Interview with Holly Foxcroft, VP X 04/05

I got to know Holly really really well because we ran in the same slate together back when they still existed. She was elected as VP External when I was in my first year of Senate and has since finished her undergrad degree in Political Science and is now studying Urban Planning at UBC.

1) What skills that you had did you find most valuable in your
capacity as VPX?

Communication skills, listening, asking for help when you need it, and realizing that you do not have all the answers and are not expected to… unless you are talking to Council. ;)

2) What skills did you wish you’d had, in order to be a better VPX?

It would have been very helpful to taken a short course on negotiation and mediation. These are two very valuable skills that the VP External needs to address many portfolio issues from lobbying with CASA to negotiating the U-Pass.

3) What was the biggest challenge you faced as VPX?

Negotiating the sticky waters of CFS/CASA politics.

5) What advice would you give the incoming VPX?

Take time out for yourself. You may forget your friends, but they will not forget you. Ask them to bug you throughout the year. They are also good at keeping you real. HAve fun, laugh and remember that life-after-AMS is wonderful.

Be nice to Val and Paramjeet, they are wonderful, wonderful women.

6) What did you learn from your experience?

So much! The most valuable experience that the position afforded me was the ability to actualize my potential. I was given the freedom and responsibility to act in a manner that was relatively foreign to me. It was the first time in my life that I was paid to be creative and to creatively implement my ideas.