all my skills I have developed over my three years of study. I have developed leadership, cooperation, time management and organisation skills by becoming the social and events secretary to now acting as the president of Keele Life Science Society, ball secretary of Geosoc as well as representing my academic year for 2 consecutive years as a geology StAR. I have even engaged in a sport that I never saw myself take part in: cheerleading. I've made lifelong friends along the way, which is always a bonus. 

As a geologist, neuroscientist, cheerleader and friend to many, I have become fearless. And fearlessness makes you limitless. 

This is the first time in a long time that a KeeleSU Officer or Keele University student has held an elected position in the NUS, as well as being the first time ever for an officer or student to be elected to this particular position. I’m really proud to have been elected; when I came to Keele I never thought I would run to be an Elected Officer, let alone for a position in the National Union of Students! Since being elected as a Welfare and Internationalisation Officer, and NUS Delegate, at KeeleSU I’ve worked to make sure that our students have a national voice and that the work of the NUS is enacted with students’ best interests at heart, something that I will continue to do in this new position.

NUS has a number of zones spanning Higher Education, Further Education, Union Development, Welfare and Society and Citizenship. The committees seek to hold the NUS Vice Presidents to account and support his work on a national scale. It will be an honour to work alongside the VP for Society and Citizenship Robbiie Young in the year ahead as he works on engaging students with democracy, citizenship and the wider world. For me, the Society and Citizenship Zone has the potential to be the most important as it tackles issues that are not just faced by students but that affect our society. This year the zone priorities campaigns around divestment with Emissions Impossible, sustainability, votes at 16, social justice and the living wage something which I have started work on here at Keele.