Your VP Societies and Sport, Hannah Hockin, reflects on her year as a Sabbatical Officer at the Students' Union, including the campaigns, events and projects she's most proud to have worked on.
Your VP Societies and Sport, Hannah Hockin, reflects on her year as a Sabbatical Officer at the Students' Union, including the campaigns, events, and projects she's most proud to have worked on.
Hannah Hockin
VP Societies and Sport
What a year! It has been an honour to be your VP Societies and Sport and a privilege to work with so many of you! I wish I could fit everything I’ve done this year into one blog but that would be a very long read, so I've managed to pick out the highlights.
Buddy Scheme
I started the academic year introducing a participation scheme called The Buddy Scheme which paired up students who were interested in attending the same taster session, Give It A Go or/and Active lifestyle and Sport activity during the first two weeks of term. This scheme really helped to decrease social anxiety by giving the students that wanted it the extra support they needed to participate in activities. From personal experience, I know how daunting it can be to go to a taster session by yourself, so I wanted to introduce a scheme that helped to comabt this.
Campaigns
Disability History Month
This year, I worked on several history month campaigns. My first campaign was Disability History Month in November which included a variety of events such as the Disability Looks Like Me Fashion Show, a pop-up stand in the library, and two guest speakers; Aaron Phipps and Sophie Christiansen.
This Girl Can
January brought Royal Holloway’s This Girl Can week. This Girl Can is a nationwide campaign aimed at getting women and girls moving, regardless of shape, size, and ability. Our campaign consisted of a series of social media posts, a session about breaking down barriers for women in sport, and promotion of quiet hours in the gym. Sport/ALS shared a survey on Big Bears Wednesday to investigate women’s experience of sport.
LGBT+ History Month
In February, we made banners, chatted on Insanity Radio, and watched movies for LGBT+ History Month. It was lovely to see so many student groups get involved with LGBT+ History Month, including Cinema and Film Society who provided recommendations for the LGBT+ Movie Night. The student choice was Moonlight and I highly recommend that you watch it!
Colours Ball and Society Awards
As VP Societies and Sport, these two events are some of the biggest nights of my year.
For Colours Ball, we headed to the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow Airport; it was a fabulous evening and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Society Awards took place at the SU with a 'roaring 20s' theme. A huge thank you to everyone who came to either (or both) events!
I’m so proud of all of our clubs and societies, your hard work has not gone unnoticed. P.S. I may have shed a couple of tears (of happiness) whilst presenting! The work you've all put into your student groups is outstanding and so inspiring. A special shout-out to the committee members who make it all happen!
Varsity
This year, we went up against the Surrey Stags at Surrey Sports Park. It was a brilliant day with lots of activities and of course lots of sport. We may not have won but definitely did better than last year! I’m expecting a win next year!
Conferences
Throughout the year, I have attended a range of conferences and meetings. The biggest conference I’ve been to this year was the NUS National Conference, the largest student gathering in Europe! There was a variety of workshops and we debated on proposed policies.
I also attended the University Rugby Development Forum where tackle height, rugby updates, and the development of rugby were discussed. The development of rugby sessions was interesting as different universities presented ways in which they have increased rugby participation or increased their offerings such as a referee society, campus leagues, and intramural sports leagues.
Student Group Training
For the benefit of our student groups, we run a range of development training sessions throughout the year. I recently delivered a handover session for current committees. I also put together a handover template for committee members as lots of our members had asked for extra support regarding their handover forms.
It was great to have Student Group Training for new committee members back in person and to see so many committee members in one place. The training included Running your Student Group, Treasurer Training, and EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion). The rest of the training will be taking place later on, so committee members are ready for Term One.
Things to look forward to…
As my time as VP Societies and Sport comes to an end, I’m tying up loose ends and writing up my handover (which will definitely be hundreds of pages long). I am currently finishing off one or two of my manifesto points such as increasing visibility of my role through a podcast.
Over the Summer, the incoming Sabbatical Officers and I will commence our induction period. This will include lots of training sessions to set us up for the year and begin project planning for our manifestos.
If you’ve made it to the end of this blog, you must be an avid SU blog reader. On a final note, I want to say a massive thank you for all your support and for making this year amazing. I’m super excited to see what the next VP Societies and Sport, Alistair, will bring to the role! And don’t worry I’m not leaving the SU just yet, I’m about for one more year as your next SU President!