Student Profile: Hugo, 2nd year Mechanical Engineering Student
81 Months Ago
Hugo is from Cambridge, England, and volunteered as our Halls Officer last year. He was successfully elected as this year’s Academic Executive Officer in March. He loves to help people, and quickly got involved with the Student Union.
“The main reason I decided to study at Heriot-Watt was Edinburgh, really. I like the city a lot, and I’d heard the university was good for engineering. I thought it would be good for my career potential.
In the run-up to my Freshers week I was nervous! It was that fear of the unknown, and wanting to make friends. I had a plan of the way I wanted it to work out in my head but I wasn’t sure if it would actually go that way. It turned out to be good! I met so many people that it’s all a bit of a haze now. The UV Paint Party was probably my favourite event at the Union.
I lived in Mary Ferguson halls last year. I met a lot of great people there; I think I got lucky with the people I lived with. I really enjoyed living away from home, and I was never really homesick! However, the halls themselves were brand new and had a few problems. When the Student Union By-Elections came around and I saw the position for Halls Officer was available, I just thought “why not?” I saw there were issues with the halls and I wanted to help people. The best way to make a difference was to get involved myself.
Being Halls Officer was actually quite tough. I went to a lot of meetings where people talked about how things were, but not why they were that way. The cool thing, though, was I was 18 years old and talking to people who were two or three times my age, and they had to listen to me. I liked that.
After my experience as Halls Officer I decided to run for this year’s Academic Executive. It was the same thing, really – I saw some issues with my course, and decided I wanted to help other students. I would definitely recommend getting involved with the Student Union. It’s a great way to meet people, and to get to know your university and understand what’s going on.
I’ve found that I’ve made lots of different groups of friends– my Union friends, my halls friends, my course friends – and some of them mix together. I met my closest friend in halls. We’d go to parties and out for drinks together, and now we’re actually working on setting up a company together.
While making friends at university I found it’s about getting out there and meeting people, and keeping going until you find the ones who are right for you. You really have to stick your head above the parapet. You only get to do this once, so you’ve got to make the effort. And it pays off; I’ve had so many great experiences. Halloween was one of my favourite. I remember running about campus in the dark with my mates in fancy dress – me as Indiana Jones! People walking past us were giving us the strangest looks!
I found that I didn’t enjoy my Mechanical Engineering classes as much as I was hoping to. I’ve got the grades I need to transfer to a degree in Robotics, which I think will suit me much better! To be honest, I didn’t think there was much of a leap from doing A Levels to being at university. If you keep ahead, and don’t let yourself fall behind, you’ll be fine.
This summer, I’m doing a bit of work for the Student Union, as well as working on setting up my company and learning to drive. It’s good for me to keep busy until I come back to Edinburgh and move into my flat. I’m looking forward to actually experiencing Edinburgh more when I live in town; trying out proper adult life will be exciting! It will be good to see all my friends when the semester starts again as well.”
Find out more about Hugo’s new role here.
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