Mitchell volunteered to serve as student representative on the Part III Committee... within his first week of arrival. While the [Committee] meetings can be procedural and paper-heavy at times, Mitchell brough both initiative and careful thought to the role from the very beginning. Only a few months later, he came to play a crucial role in facilitating communication between the Faculty and Part III student body during the Covid-19 crisis.

When it became clear that end-of-year assessment was going to be severely disrupted, the Chair of the Faculty wrote to all Part III students outling the Faculty's initial thoughts on how examinations might proceed under the circumstances, namely, in their original format but online. With hindsight, it is clear that this plan had significant shortcomings. Mitchell immediately offered his assistance in gathering and communicating students' concerns to the Faculty. These efforts culminated in a Google document which ran to over 48 pages and set out students' arguments for and against different alternative assessment plans in astonishing detail. It was co-edited by over 150 students in less than 48 hours. The quality of this document, and the speed at which it was put together, were instrumental in leading the Faculty to the modified assessment plan it ultimately adopted.

Subsequent to this first important intervention, Mitchell continued to represent the cohort's views promptly and effectively. He collated frequently asked questions on the Faculty's behalf, and helpfully organised them in order of priority to students. Even after the pass/fail assessment had ended, he continued to lend a helpful hand. In summary, Mitchell's representative role far exceeded that which he signed up for at the start of the academic year. He demonstrated great care, insight and leadership at an incredibly difficult time. In the Faculty's view the Part III student cohort couldn't have wished for more thoughtful and effective representation during this crisis.

Mitchell Chiew is a MASt student in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, at Corpus Christi College (2019-20).