Last week, the Year 13 class from Piggott School came to Royal Holloway and were hosted by the Widening Access and Participation team and Alice Goode, VP Wellbeing & Diversity. They spent a day on campus discovering what uni is actually like and finding out about all the services and activities that we offer as a Students' Union.
Alice Goode
VP Wellbeing and Diversity
On Thursday 14 October, the Year 13 class from Piggott School came to Royal Holloway and was hosted by the Widening Access and Participation team.
They discovered what uni is actually like, learned how to write a good personal statement and gained a deeper insight into the world of higher education.
The students spent a session finding out about the Students' Union – what it is and what we actually do. So I went up the hill to the Windsor building and gave a presentation on just that.
We emphasised how the SU is a non-profit charity organisation which means that any money that is generated during the year gets reinvested into making the student experience at Royal Holloway better. We were also keen to show that we don’t just host nights out, but actually spend a lot of time and work really hard to represent students' voices. The aim of the session was to show that the SU exists for the students and that everything we do is with the students in mind – from our many campaigns to our policy reports to our events – everything is done with and for students.
At the end of the presentation, the Year 13s were given the task to come up with a student group and create an event. We had some amazing ideas. The students got really involved, asked loads of questions and came up with some really unique ideas.
Some examples are:
- A RuPaul’s Drag Race society, who would team up with Extinction Rebellion and the Geography society to create outfits solely out of recycled and sustainable materials. They would then collab with the Fashion society and put on a fashion show with a runway to show off the costumes.
- A Pro Cubs society to play the online football game. The students identified the restrictions of the pandemic as a potential barrier for people being able to get involved with in-person sports as well as commuting students who might not be able to make the training hours. They suggested that this society would be a way to tackle these issues and still bring people together and have fun. The society could take part in a Pro Club league over a few weeks with a prize for the final winning team.
I loved hearing their innovative and creative ideas for student groups and events and am excited to see what they do with their students' unions when they get to university, wherever that may be.