RJ Patterson

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

I am a queer trans man who was out of education for a little while due to mental health, but I wanted to get myself into university so I worked on my mental health for while then decided that 2024/25 was the year I’d stick it out and complete an entire year of academic study. I’m proud to say, here I still am! It’s the first time I’ve ever finished a course since GCSE, so I’m understandably very pleased.

How did you first get involved with the Newcastle College Students' Union?

I saw the Student Union (SU) being publicised during the elections back in September, and I wanted to make a difference for students here, so I thought that with me being trans, I’d be an ideal candidate for the Trans Officer Role! I felt like it’d be really good for me and for the people in the college who are also trans to have a student with so much relevant experience, both as an activist and in life generally, to represent them in this role.

What role do you play in the Students’ Union, and what are your duties?

As the Trans Officer, my duties are kind of dependent on the circumstances. The baseline is being a voice for students, particularly trans students, around campus – for example, I regularly meet students and made sure I was instrumental in effecting positive change for queer social groups or networks around campus, mainly by adapting the existing social-focused queer groups into a more activism-based group so we could all advocate for ourselves and other students as vocally as possible. There’s also been a lot of organising and promoting events, particularly events focused towards queer students, talking to students and trying to get them involved with activities. All SU Officers had training on safeguarding shortly after we started serving on the Executive Board, so if we ever needed to report my concerns, I felt comfortable doing that. I’m proud that the changes I’ve had a hand in making will continue next year into our new Trans and LGBTQ+ Officers, and I was the first person to push for that, so I’m looking forward to putting those qualities on my CV!

How have your interactions with staff and students at Newcastle College changed through your work with the Students’ Union?

I’ve become a lot more confident speaking to a broader range of students and staff, since I felt more empowered thanks to the topics my role requires me to tackle. I feel more comfortable communicating important information and having key conversions with different students or staff members if there were ever any issues. Outside of my academic work, I’ve been able to talk to my tutors about a lot of SU-related jobs, such as sharing around different campaign promotions.

What kinds of projects have you worked on as part of the Students’ Union?

We have the Queer Students’ Network - effectively a ‘queer council’ - where I’ve worked on a few campaigns that sadly didn’t manage to make it all the way through, but we had a good crack at them and we’ve left a good foundation for next year’s Trans Officer to pick up where we loft off. This year’s SU Drag Show was also a massive success, I’m really proud of the work my team and I did organising and promoting that event! We even got people who aren’t even part of the SU to come and help our with doors, sound design and so on, which I was really pleased about. I also gave out little care packages on Trans Visibility Day – it wasn’t a massive event, but we had some good, meaningful conversations with people who had some genuine questions.

What Students’ Union achievement has made you proudest during your time working for them?

I think the Drag Show, since everyone was just so excited for it! There was a lot of talk among my classes and the Access to Higher Education groups and there was a lot of excitement leading up to it, so seeing everyone have such a good time was brilliant! We also raised a good amount of money for the Chloe and Liam Together Forever Foundation Trust, which was always a great accomplishment. We’ve raised quite a lot of money for charity this year as a whole, which was great to see, it’s been a really personally rewarding experience!

Do you feel that you have developed additional skills or grown as a person thanks to the work you’ve done with the Students’ Union?

Absolutely! Like I said earlier, my confidence has grown massively. I used to be someone who limited himself and maybe stayed in his shell a bit more, but thanks to my work with the SU, I’ve had to teach myself to become more comfortable talking to people I wouldn’t otherwise have talked to, which has helped me to become a lot more socially confident and outgoing. We did some awards for the SU Executive Team, and I got ‘Funniest Folk’ and ‘Best Speaker’ because I’m such a great advocate…and maybe also because I’ve got the loudest mouth! I’m also smarter with my planning now - I see how much work goes into planning events and campaigns, which will be a massive help in any events or SU work I do in future, either at university or (hopefully!) in my future career in the charity sector. By chance, I was put in touch with the Students’ Union Campaigns Officer at Durham University through some training our own SU Coordinator, Meg, went to and they’ve reached out to me since then to help me prepare for enrolment, which is great!

In your opinion, what would you change or improve about the Students’ Union if you could?

The only thing I would change is the amount of funding we get. I feel like there’s a lot more we could do if there were more funding, and I know there’s definitely interest, but there’s always limitations on what we can achieve if there’s not enough funding behind it, even though the College has helped us as much as they can. Thanks to our SU Coordinator, Meg, the funding we do have is spent wisely – they’re very thrifty! We’re a collaborative team, so it’s honestly fantastic to see how much input we all have in the planning process and watching all our hard work come to fruition!

What advice would you give to any current or future students considering getting involved with the Students’ Union?

Do it! Absolutely do it! It’s hands-down been one of the best things I’ve done this year in terms of my College experience, I’ve gained a lot of skills I wouldn’t have developed without serving on the SU, and while there is a lot of extra work on top of my usual College work, I think the benefits that have come out of my experience have been absolutely massive.