#leaderlimelight

1) What has your history been with PASS at University?

Like most people, I was new to PASS whilst in first year. I had the good fortune of having two very effective PASS leaders, Diego and Daniel, who showed me how PASS could be beneficial. I received advice regarding academics (COMP15111 hellooo), coursework and with non-academic stuff. I think my positive experience as a PASSee, has motivated me to provide the same sort of friendly and helpful environment to my group of PASSees

2) What has been your experience with PASS this year?

PASS this year has been great for me. I have developed personally from conducting the PASS sessions. I have managed to engage with my PASSees properly and every session is fun and productive at the same time. While, I was in first year, I had these ideas about PASS that I would implement to make PASS experience better. It is very satisfying to know that you have been successfully able to put your ideas into practice and your methods actually work. It is even more satisfying to know that the students actually value your PASS sessions.

3) Could you perhaps pick out one highlight?

In week 3/week 4 of the first semester, three groups of 4 members each, trying to build a tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows. This was when we actually realised that we were doing pretty well as a group, we had a consistent 90% - 100% attendance each session. Everyone was off their seats, getting involved in the activity and talking to each other.

4) Despite your success in PASS this year, do you feel there are any areas you can improve on in this semester?

Yes, there is room for improvement.

Attendance wise, its mostly the same people that attend the session and the same people who skip it. I plan to approach those who skip it every time, to get their views and feedback as to what they would like to be added to the session to make it useful for them.

Activities wise, we also could improve on the activities that we have been carrying out during the session. After more than a semester of PASS sessions, we find ourselves repeating the activities sometimes. Before it starts to get boring, we need to find some new and interesting new activities.

Academics wise, there are a few courses for which the courses have changed, and there is a gap between what first years are being taught and what we leaders learnt in our first years. We had this problem with math in first semester, where the material was changed and we were caught off guard. I believe the leaders could collectively approach some lecturers of these courses and ask them for extra worksheets with solutions that we could use in the PASS sessions. Slightly better support from the lecturers could help make the PASS sessions much more useful.

5) Do you hope to continue being a part of PASS next year?

Definitely. I believe that its a great way to meet new people and to help them by sharing your experiences and knowledge with them. Being a PASS leader in itself is a very enriching experience and I wish to continue being a leader next year as well. .

6) What impact do you hope to have left on your PASSees by the end of this year?

I want to leave them with an impression of PASS being something useful. Really, if there is an overarching goal of the whole scheme, it is to instill the belief that PASS does help. The goals in the first semester were different, namely, to get their attention, to connect with them and to keep the attendance up. The challenges this semester are to to leave them with the impression that PASS was fruitful for them and to inspire them to become PASS leaders themselves.

7) Would you like to tell us something interesting about yourself?