Mitchell Prost recently replaced Ian Stone as the new AMS Student Service Manager. The former Vice-Chair of the Advocacy Committee and the Housing Service Coordinator said that his passion for student affairs is fueled by running services that make a difference in students’ lives.
“I think the main draw as to why the student services’ role appealed to me was the fact that you’re running and maintaining services that students need and use,” he said.
“That’s sort of the main reason why I wanted to enter this role, to be able to be that support person.”
Prost, who will be graduating in June with a bachelors of science degree, intends to pursue a career in student affairs. For him, communication is key.
The last thing that I ever want to do is make a decision that affects a lot of people without consulting people,” he said.
He acknowledged how it is not always possible to have everyone on board with decisions.
“In student government, it’s hard to find consensus and have absolutely everyone voting yes on something.”
“I want people to challenge me. If I’m so set on an idea that I think everyone will love it, everyone probably won’t, and I need to hear that from people,” he added.
When he’s not busy at the AMS, Prost likes to volunteer as a research assistant at the BC Children’s Hospital. Prost maintains a work-life balance and sorts his affairs by prioritizing what’s more important to him.
“An advice that I would always give is that academics should be up there but there’s always some flexibility. If you’re doing something right now that you want a career in… you can focus on doing something for that extracurricular that will lead you into exactly what you want to do after graduation,” said Prost.
Prost also advocates for the importance of checking in with yourself amidst a hectic schedule and asking for help when needed.
“It was something I didn’t accept at the beginning of my degree … I understand that there’s a stigma around it. The more I can try to destigmatize getting help, the more I will.”
All about AMS
Prost has a lot on his plate at the moment with several AMS projects in the pipeline.
One project that Prost hopes to work on is improving the AMS Food Bank, an emergency food relief service for UBC students in need. Part of this improvement would be addressing food insecurity on campus to ease the demand for the program.
“It’s also something that I wish didn’t exist. If we don’t have a food bank that’s because we don’t need one. That means our people are being supported,” he said.
AMS SafeWalk is another service that the new SSM hopes to work on. Prost wants to make the program’s vehicles — which have been unoperational due to COVID-19 — wheelchair accessible.
Prost also aims to increase the visibility of AMS services and states that it’s more important now than ever.
“I think this year it’s going to be an extra special focus because we have two years of people who have never really been on campus moving to campus in September. So the need to let people know who we are and how to access us is more important than it has been in the past,” he said.