Jacob Merchant

I have loved fencing this year, and I intend to get as involved with the society as I can, and hopefully have a positive impact in the process. I like helping people: as Novice Representative I would work to make sure that everyone who joins fencing next year feels included in the society as a whole – this year there has been an extent to which the novices and the experienced members have felt like two separate societies, so it would be great increase the society's unity, perhaps by more socials and events. I started joining the experienced sessions after Reading Week, but it was the recent social at Phineas that truly made me feel like a member of the society. From a personal point of view, I feel a committee position would help me to properly integrate into the society, and I'd do my very best to make sure that new fencers can feel included as well. As I was not only a fencing novice in 2022, but also a fresher, being new is in my recent memory, so I would be an authentic representative for next year's novices: I believe it would be useful for the committee to have a recently-joined fencer to offer an alternative point of view. I'm definitely going to stay committed to fencing throughout my university life and beyond, as it is the first sport which I've actually connected to. As well as running for committee I'm going to try to get into one of the teams next year.