Your Sabb Update - 13/10/23

After another busy week, we caught up with your Sabbatical Officer team to find out what they've been working on to make student life better at Royal Holloway.

Hannah - President

This October, we have been celebrating Black History Month! We saw some talented individuals perform at the open mic night and I'm looking forward to attending the University's Decolonisation event with Prof Jason Arday next week. 

SHAG Week is fast approaching, I've been planning loads of events to get you involved including a consent and active bystander training session. In addition to this, I've been working on my year-long campaign tackling sexual harassment and misconduct and will be meeting with the student working group next week.

Last but definitely not least, I have been doing some behind-the-scenes work on the cost of living and have been prepping for a social media campaign called Thrifty Thursdays which will share weekly top tips on how to save money as a student!

Sharanya - VP Education

Lauryn (Academic Communities Coordinator) and I hosted training for our new cohort of academic reps on the revamped academic rep system.

Nisha and I have been coordinating with the Careers Service to promote the Summer Skills Placement Programme.

I have joined Wonkhe’s Policy Forum on harassment and sexual misconduct, as well as coordinating with the University to work on the new Access and Participation Plan.

Nisha - VP Wellbeing & Diversity

I have been working on my Wobble Week campaign which will be running from 23-27 October (the week before Study Week). The idea behind it is that some students will still be feeling unsure about things and not fully settled yet, and this will be another week with events/activities where you can make friends. It’s also an additional opportunity to provide you with some more education and support around university life.

I have also been getting to know all the Community Officers to see how and what we can work on together over the next year!

I have also been busy planning Coffee Catch-up sessions; these catch-ups will be taking place fortnightly and are for anyone feeling lonely, wanting to have a chat, or getting some advice. On different weeks I will be teaming up with the Student Wellbeing and our Advice Centre so if anyone does need some advice there will be someone there to support you!

Sharanya (VP Education) and I have also been meeting with the Widening Access and Careers Service regarding our shared aim of outreach and recruitment programmes for underrepresented groups. We have been working with these teams to help promote the programmes that they run. 

Alastair - VP Societies & Sport

The last few weeks have been busy!

Student groups have had Freshers' Fair, taster sessions, and first events of the year, and I've been working to be as switched on and available as possible to assist in whatever way I can, which has made for an eventful start to the academic year!

I've been shipped out to Imperial University to co-chair the first BUCS London meeting this year, with exciting plans and methods of engagement for the future.

The SSO Executive has just undergone its by-election to fully fill the Executive, so I've been starting to communicate with the Executive members, creating an introduction post on Instagram for each member, and promoting as many people to get engaged with the by-election as possible.

Finally, the weekly BUCS & LUSL sports fixtures started on Wednesday afternoon; I'm planning and pushing forward a plan on how we can best support and promote these fixtures to get the best buzz and community for our Bears.