{"id":4812,"date":"2025-06-24T14:13:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T13:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2025-06-24T14:13:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T13:13:42","slug":"amplifying-voices-and-building-belonging-suyi-yang-reflects-on-her-year-as-equality-and-diversity-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/2025\/06\/24\/amplifying-voices-and-building-belonging-suyi-yang-reflects-on-her-year-as-equality-and-diversity-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"Amplifying Voices and Building Belonging: Suyi Yang Reflects on Her Year as Equality and Diversity Officer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As she concludes her term as Equality and Diversity Officer at Queen\u2019s Students\u2019 Union, Suyi Yang<\/strong> reflects on a year dedicated to fostering inclusion and celebrating cultural diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What inspired the work you focused on this year?<\/strong>
A:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been at Queen\u2019s for five years now and, as an international student, I remember how overwhelming it felt at first. That really motivated me to make campus feel more welcoming, especially for students who don\u2019t always feel represented. I wanted our Race Equality Week to be more student-facing and engaging, and I attended the EDI\u2019s Disability Forum to feedback insights to the Union. It was all about helping people feel seen and valued, and understanding challenges faced by students and where or how the Union can support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What have been some of the highlights for you this year?
A: <\/strong>There are so many. Personally, co-organising celebrations to mark Chinese New Year is up there. It brought together students from all backgrounds to enjoy dragon dances, calligraphy, Taiji, dumplings, and to meet different societies who were marking the occasion. I loved seeing students connect through the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another highlight has been supporting asylum seekers and refugee students following the university\u2019s announcement to pursue University of Sanctuary recognition. The work there has felt really meaningful, and I\u2019ve had the opportunity to contribute to policy and consultations to support refugee students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Did you initially have any reservations about running for Student Officer?<\/strong>
A: <\/strong>I did! I worried I didn\u2019t have the right experience or that I wouldn\u2019t fit in. But once I started the process, I realised how much support was available – from the SU team, past Officers, and students who believed in me. You\u2019re never in it alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced in the role?<\/strong>
A:<\/strong> Representing so many different identities and making sure no one felt left out. There\u2019s a lot of diversity within our student body, and I wanted to make space for all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What would you say to someone thinking about running for a Student Officer role next year?<\/strong>
A:<\/strong> If you care about people and you want to make things better, you\u2019re already qualified! This is a big opportunity to make an impact. Don\u2019t wait until you feel ready.  There\u2019s support, training, and a whole community behind you once you step into the role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As she concludes her term as Equality and Diversity Officer at Queen\u2019s Students\u2019 Union, Suyi Yang reflects on a year dedicated to fostering inclusion and celebrating cultural diversity. Q: What inspired the work you focused on this year?A: I\u2019ve been at Queen\u2019s for five years now and, as an international student, I remember how overwhelming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,52],"tags":[286,85,50,285,287],"class_list":{"0":"post-4812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-living","7":"category-student-life","8":"tag-student-leaders","9":"tag-student-life","10":"tag-student-officers","11":"tag-student-representation","12":"tag-student-voice","13":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6B2ST-1fC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4812"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4818,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions\/4818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}