Hi folks! My name is Chelsea Perry, and I’m one of two managing editors of your favourite
communist-esque student publication.
If you’ve been reading the Cadre for a while, you will have seen my face in a handful of articles
over the past few months. More precisely, you will have seen the same picture of my face
reused a half dozen times. Seriously, folks. If you’re going to write about me, at least find a
picture where I look like I’ve seen sunlight at some point during my lifetime.
I was elected in the by-election of 2018 as the schools’ youngest ever Student Union president,
a feat which I’m rather proud of. It was a steep learning curve, and the very end of it could be
best described as a political dumpster fire, but as I tend to be one of those exasperating
“everything happens for a reason†people, I don’t regret running in that election for a minute. It
left me raw, dejected, and caffeine-poisoned, but it also allowed me to interact with students in a
way that I won’t soon forget. That’s the most beautiful part of the job – getting to connect one on
one on a personal level with the people you’re working with and for. It also gave me the final
push to throw myself into writing. I picked up blogging again, and discovered a drive for activism
journalism which I didn’t know I had. I hope you’ll get a taste of that this year.
The Cadre has a trend of snagging past presidents and recruiting them into student journalists.
While I poke fun at that fact and jokingly blame it on our world-weary and cynical view towards
student politics, I truly think it has something to do with the unique way we’ve been able to
experience campus in a seemingly short period of time.
In my year at UPEI, I’ve made my way around a mess of clubs and societies. I played on the
UPEI Field Hockey team for a season, and was involved in Model United Nations and the
Atlantic Council for International Cooperation. Currently, I am the chair of OurTurn UPEI, just
one chapter of a national sexual violence prevention organization which I guarantee you will
hear more about in the coming months.
I have a lot of ambitions for The Cadre this year. I’m hoping to write a few pieces on campus
shenanigans, but also explore issues which are relevant to the university-aged demographic. I’d
like to incorporate more student input into my work, so if you see me running towards you with a
notebook yelling something about wanting your opinion on the current affordable housing
strategy, please don’t run away. I’m actually good fun.
As always, if you have a story or issue you’d like covered, send me an email and we’ll look into
it. Or, if you’re feeling especially fiery, write to us yourself! Putting your work out there for the
first time is a marriage between terror and exhilaration, but it’s a happy union. If you’re ever
feeling discouraged about your writing, let me remind you that Hans Christian Andersen was
once discovered wailing face down in the dirt on Charles Dickens’ lawn after receiving a poor
review, and refused to leave Dickens’ house for five weeks. If the greats could grovel in despair
before they made it big, you certainly can too. But just like Andersen, you eventually have to get
out of the mud and get back at ‘er. You’ll be surprised with what you can achieve.
Cheers for now, folks.
Chelsea Perry
cperry2@upei.ca