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Seven Questions with... Carol Paige

27 February 2020

This week we meet Carol Paige, who is the Democracy, Operations and Community Sabbatical Officer at Students’ Union UCL. Carol was elected last March and has been working to improve the student experience at UCL, one microwave at a time...

Carol Paige

What are you studying, why are you interested in this subject and what do you plan to do in the future? 

I study Risk, Disaster and Resilience (it’s as exciting as it sounds), I am currently on interruption as I am working full-time as the Democracy, Operations and Community Sabbatical Officer. 

I love helping people and creating effective change, and being a Sabbatical Officer means that I have so many different opportunities to improve the UCL student experience every day. Nominations for the Leadership Race are running now (with the deadline being 4 March), so if you’re someone who wants to improve the student experience then get applying!  

What is the most interesting thing you’ve done, seen or got involved with while at UCL? 

The Students’ Union is definitely the most interesting part of UCL! I always joke that if you have a particular interest, whether that’s for knitting, Shakespeare or even bubble tea, there’s a student society for that.  

Whilst studying, I worked at the student bars, so I’ve certainly seen a lot of ‘interesting’ things while closing down Phineas after a busy Sports Night...

Have you discovered any hidden gems during your time at UCL? 

It isn’t exactly ‘hidden’ but the Glittoris club night in Phineas – the Students' Union’s monthly LGBT club night. I’ve only missed three Glittoris nights in the last four years!  

The next one is on 21 March – hope to see you there! 

Give us your top three things to do/see/go to in London: 

  1. Wandering around Brick Lane to see the street art – there’s always something new to see.  
  2. Watching a student production at the Bloomsbury Theatre – I just saw Legally Blonde (produced through the Musical Theatre Society) and it was incredible. I’ve still got some of the songs stuck in my head! 
  3. There’s an arcade on Wardour Street (in Soho) that has so many games in it – I’ve spent entire afternoons there.  

If you were Provost for the day what one thing would you do? 

My priority would be to build new activity spaces so that we wouldn’t need to rehearse in unsuitable spaces (in the cloisters!)

Who inspires you and why? 

The true hero of Lord of the Rings, Samwise Gamgee. I grew up watching the film trilogy (the extended editions – of course!) and I have always been inspired by his strength of character and how he never lost hope despite how bad everything seemed to get.  

What would it surprise people to know about you? 

This is my seventh year at UCL! I came to here to study Earth Sciences in 2013 and haven’t left yet! 

Leadership Race

With the Leadership Race running right now, I would urge everyone to take the same amazing opportunity I did. Apply now to become the next leader of the Union (there are seven different roles and lots more part-time ones). 16–20 March is important as that's when you get to vote for the person that will spearhead the changes you would like to see at UCL.