That's right, we are back! It's now 2022 and we're preparing ourselves to type that date wrong for at least the next three months but, we're back for a new year and a new term and we couldn't be more excited. We hope you've all had a lovely break and are well rested and ready to get stuck in to all of the amazing opportunities coming up this term.
As is the New Year's tradition, we've asked your Sabbatical Officers what their goals are for the upcoming term and with the second term being such a meaty one, asked them to pick out a few highlights from their already packed calendars.
Natasha Neal, Vice President Education and Welfare "I hope you had a restful break and a happy new year. In terms of a New Year’s resolution, this year mine is to take care of myself as a priority and put my wellbeing first. I have another very busy term coming up with University meetings and some of my own personal campaigns but some of the things I’m looking at focusing on over the next term are:
- Mental Health Framework – embedding the framework into our Union policy, publishing them, and continuing to campaign the University for the integration of their own wellbeing policy. I am also focusing on trying to embed mental health risk assessments within our activities across the Union alongside what we do currently with physical risk assessments.
- Continue to push for a better experience for the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health students as well as working with the Universitiy's Senior Team to continue to improve communications with the students to make sure your student voice is being heard and acted on.
- Digital Poverty Working Group – This is now in the beginnings of being formulated with the aim to establish the true extent of the issue within the institution to support students with the resources and support they require to support their educational experience.
- Run another 3 successful Wellbeing Weeks and the Unions first ever Wellbeing Fair in February. If you have any suggestions or there's something you'd love to see at the Wellbeing Fair, feel free to drop me an email: natasha.neal@bucks.ac.uk.
I hope you all have a great first week back and I look forward to seeing some of you over the next couple of weeks."
Honor Fletcher, President "Happy New Year everyone, I hope the start of your 2022 has been a good one. I am not normally one for new year’s resolutions, but something I am going to make more effort with is dedicating more time to my fitness and wellbeing.
I cannot wait for this term to kick start and get back into university life. As usual as a Union we have loads of exciting things coming up that you can all get involved in and make 2022 a year to remember.
Some of my main priorities for this year include working with several students to support them in organising and running their own campaigns, which is super exciting. It's so great getting to support our members run their own campaigns and seeing just how passionate you all are. I'll be working on a few projects of my own including researching further into personal safety both on and off campus, anti-bullying, and so much more. It is great to see so many of our members wanting to raise awareness and make some serious change around important topics that affect university life.
I can't wait to see what you all have in store for us this term and I'm looking forward to seeing what this term brings."
Tom Featherstone, Vice President Student Involvement "I hope you all had a wonderful break and a very Happy New Year. There is so much coming up in the term ahead to look forward to but it's hard to look at all the exciting opportunities without talking about Varsity. In just over 2 months we'll be running out against Roehampton in our first proper Varsity fixture in two years. So, I urge you to buy your Varsity tickets and make sure you're there to support our teams as they compete to keep the RoeBuck trophy on home soil.
Something else to keep a look out for this term is our annual employability festival, Strive. This is such an exciting event that we'll be hosting in person for the first time. On Monday 4 April we'll be hosting a range of different employers to come in share their experiences, give you insights on their business and show you how you can get involved. As well as this there are going to be panels throughout the day where you can hear from externals as well as alumni on their journey through work. It's definitely not a day to miss out on.
I'm not really one for New Year resolutions but I have set myself a goal to pick up a few extra training hours in the run up to Varsity and to keep up my title of office DJ. Here's hoping for a happy and healthy second term."