We made it! To celebrate the last day of Summer Term, we're celebrating everyone who has been doing amazing work in educating, campaigning, or volunteering throughout a monumentally challenging year.
We made it! It's the last day of term and today we’re going to turn the spotlight onto exciting stuff that you as a student body have been up to over the last academic year – other than, you know, surviving an academic year in the middle of a global pandemic…
A massive thank you to everyone who has been doing amazing work in educating, campaigning, or volunteering throughout the last year. Here are some of our highlights:
Term One
Right at the beginning of term, we worked with nine other students’ unions to provide a series of webinar panels to celebrate Black History Month. Guest speakers from across the country joined in to discuss many aspects of the Black experience, including current Royal Holloway students Rachel Harvey, Serena Owusu and Jamarly Wright.
At the end of term, a student-led campaign to increase the use of Ecosia across the University saw Royal Holloway become the tenth university in the world to have Ecosia set as the default browser. Ecosia aims to be a greener alternative to search engines like Google by using 80% of their profits to fund the planting of trees across the world. Excellent stuff from the campaign team!
Term Two
Term Two was a hive of activity, with campaigns and events happening almost pretty much every week. First up was Let’s Talk About Sex where students shared their sexual experiences such as sex with a disability, sex as a transgender person, and female masturbation. A huge thank you to Alice, Nathaniel and Rachel for their honest and candid articles.
Next up was Seeking Sustainability - a campaign all about taking action to improve sustainability at Royal Holloway. Packed with events including guest speakers, a film night, and a series of blogs, the campaign also had its own podcast episode with guest Cosmo Cattell, President of Climate Action. Cosmo, and other students, have also been involved in a working group to help Royal Holloway become more sustainable!
Alongside campaigns, student groups were also working hard to shift their activities online. From charity live streams, to starting new initiatives such as Wellbeing Wednesday, clubs and societies have been working hard to ensure their members have had a community to gather around them in tough times.
Term Three
During the Easter break, several students represented the Students’ Union at the annual National Union of Students (NUS) Conference. Discussing motions about eight different subject areas, including fees and finance, student housing and mental health, the four delegates had a great time getting stuck into some serious policy work.
Rounding out our campaigns for the year, RHSU Stands Together saw student guest blogs discussing privilege, natural haircare at home, white supremacy, and highlighting Black-owned businesses to support right now. A huge thank you to Chanpreet Mangat, Natalia Jan, Rachel Harvey, and the Women of Colour Collective for your contributions.
Thank you to all of our student campaigners - we can’t wait to see what our students get up to next year!