Posted on Mon 11 Nov 2024 at 10:40 by
Activities Officer
Hello everyone! I kickstarted the first VC breakfast of the academic year with our new Vice Chancellor Phil Taylor! Professor Phil heard how much we valued the VC breakfasts so he opted to continue them so we can continue to recognise and reward the students who make our community so great!
For the first Breakfast we decided to put an emphasis of recognising students who played a huge part in Freshers’ Week.
Freshers’ Week Event Manager
Of course, we had to celebrate the Freshers’ Week Event Managers (FWEMS)! Unfortunately, half of the dynamic duo couldn’t make it but Gabby Lightfoot-Paine was representing on that day!
Gabby was one of two Freshers’ Week Event Managers. She had to deal with an increased workload as there were three of them last year! She has done an amazing job of putting on a new type of Freshers’ Week that has shifted the focus from back-to-back nights out to more events that are more varied and inclusive. Without her giving up her summer to plan Freshers’ Week it would not have been possible, and we thank her for her amazing service.
Assanatou Sy was the cheese to Gabby’s onion; the fish to her chips and the mustard to her ketchup. She too worked tirelessly with an increased workload despite doing her MASTERS DISSERTATION! Whilst she wasn’t there for the breakfast she was there when it counted. She cared for all of her precious captains over the week and made sure everyone had a great time!
Freshers’ Week Captains
We invited seven freshers’ week captains to the breakfast this year. They were all fantastic and really went above and beyond the call of duty every single day. Without hardworking captains volunteering during Freshers’ Week, it simply would not be possible to host such a brilliant set of events. During the week the captains kept the morale up with jokes and smiles galore!
Backstage
Theo Reberio (chair) led backstage superbly during Freshers’ Week. He did many sleepless nights and restless mornings back-to-back. His dedication to the work put in behind the scenes is under appreciated and this is the least we could do to recognise his efforts. One notable incidence was when Theo was napping at 11am in the middle of our noisy Freshers’ Fair after doing an all nighter the evening before and was up helping to set up rigging just hours before in anticipation of the popular fair.
Grace Aldwinckle (backstage welfare officer)- kept spirits up with her smiles and snacks during the week. (I saw the edge theatre stage literally full of snacks at the start of the week lol). The welfare officer is a role that is most important especially with the hours being put into backstage during freshers’ week. She ensures everyone stays fit and ready for the next task in a most hectic week. I am sure the backstage crew are very grateful for all of her efforts as we are too.
Media
George Cooper is Media Officer for The SU this year and plays a huge role across all three groups within media. He is in charge of all things related to media during this hectic time and he did an exceptional job of running his team despite this being his first couple of weeks back from placement. It is no easy task finding people to join the media team and also trying to run a full media coverage of every single event but George used his media powers to provide the best service!
Arts
Over the Summer we ran a competition for a student to design a paint by numbers mural, which students could come fill in over Freshers’ Week. Tania Rawat had the winning design, which you can see in the Edge foyer! This competition will be the first of many community art projects we plan to do so students can physically see the contribution they make to our community. She is a part of SU history and we cant wait to see what se produces next.
Overall, we had an incredible range of students at the VC breakfast which the VC was delighted to see. I hope everyone had a great time; I look forward to the next one!
See you all soon!
Love your favourite Activities Officer
David
xxx