Diren Gunasekera

As an international student who moved to the UK a few months ago, the initial culture shock I experienced left me confused and frustrated. However, this was soon changed as I joined UCL’s Sri Lankan society. Sri Lankan society was a home away from home to me. It presented me with a community that summed up what I was looking for at university: an inclusive community and meeting people who were down for a good time.

Wanting to give back to the society for being there for me by continuing this legacy and helping Sri Lankan freshers, both home and international, have a smooth transition into UCL, I have decided to run for the post of President. I hope to build a community in which everyone feels like they belong to. While I intend on continuing the current events we host and take part in, may it be pub crawls, movie nights, our Christmas and New Year’s party, Warwick’s Mela or Imperial’s Sapphire, I hope to implement a few new changes within the society.

I hope to bring about a UCL Sri Lankan society moms and dads programme to help the incoming freshers better transition into the society and get to know its current members. Similar to most other cultural societies in UCL, this programme’s main purpose would be to ensure smaller bonds are formed within the society, which come together to form a closely-knitted community.

So if you are down for an amazing academic year filled with baila and koththu parties, please cast your vote for me for President :)

Cheers,

Diren