Beckie Upton: Engaging in the Big Picture
Beckie Upton has been working really hard on setting up several new staff led initiatives- one called Dough Bros: a scheme aimed to support with male mental health that sees men chatting about various topics whilst making pizza- have had 2 sessions so far , both full capacity. Beckie has also worked with the Share and Repair Charity in organising a sustainable fashion sewing workshop, to follow on from the very successful Repair Cafes that have been happening with the same charity. She has also managed to train 19 Project Leaders so that they are ready to lead their V Team projects, whilst also supporting with the Wellbeing Champion sessions and trying to complete her coaching qualification! Thank you for all your hard work Beckie!
Nominated by Anna Boneham.
Sophie Brosnan: Delivering Excellent Service
Sophie has been our constant rock. She works hard and keeps us all on track, regularly. Sophie is one of the most organised people I know, always strives for perfection and wants to make sure everything we deliver is done to the best standard possible for the students. Nothing but the best from our Sophie.
Nominated by Gemma Rigby.
George Newham: Embrancing Change
George has stepped up in the team to co-ordinate the Diversity and Support Exec and Groups and International Exec following the departure of Melissa.
This will ensure that student leaders receive ongoing support and guidance from the Voice team, and these voices of under-represented students continue to be heard.
We are also grateful to George who will use her expertise in supporting the successful running of Execs and forums and councils in the academic area, to create more opportunities for student engagement and voice, whipping us into shape so that we maximise the impacts from these meetings and events in the inclusion area.
A huge thank you to George for supporting the team and the students with this work, and we hope that it will also be a great opportunity for George to gain further insight and experience within the wider work of the Voice team.
Thank you George!
Nominated by Amy Young.
Susie Canning: Delivering Excellent Service
Susie displayed the most impressive level of customer service I have seen in a very long time. When confronted with a difficult individual Susie delivered the best professional response (multiple times) and absolutely stood by SU processes and more importantly the safety of our students. Worth noting, the individual was an external, not one of our lovely students.
Susie has worked hard developing a great repour with students and creates an environment that students want to be part of. Her ability to engage student’s and support them creates great working relationships. Thank you Susie!
Nominated by Polly Hawker.
Lochlann Ryan: Delivering Excellent Service
Lochlann worked extremely hard in Freshers week to help deliver a multitude of events. He put in extra hours to ensure the delivery of the bars and maximised takings with good pricing.
Nominated by Mike Dalton.
Chris Lyon: For Developing Self and Others.
Chris took it upon himself to deliver a training session on excel this month for staff. The feedback has been really positive, and Chris is keen and open to delivering more sessions that staff can benefit from. Alongside this Chris has put himself at risk and delivered Midas training for our students. Heading out onto the roads with students driving minibuses should not be underestimated! Training up new student observers enables a greater number of students to go through the Midas training and make sure they are safe on the roads.
Nominated by: Helen Mc
Libby Brown-Turner: For Embracing Change
Libby has completed a humungous amount of work in preparation for the start of Semester 1. From a complete show calendar, through to Duty Manager recruitment, training and inductions, with the area being short staffed she has worked her socks off to ensure that we are in the best position possible to support Arts and groups activity throughout this Semester. Despite not being a fully-staffed team she has taken on new challenges with enthusiasm and grace whilst taking on with extra workload and responsibilities.
Nominated by: Susie Canning
Liz Stoneman: For Managing Self and Others
Our Team wouldn’t function without Liz. She always balances her strengths of empathy and compassion with common sense and efficiency, complementing and supporting the rest of our Team perfectly. We have a lot to thank her for and probably don’t say it enough!
Nominated by: Helen C
Annett Goddard: For Working with People
Annette always arrives consistently with enthusiasm and energy. This is something that can be contagious across the team, and we all benefit from it when we are in the busiest periods. Plus, she baked a lot of cakes for the Staff Away Day, for almost every single dietary requirement possible - so for that we are grateful!
Nominated by: Gemma
Katherine Jones: For Embracing Change
Kathryn is co-ordinating the move to Scala for the team – organising and sorting the office and moving anything she is concerned might get lost in the move. She is supporting the rest of the team and being flexible around the uncertainty of when this move will actually happen. This is against a backdrop of the team being incredibly busy and her move to full-time. She is a total star!
Nominated by: Ghika
Hazel Joel: Finding innovative solutions
Hazel has worked hard to get RAG and fundraising back on track with healthy donation totals. She has introduced the set up of new events, as well as developed past initiatives so that they are bringing in large donations for charities. Hazel has worked particularly hard these past few months to get the Race to Paris event off the ground (which has required numerous risk assessment advice) in order to get the event authorised and ready for promotion. The event has already sold out and has the potential to bring in a large amount of fundraising for RAG’s Big Two charities. Hazel is also working on empowering RAG to take more leadership on events that she has initially driven forward so as to embed within RAG’s calendar and make more student led.
Nominated by: Anna B
Alex Davey: Deliverying Excellent Service
During August / September and early October the SU phone number and Email inbox is absolutely flooded with questions regarding every aspect of student life! Alex has to find answers, direct people, listen to people’s life stories for hours on end and he will always ensure he gives the best possible service to ensure peoples queries are answered and people are fully supported. He was also excellent at the Open Day and Freshers’ Fair stall, talking to students and parents and given such a good impression of The SU. Alex is great as using his initiative to find solutions and answers when they are not clear or obvious and will not leave people waiting or feeling ignored. He has done a great job during a really busy period!
Nominated by: Helen W
Will Kitchen: Finding Innovative Solutions
Over the last few weeks Will really has gone above and beyond for the finance team. He has worked closely with us in launching the new app and has spoken to the developers around the tech side of things as this was not finances strength. He has problem solved when needed and taken the initiative to resolve issues. Alongside this he has really been helpful in working with us and some changes needed on the web page. Some of these changes needed to happen quickly and he was able to assist and help explain what we needed to do our end. Will is always willing to help, has a positive can do attitude and is a real asset to the SU team.
Nominated by: Emily B
Amy Young: Embracing change
Amy has worked hard to support the wider team with areas of work beyond her role to ensure key activities are delivered to a high standard. She has taken on covering new areas and supporting the team with consistent positivity. We would not have been able to deliver on a number of things without Amys willingness to jump in and help out, take a lead and get things done. She always works incredibly hard but these past few months she has really pushed the boat out. I really dont know what we would do without Amy!
Nominated by: Charlie