With the school year in full swing, AMS President Kate McCuaig, Vice-President (Operations) Michelle Hudson, and Vice-President (University Affairs) Victoria Mills sat down with The Journal to discuss their goals for the year.
Reflecting on their summer term, KMV highlighted their accomplishments, specifically monetary compensation for students consulting with the AMS, additions to students’ health coverage, and building community among undergraduate students.
Accessibility to Student Health Services
Students saw the return of EmpowerMe on Sept. 1, repealing the previous AMS mental health platform, Console, a shift made by Team ETC last year. EmpowerMe provides mental health and wellness for students, featuring 24/7 crisis and one-on-one virtual therapy sessions.
“We found students wanted more one-on-one therapy access and EmpowerMe offered a greater range of students to be able to [access] that as opposed to Console,” Husdon said.
According to Hudson, students reported finding Console difficult to navigate prompting the AMS to discontinue its use.
McCuaig emphasized the importance of collaboration with Student Wellness Services (SWS), which many students rely on for health care while studying at Queen’s.
“For the student body making appointments, we’ve found the phone call itself is actually a really intimidating process of appointment booking. We’re working with [SWS] and updating them, to make sure they’re in alignment,” McCuaig said.
For KMV, a crowning achievement this summer was the health care travel bursary, funding transit for students unable to access specific health services in Kingston. The bursary covers students seeking gender affirming health care.
To include online students, KMV figured out the logistical kinks to allow Health Science students online to opt-in to the mandatory AMS student fee slate. The fee allows students access to AMS services, including health and dental care coverage. Mills told The Journal Arts and Science students online (ASO) are on KMV’s radar.
“Now we’re equipped with more knowledge about the processes, and a lot of the finer logistical aspects, we can have these conversations with ASO representatives, and we’re happy to do those kinds of things in the future,” Mills said.
In-person Community Outreach
Team KMV is putting emphasis on fostering face-to-face interactions with the Queen’s student body. KMV is actively engaging with students through attending orientation events, visiting first-year residence buildings with commissioners, and introducing themselves to students.
“There’s nothing that replaces that face-to-face interaction with students,” Mills said. “We have some time aside to speak with first year students directly.”
To cater to the needs of students residing off-campus, especially those who live further away from the University district, KMV is being proactive.
The two key measures focus on providing advance notice for AMS events and promoting events in-person around campus.
“We need to be able to make sure that we’re giving people enough notice,” McCuaig said. “It’s impacting working students—I’ve held a student job my entire time at university and that’s a very common experience for most students. It’s about giving students the option to come.”
KMV changed their wristband distribution approach for the orientation mystery concert to consider all first-year students, regardless of where they are currently residing in relation to the university district.
“It’s going to every first-year student no matter where you live in relation to residence,” Mills said.
To promote AMS services, KMV explained they’re utilizing diverse social media platforms, and for students who do not follow AMS social media s, the team intends to put up posters on campus advertising in-person events.
Transparency
For Hudson, transparency is a priority.
KMV plans to make the AMS budget more accessible to students by making it publicly available on their website and creating videos explaining their financial decisions line-by-line.
“Since students contribute financially through their AMS fees, we want to make sure the money is going to where they want it to go,” McCuaig said.
As part of KMV’s commitment to transparency, the team plans to sit down again with The Journal.
“We’ll be going over it line-by-line,” Hudson said. “I want to be very financially transparent, and I think that starts with [addressing] The Journal.”
Mills is focused on engaging students through AMS Assembly, which she called an “ability measure” for the AMS. Assembly is the highest undergraduate legislative body consisting of student leaders who meet monthly to discuss student concerns and initiatives.
“AMS Assembly is open to all students. We want to tell them what that is, where it is, and when it is,” Mills said.
Part of engaging students in AMS Assembly means allowing them to come prepared. Mills stressed it’s an expectation for commissioners and other of senior management to complete detailed reports in time for assembly.
“Considering [commissioners] roles are student facing, [reports are] an expectation,” Mills said.
Beyond assembly, McCauig hopes to show students what the day-to-day life of an AMS
employee looks like on the AMS’ social media, bridging the gap between the general student body and their student government.
“We want to be able to show students our day-to-day operations so they know what their student leaders [are doing],” McCuaig said.
Staff Training and Appreciation
Team KMV initiated summer staff training sessions for their senior management team.
Training covered anti-racism, safe disclosures from staff, and equity-focused training. The bi-weekly trainings were effective, McCuaig claimed.
“[Every two weeks] leaves enough time to digest the training and to think about how it reflects on your own positionality,” McCuaig said. “Because everyone needs to reflect on what that training means to them, their service, or what they’re doing in the day-to-day.”
A hot topic during last year’s election season, Mills confirmed the event sanctioning process has been streamlined. There is now one form which autopopulates based on students’ selections, and s other AMS services if the form indicates they’re needed at the event.
“Now every event organizer who gets an approved form, they’re automatically emailed a PDF copy of the entire thing,” Mills said. “There’s a paper trail on both ends.”
KMV hired a new assistant manager to specifically manage event sanctioning.
Overall McCuaig wants to ensure staff feels ed by the team KMV and that the executives are there for them. When asked to make a first 100-day promise, McCuaig wants the AMS to be available and accessible to all students.
“Everyone welcome back to campus. If you need anything the AMS is here for you,” McCuaig said.
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