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Blog 09.02.10

 
 
BLOG 09.02.10
After nominations fun with Rachel I was ready to start another busy week.
WEEK 3:
 
This week I ordered all the new awards for societies ball, we decided to change the awards this year as we no longer separate societies by category so we changed the awards to reflect some of the best aspects of our societies; best event, greatest community work etc and of course still awarding the prestigious societies of the year.
 
As always I’ve had lots of meetings; Sabbatical, a few Drama Soc meetings about their shows, 1-2-3’s with Exec Committee, Student Activities Committee Meeting, Exec meeting… etc!!
 
I then went to the ‘Meet the Sabbatical’ event in Stumble Inn which was really good; this was a chance to meet the potential candidates for Sabbatical elections 2010- they asked a number of questions and we got to talk about what our roles entailed and how being a sabbatical isn’t about having a job for a year its definitely a lifestyle that you need to immerse yourself in for the year.
 
On the Wednesday I had a long meeting with Phil Simcock and Sean about Investing in Volunteers and the next stages for SURHUL Volunteering. We have a fantastic partnership with Community Action at present but I’m looking at branding volunteering within my department and setting up our own community projects.
 
After a little session on Insanity with David I was then trained to be a ‘Cyber Mentor’. This was all part of an initiative Charlotte has been working hard on with the company ‘Beat Bullying’. Now I am officially trained up I can log on to the beat bullying website and offer advice to students who also log on.
Thursday, after disciplinaries I met with Cheerleading, Mark Hyndman and Grace Shaw about volunteering and getting Cheer out into the community to teach at schools. Cheer, Lacrosse, Women’s Rugby and Trampolining are all helping out at Holloway Heroes, the holiday programme that is run at the sports centre so I’ve also been liaising with the sports centre about this.
 
After lunch with the Development department  I headed to London to support Revelation Rock Gospel… AT THE 02 ARENA!!! They were asked to be involved in ‘Voice in a Million’ so were part of a 5, 000 piece choir singing to raise money for charities relating to orphans. There were celebrities, stories, and just the most epic sound I have ever heard, the whole of the back wall of the O2 was ground to floor singers, absolutely stunning. Obviously I was crying and Becky was telling me to get a grip but these are the moment that I truly love about being VPSA when you can say ‘they’re part of SURHUL’.
 
Friday brought with it lots more meetings; Rev Rock about their tour to Barcelona, disciplinary, meeting about Colours nominations, 1-2-1 with Emily about volunteering projects and a few visits from Paddy (first year rep, drama) about their UnScene show this weekend.
 
WEEK 4:
Mon:
Socs ball programme writing
MSL Web Presentation
Meeting with Peter from Savoy about putting on a third term show
Candidates meeting with everyone running for Sabbatical 2010-2011.
 
Tues:
Sabb Meeting
SA Committee Meeting
Exec Meeting
General Meeting
RAG triathlon promotion and sign ups
 
Wed:
Voting opens for Sabbatical elections, definitely remember this time last year when my housemates found me still up at 4am making banners and badges and covered in paint!
Ballot boxing hours
Socs Ball prep
General trip around campus to see how the campaign is going
More ballot box hours
Meeting with Ben Parfitt the new RAG chair about projects we can get started this year and about the potential to re-brand RAG.
 
Thurs:
 
Met with the hockey committee to talk about some volunteering ideas, one of which includes dressing up a member in a bunny outfit and having him cycle around campus on a kid sized bike!! The general concept being they’ll sell raffle tickets and if you can find and catch the rabbit you’ll ticket will be entered into a prize draw.
5+5 at college
Ballot boxing
Candidate’s Question Time
 
Fri:
Sports liaison meeting with myself, Andy and the sports centre staff
Ballot boxing
Disciplinary
Prep for tomorrow’s triathlon
 
Sat:
RAG triathlon, we had 12 keen athletes competing in the triathlon which was amazing and some of their times were incredible. They were asked to do a 2k run, 2k row then 3 laps around Nobles field. Entry was £5 and all proceeds went to ‘Right to Play’.
 
WEEK 5:
Mon:
Colours Criteria Review
Student Activities Assistant interviews- Flic is graduating this year so we’re interviewing for someone to replace her, an huge challenge and she’s be absolutely incredible this year and has worked so hard in the office always on the ball and absolutely dedicated, the office will not be the same without her.
1-2-1 with Jess Quiligotti about the events we’ve got coming up including; Socs Ball,
RAG netball, Come In Your Kit and Colours Ball.
Sabb meeting
AU Council which I chaired this week where we discussed; a Right to Play Day in London, charity events on campus, colours criteria and general discussion about what they’ve been doing and how I can help.
 
Tues:
Senior Management Team meeting
More SA Assistant interviews
Socs Ball prep
Then I started the Sabbatical count 5pm-9.30pm!! This is where we counted the ballot slips of the candidates and eventually found winners for all 4 sabbatical positions.
Results Night for Sabbatical elections 2010-2011
 
Wed:
I’m blogging!
Finance and Services Committee meeting
Campaigns Sub Committee
Exec Meeting
Dave! (my housemate from last year is coming back for the foam party-yay!!)
 
Thurs:
Student Experience group meeting
Disciplinary
SF council
Tristan and Yseult (Drama Spring show)
 
Fri:
Sports Liaison meeting
1-2-1 with James
Socs Ball prep
 
Sat:
SOCIETIES, MEDIA AND RAG BALL!!!
 
 
Blog 25.01.10
 
So, there is nothing like being thrown back into things like walking into the SA office on the 4th of January! We were back a week before the students which, although deathly quiet was still hugely busy on the email front averaging 200 a day… I think everyone got the memo I was back in and ready to go!
First week back (week 0):
-4 hour meeting at the Renaissance hotel where ‘Societies, Media and Rag’ and ‘Colours’ Ball will be hosted this year. We discussed everything from table layout to positioning of photographers to menu to how many drunk people we think we’ll have to manage! All in all very productive.
-usual weekly Sabbatical meeting, preparing for Student invasion!
-SNOW DAY!! Obviously not for Sabbs as we could walk/sledge to work but the rest of campus was absolutely dead.
-helped move in some of the new internationals, a lot over from the States. This was awesome because even though we had to carry a lot of luggage across campus through the snow they were so energetic and made me remember how much I love this job! Actually had one of my top 10 sabb moments this weekend: Was leaving Sabb flat and bumped into girl in the lift, she had 2 huge bags so I presumed she was a new students so I offered her my epic portering skills. She was so grateful because she’d been dropped at the right hall but was definitely in the wrong block and being about 1am was in desperate need of a tour guide. So we trudged to the other end of the block where I explained how to use the funny light cards we have and use the swipe card system. Just about to leave and I said ‘is there anything else I can help with, have you got your plans for orientation etc’ and she was just like ‘can I have a hug?’!!! cutest moment ever.
Week 1
-AU Council. Provided a lot of feedback re: sports centre and hopefully resolved a lot of queries from before Christmas. Getting ready for Colours Ball, RAG Triathlon and more volunteering opportunities.
-Senior Management Team meeting
-Meeting with a company about doing a full Membership Survey, something we all think is well overdue. It’s so essential to keep in touch with our membership and that’s not just re: opinion of who plays at the summer ball but covers all areas in student life.
-Student Activities Meeting. Lots of discussion about Societies, Media and Rag ball. RAG triathlon, Society Showcase Day. Development Day. Alumni Sports Day. Fun4All Burlesque workshop. 2nd Come In Your Kit night-basically A LOT of events!!
-Executive Meeting followed by General Meeting. Slowly but surely getting through the constitutional review which is a mammoth task but by the end of our Sabbatical year everything will be fully updated and shiny and new.
-I’ve been working with the Careers service a lot recently with the Student Experience working group and also planning for ‘re-fresh’ events. They invited me to have a stall at the Part-Time job Fayre but unfortunately, due to the snow this event was cancelled.
-Thursday I went into London to see the other VPSA/Student Activities Managers in the London region. The meeting was all about competitions and we discussed the potential of doing more inter-university events which is what I want to focus on this term- we’ve already had Lacrosse Inter-uni and have; RevRock, Dance, ACS and Badminton already lined up for a bit of inter-uni interaction so plans going well thus far on this aim. Got back to uni and straight to SF Council, lots of info about Societies Ball and how nominations were now open and due back next Friday. I’ve changed the awards this year due to no catergory reps anymore so I wanted to make the awards available for every societies to be able to apply for everything- example of the awards include; best event, best new, most improved etc. We also discussed next week’s Society Showcase day- my mini equivalent of Freshers Fayre where all 49 societies have 2 hours each to re-promote themselves.
-Friday brought lots more meetings; staff, sports liaison, meeting with RevRock to discuss their 1st tour to Barcelona! Then I went around campus with James filming clips of students for the BIG Debate.
Week 2:
Monday:
-Societies Showcase Day!! I was up at 7am to get the hall set up and ready to start, received a delivery of 25 tables from the college porters, closely followed by display boards which really made it feel like Freshers Fayre. The societies were brilliant all prepared with extra fliers and sign up sheets. I was pretty disappointed with the weather and students literally nowhere to be found on campus despite fliering and advertising on the web, facebook, insanity and postering- however we still go around 50 direct sign ups which is incredible!! I think this is an event that can definitely be repeated next year, maybe turn the whole week into re-freshering and possible have it right at the beginning of the year rather than the 2nd week of term- I think once students know something is the norm they soon get used to it
-Sabb meeting
-Then had awesome evening with a close friend from home who is Education Officer at Sheffield Uni so it’s always good to chat to her about the similarities/differences between our Unis.
Tuesday:
-Long events meeting with SAC events to try and delegate some of my events work to them. We now have a new events officer in the wonderful form of Florence and she is keen to get set to work. Think this year has been really good for structure with me meeting regularly with my three Exec ‘family’ just need to continue that system from Exec down to SAC to make sure they know what they’re doing and have enough support at all times.
-Student Activities Meeting followed by ‘The Big Debate’. I was very pleased with the Big Debate, a lot of questions were being asked about space and facilities on campus and the right ears where there to listen and hopefully this will inspire direct action.
Wednesday:
-1-2-1s with Exec to discuss their roles and whether they are happy with them at the moment and think they need to add/amend anything.
-Insanity Sabb Show. This is always hilarious, lots of music and banter obviously but also a great way to get messaged out there.
-Finance and Services meeting, campaigns meeting,
Thursday:
-Inclusion and Representation senate. Discussed Culture week and potential for lots of societies to be involved in evening and daytime events which will be fun.
-UnScene Launch in Medicine. I won a poster in the raffle, so I now have a beautiful poster of Jacob (new moon) on my wall!/ Community Action Launch Night which was good to meet some new volunteers and more of the CommAction team.
Friday:
-Development Day: this was another new venture which I really wanted to happen- it was the perfect opportunity to show what the ‘development’ section of my job is all about. Similar to the Showcase day there were tables and display boards set up filled by: community partners, Royal Holloway International, Careers department, part time jobs, entrepreneurs, frontier, camp America and other summer abroad companies. I’ve now started to display more summer abroad opportunities but as always we struggle with space so I’m going to look into more poster board space for Student Activities.
-Sports liaison meeting.
-Meeting re: faith groups on campus and working out a relationship between the SU and Chaplaincy in regards to the religious groups we both manage.
-Meeting with Savoy opera about the potential to have a 3rd show.
-Meeting with Ben a 2nd year from SOAS regarding the Summer expedition I’m co-organising . We held an introduction to the expedition and had a lot of interets. This expedition is aimed at students with disabilities and we’ve been researching into external funding for this.
Saturday:
ALUMNI SPORTS DAY! What an epic day. Another early morning getting aumni students registered to play and watching as many games as possible. I absolutely loved the atmosrphere, the weather held out and we finished the day in style with a huge social at Medicine.. 7-4 victory for the current students which is an improvement on last years results showing the progress of our teams. Happy times!!
Sunday:
Had a bit of a SA weekend with Sports yesterday so today I spent 4 hours with the legend that is Rachel Pearson to read through the pile (PILE!!) of societies ball nomination forms. After a strong coffee and Monkeys breakfast I was recovering from alumni socializing and ready for the day- it was so inspiring reading all the nominations and me and Rach even had a little cry at some of the beautiful things students were writing, especially when it came to crest nominations. I cannot wait for Societies Ball!!!
Hope you’re all well,
VPSA Love Emma xxx
 
 
BLOG 04.01.10
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
 
Christmas break was fantastic: ate, drank, slept, slept some more and generally acted in a very festive manner for the whole two weeks! Utter bliss.
 
Back in the office now though and ready for ACTION!! This term is packed full of events for Student Activities.
 
18th Jan: Society Showcase Day. A day where you can sign up to all the societies you didn’t last term and ask the members of the committee questions about what they’ve been up to so far!
 
22nd Jan: Development Day. A new event to the Student Activities Calendar which will involve a huge mass of information about what you can do either after uni with the careers centre advice or over your long summer holidays with information about study abroad programmes!
 
23rd Jan: Alumni Sports Day. A sporting battle between the current RHUL Sport clubs and their Alumni opposition. Be sure to make it down to the sports fields today to support your side!
 
For more events check out the Student Activities section of the website, which I’ve been updating.
 
For my first day back today I; answered over a hundred emails that I received over the holidays, updated the Societies and Colours ball award nomination forms, booked all the rooms I need for this term, did a bit of filing, and I arranged a date for an information evening about an expedition I’m co-organizing for next summer with a student from SOAS. I also collected some more membership lists from societies and started to work out a final budget for the 2 balls I’m organizing this term.
 
More blogging to come soon. As always my door is always open so feel free to pop in or drop me an email on vpsa@su.rhul.ac.uk if you have any questions about anything I do. Alternatively, I have in place a new feedback box outside the office so if you’d like to request anything from the department that you’re currently not seeing there is always the chance to drop notes into there.
 
Enjoy your last week of the holidays.
VPSA love,
Emma xx
 
 
BLOG 12.12.09
 
Driven Henry home for Christmas and now enjoying a break from the ‘Holloway bubble’. Lots of exciting events planned for next term so make sure you pick up a ‘what’s on guide’ in the New Year.
Back in the office on the 4th of January.
Happy Holidays,
Emma xx
BLOG 11.12.09
-I’ve now labelled our notice board so it actually looks like a SA board and can be utilized as that. This provides clear Communication as encourages students to check it regularly for up-to-date information.
-The feedback box has arrived and I designed the cover for this to make it clear what its purpose is.
-All the students left last Friday, which was sad but gives me a chance to catch up on bits and pieces in the office and have a bit of a clear out.
-Finally managed to organise everything- every club and society now follow their new constitutions, all having 20 members, a completed development pack and a clear idea of what to do next to make Student Activities amazing!
-Incredibly tired but still got a bit of energy left to fully plan some events for next term.
-I also figured out how to update the website so I got started on that last night, hopefully now we'll get used to referring to the site for up to date information about what the Student Activities Department is doing and what's on next term!! I've already posted some new events on there so go and check them out...NOW!
 
BLOG 08.12.09
 
Services: I’ve had a million meetings recently about getting more space for societies to use. I will report back as soon as I have heard! All good so far and I have been given positive feedback from the meetings showing that there is potential for us to get some more space.
 
Volunteering: Really pleased how volunteering is going this term: The volunteering forum after AU and SF councils have had successful results and a special mention must go to Emily Cookson who has chaired these meetings splendidly, always full of ideas of how we can progress this area of the department. Emily also publicises all the Christmas volunteering projects in the forums and via email to clubs and societies. Jess, as Society Development and Volunteering Coordinator has also been promoting our Santa’s workshop. Since setting up Duke of Edinburgh I’m really pleased with the progress, the weekly expedition meetings are fully attended and the participant’s logbooks are in the post!
 
Organisation: I have the star chart system which is awesome, where clubs and societies get ticked off when they submit their constitutions, membership lists and do other amazing things for the department. This keeps everyone in check and also allows me to see areas which need working on so I can help them.
 
Development: I’m organised an Inclusive Expedition focussed on providing a challenging but extremely rewarding expedition for students with disabilities. The expedition will be entirely funded and an incredible experience for all involved. We also look to train volunteers to lead parts of the expedition. I have had 18 students interested in the trip already, after just one week since I send out the original email. I’m now organising a Start of Session meeting with all involved to plan where we want to go!
 
Now off to Student Activities Committee meeting so more blogging later…
 
Emma x
BLOG 08.12.09 cont
 
Meetings: 5+5, SACommittee meeting, Right to Play (chosen athletic union charity), Drama bids, meeting with Christian’s Together, meeting with Hannah Smyth to speak about a film script, Finance and Services, senates, termly meeting with NUS…etc.
 
Also attended the RevRock/AbHarm Christmas concert, which was amazing!!! I absolutely loved it, so much so I decided to go twice! These two societies have been doing incredible things recently and definitely deserved the very warm reception they received at the shows.
 
Getting very festive and ready for Christmas break,
Em xx
 
BLOG 01.12.09
 
Communication: Been thinking about Student Activities in general and how I can fully promote all that we have on offer, I’m looking to get access to the website so I can start to upload information myself. Claire has attached a feedback section to the newly branded Student Activities Noticeboard, so people can comment as they like about SA department and we can get back to them about any issues or cool ideas people have.  I’m looking into getting a more official feedback box outside the office so hopefully if that goes through it will be an affective feedback tool.
 
Progress: As always space for societies is at the top of my list to try and cater for. I’ve had/in the process of having meetings with various members of staff to get a move on more rooms for societies and really utilizing the present available space.
 
I’ve also had a very productive events meeting with Mark Austin to talk about all shows and when the best times for their union rehearsals, tech and dress are. We’ve scheduled them all in the diary to ensure there are no mix-ups in the springtime shows. I’m also already fully underway with preparations for both Societies and Colours ball. (see ‘events’ for more information)
 
Societies have been entering the ‘Capture competition’, which gives them the chance to win £500. I have been helping both Balads and Amnesty out with this, taking lots of photos and getting the right permissions from various staff members to make sure they can do everything they need to.
  
Development: The development section of my role is also going surprisingly well and ties in nicely with the other three sections. I have elected a RAG rep and she is very keen to help provide students with information about a project called Tentelini, a volunteer aboard programme next summer. I’ve also been in contact with a lot of companies and now have a mass of information available to students regarding ideas of what they can do with the summer holidays to both develop as students and really build on their C.V.
 
Other news:
-Had my monthly Sabb show this week at Insanity, we use these shows to do event shout outs and generally chat about what’s going on in the world of the Sabbaticals! It’s a great form of Communication and hopefully we can get it playing in Bake and Bite soon.
-Had a meeting with College about an arts festival next year and hoping to confirm a date soon.
Whole day of SUEI (Students Union Evaluation Initiative) which is basically the collection of evidence. So we look at points like ‘showcasing societies’ then I would include; a clip of SATV, Freshers fayre pics, the timetable from society taster day etc. It’s a lengthy process but it’s actually really interesting to see what we’ve done and how much we can evidence from it.
-Went to a college meeting about the RCS accounts next year.
-lots of work for 10:10 campaign
-Meeting with Christopher Smile, a charity to raise money for children with cancer to enable more support to go to them and their families.
-Attended the History ‘Blitz Ball’, a formal ball organised by the History Society and 1940’s themed.
-Spoke to Writer’s Circle about their exhibition.
-Organising a ‘Santas Workshop’ for the last week of term, where we’ll wrap presents and sent them to Age Concern to deliver to the less fortunate.
-Start of UCAS open days so we set up an ‘SU stall’ with lots of promotional pictures from clubs and societies on the board.
-Elected a RAG rep
-Lots of meetings: campaigns sub, finance and services, senates, Edinburgh bids meeting, Quad events meetings, 1-2-3s with Exec family.
 
BLOG 25.11.09
 
Hello,
 
Lots of meetings as always; 1-2-3 with Exec family, 1-2-1 with James, sabb meetings, meeting with college about rooms bookings, arts festival, development days… to name a few!
 
Development Days: planning a couple of day events at the beginning of next term. One of which will be called ‘Development day’ where I will invite in companies to speak about Summer Abroad programmes.
 
Societies: Went to see Quills. Looking forward to MTS ‘Return to the Forbidden Planet’ this weekend.
 
Campaigns: lots of work for 10:10 including ordering a green carpet for the Windsor Building and launch night!
 
Communications: did another crazy Insanity radio show, which I really enjoy doing and feel they’re an excellent way to advertise what we’re all doing.
 
Clubs: finally managed to get match teas! Had a meeting with our commercial development manager about menu choices and getting these sent out to the clubs.
 
BLOG 09.11.09
 
Me again,
This week has been another hectic one in the life of Vice-President Student Activities. It’s all been very positive though:
 
Development: I’ve had a very exciting meeting with a fresher from SOAS! The meeting was about an ‘all inclusive’ expedition next summer. By ‘all inclusive’ I literally mean that, not only does this expedition cater for all needs and abilities but has the potential to be very cheap…maybe even free! More details to follow soon.
 
Meetings have filled up a lot of my week with; Finance and services, Campaigns sub committee, Senates, Drama society’s Edinburgh fringe bids meeting, disciplinaries, Sports sub committee meeting, Events meeting with David, 10:10 meeting with sub committees, 1-2-1 with Emily Cookson, 1-2-1 with Andy Steadman, 1-2-3 with Exec Family (Rachel, Claire and Emily), and a Quad events working group.
 
Societies: I also planned another working group meeting about events across campus as have had a lot of society interest for ‘flash-mobbing’ and all sorts of exciting ideas and plans. This weekend I spent 9 lovely hours with the production team of Quills, which is set to be epic so make sure you get your tickets early.
 
Clubs: I also went down to watch the 2nd home game for American Football on their new pitch and took some photos for Women’s football. The Performance Package sports; hockey, lacrosse, basketball and rugby are all doing so well- nearly all being unbeaten!!
 
Emma x
 
BLOG 01.11.09
 
Societies: First of the shows!! I went to see Drama’s production of St Car Named Desire which was in Jane Holloway Hall and am going to see Savoy’s Princess Ida this week. Preparations are all under way for Colours and Societies Ball. (Dates on the calendar), this year they will be hosted in the Renaissance Hotel, on the Heathrow strip.
 
Development: We’ve had a first aid trainer in to train up committee members. James and Charlotte and I attended the Remembrance Service on Sunday with 2 of my Executive family. I hired a new photographer to take the team/society pictures and am really pleased with how they look.
 
Clubs I don’t think I mentioned it before but we had our first Come in Your Kit Night, obviously a sell out!! I’ve been busy calling other Universities to discuss potential of a 3-way varsity so keep checking back for more information about that soon. On Sunday I watched the first EVER proper home game for American Football!! Managed to get a pitch marked on for the boys so they are ecstatic, especially because they won!!
 
Volunteering: We’ve now had our first two Volunteering Forums which have gone really well for more information on how to get involved email our Student development and Volunteering Officer, Emily on sdv@su.rhul.ac.uk
 
Now off to Exec and General meeting.
 
Much VPSA Love,
Emma
 
BLOG 20.10.09
 
Hello again,
 
Non-stop and absolutely loving it!
 
Organisation: I’ve re-filed my office again 1. Because it was a mess and 2. Because I was here so long with Quills! So now everyone is all up to date in their club and society folders, complete with their new updated constitutions and development packs. I’m now working with Alan Lee, Finance Rep to compile their membership databases.
 
Societies: I’ve got another events meeting tomorrow and will also be helping both Balads and Amnesty International Society with projects that could potentially win them lots of prizes!
 
We had a general meeting where James presented the first regulation review…regulation F! We also passed a policy outlining the rules associated with Sponsorship and what is and is not deemed acceptable in regards with getting donations or sponsors from companies. This now gives clubs and societies a clear guidance and policy to follow to avoid any confusion.
 
Absolutely loving the job thus far and I still have so much more to come next term!!
Volunteering has also taken off this year and I have managed, with the help of Emily Cookson our Student Development and Volunteering Officer to set up Duke of Edinburgh on campus.
 
We now have a qualified Duke of Edinburgh leader who meets with students interested in the award each Monday and is teaching them how to complete the expedition section of the award. The other three sections can be signed off by me and include; skills, sports and residential volunteering. I work very closely with Phil Simcock, our Community Action Volunteer Manager and he has had a huge amount of volunteers sign up and now we’re working on getting more club and society involvement in these projects. Emily has set up Volunteering forums after each AU and SF council so we can start inter-club and society events and get them volunteering together.
 
My societies have also been doing incredibly well, notably BALADS who placed highly at a recent competition where they entered two guys into a rumba dance! A few societies have also entered a competition to win some money by doing publicity ‘stunts’ around campus so if you’ve seen odd things happening every now and again you now know why!
 
For years societies have been seen to run themselves with no real direct lead. This year I’ve implemented a ‘reward chart’ so I can closely mark who is doing what and see who needs extra help. We’ve also enlisted the help of a new member of staff a ‘Societies Development and Volunteering Coordinator’. This position was taken up by Jess Nevin. One of Jess’s roles was to take on the mammoth job of room bookings from Andy; she’s also working on every society completing development packs for the year. Jess is meeting with all of the society presidents and committees and really helping them achieve their goals, she’s an absolute asset to the department.
 
Happy times for the SA Dept,
Emma x
 
BLOG 13.10.09
 
The Sabbatical team had a 2 day development day where we mapped out what we’ve done so far and where we still need to progress, this was awesome and really gave us motivation as we could not only see all the good things we’ve done already but it gave us a clear path about how to achieve all our goals.
 
Clubs: Organising Bears Day: Tomorrow!!
 
In other VPSA news:
This month I’ve had a bit of Sabb overload; with ‘Show Season’ starting, launch nights, loads of fixtures to attend, the Stars presentation evening, policies to write and amend, hundreds of meeting and of course the constant flow of people in and out of the office, there’s barely been a free moment in my life! But after a quick trip home and the introduction of Henry (my new car) all is good in the world!!
 
Organisation: This month I’ve been trying to tie up all the loose ends in the office. My Executive family and I have been working hard to produce a template for society and club constitutions. So now the formatting will be the same and have up to date information and titles within it. I’ve also been working with ‘Team Finance’ Becky and Alan to collect in membership lists from everyone, including Student Activities membership numbers, essential to check that everyone’s insured. Jess Nevin has also been hard at work in her new position, working with societies to fill in their ‘Development Packs’. All this information will be nicely filed in club/soc folders and thus be at hand, making the whole system a lot more professional and accessible.
 
Further, I’m making a huge ‘Student Activities Survival Guide’ which will be publicly accessible and will include; constitution templates, a finance guide all the ‘How2SU’ guides and a welcome pack for new clubs and societies- an epic project
 
BLOG 10.10.09
 
Councils: AU and SF council are chaired by Claire and Rachel and they have got into the habit of sending their agenda out early so presidents can actually come to the meetings knowing what is going to be discussed and they can then comment on what is going on. The presidents are also encouraged to add their own agenda points so they can really utilize the council as a forum for discussion.
 
Committees: I’ve definitely utilized the new Student Activities Committee and have them working hard to really represent your needs as students and act as a point of contact for committee members. I absolutely love this committee and would be lost without them
 
Volunteering: I’ve set up a Duke of Edinburgh training forum.  Students can now be trained on campus on how to go about the expedition section of the award, the other three sections can be easily completed though clubs and societies or community outreach projects-information for this all available via myself or our new duke of Edinburgh leader, Dan. dofe@su.rhul.ac.uk
 
Communication: I've launched SATV!!! I am so so pleased with this as I thought I would be one of my toughest points, and actually now looking at my manifesto it’s not even on there! But I guess it falls very much on promoting Student Activities. SATV is about an hour long which consists of promo videos which either clubs or societies have made or I have produced then I have edited them into one movie on DVD and have played it in Tommy’s on various occasions.
 
Manifesto bits: Designed and started to utilize ‘How2SU’. This was one of my points, as I wanted to create visual guides to how to run your committee and use the Student Activities department to the max. The most popular guide so far is the one, which describes the process of ratification for societies and clubs.
 
I’m going to use this blog as a bit of a checklist point for me in regards to my manifesto because that’s essentially why you voted me in and I will do my utmost to fulfill each and every point to the best of my ability.
 
Looking forward to more challenges,
Emma
 
BLOG 01.10.09
 
Societies, Volunteering AND Development!: I’ve hired a new member of staff! Societies have been under developed for a number of years now so I have employed a part-time member of student staff to work 20 hours in the office, purely dedicated to society development and volunteering! Jess Nevin has landed herself the large task of this job and is already working tirelessly to assist all of the societies and really pushing them to create development packs.
 
Development: The development packs Jess is doing gives the society a clear idea what they’re doing and we can not just chase them up on these ideas but give them support in really reaching their potential.  jess@su.rhul.ac.uk
 
Committees: My Executive family; Rachel, Claire and Emily are absolutely incredible! I love each of them and they all have fantastic ideas. I have a new system in place so there is a better hierarchy within the department. Rachel, Claire and Emily have weekly 1-2-1’s with me and I advice them on how to reach their potential and go about ticking off their manifesto points. They also have a 1-2-3 with me per week where they come in together and go through how they’d like to manage the Student Activities Committee and we work out an agenda for the weekly SACommittee meeting that covers all of their roles and also allows the SACommittee to develop individually. The Exec chair the SACommittee meetings then feedback to me. I really love this system as it allows the girls to really put their own input onto how they’d like the department to develop.
 
Later today I’m going to a Student Experience working group which should be fun, I’ve made a very creative presentation device to take with me, hence my office being covered in card at the moment!
 
So, I’ve already mentioned a few points that I’ve covered but I have also ratified two new societies: Criminology and Sociology, and German, thus providing more opportunities to students.
 
VPSA LOVE,
Emma x
 
BLOG 10.09.09
 
September:
 
So the month that has been looming for so long was finally here. With a week of Executive Committee training and hardcore Fresher’s week preparation I found my love of being busy 24/7 was finally being put to good use! Another manifesto point I wanted to tackle early was providing more support for clubs and societies, especially their committees so I organized ‘president training’. I was pretty scared no one would show or I wouldn’t know what to talk about but when I was faced with over 60 faces I was full of enthusiasm and ready to show them what I’d done so far and what we could do as a team from that point onwards.
 
Since Fresher’s week I have been working hard with Mark and Andy to get the Performance Package teams off the ground by ensuring they; all had new coaches for the start of session, were all briefed on what was expected of them, had their new training times and most importantly attended…bootcamp!!
 
Development: Bootcamp was the funniest day, a very early start followed by manning a post in the middle of Virginia Water whilst the 5 teams ran 10miles and did a number of different army style exercised. Jess Nevin and I were in charge of station 4 and got some comedy clips of the students trying to piggyback their teammates whilst blindfolded and kicking a ball!
 
Freshers Week: With students moving in from the 19th term had officially begun. With the help on the Executive Committee and Student Activities Committee we packed thousands of goodie bags and delivered them to all of the halls of residents and then helped all the new students move in, definitely a team building exercise.
 
In terms of being VPSA this week I organized: the launch of inter-hall, society taster day, club taster day, a burlesque workshop for the launch of fun4all, team trials and of course the two day Freshers Fayre!! Phew. I also went out every night to meet all the new students and really form bonds with my new team and committees.
 
Absolutely exhausting but the most incredibly rewarding week of my life, we have always described this as ‘the hurdle to become sabbaticals’ and we flew over it!!
 
Lots of VPSA love,
Emma Montague x
 
BLOG 09.09.09
 
August:
 
Gosh, where do I start?! I guess on the 1st of August…
 
My first day of being VPSA was a Saturday and in typical Montague fashion I was straight in, cracking on with my first and second manifesto points: reorganize the office and utilize my committee.  So, I enlisted the help of Claire and Becky and got cracking with re-painting and re-filing the whole office. This task resulted in 3 very tired girls, covered with white and purple paint but an incredibly sexy new office! Good times. 
August also saw the start of external training. One of the most memorable was when David and I found ourselves on a plane up to Edinburgh where we were to stay at Heriot Watt University for a week of ‘Developing your Members’ training. This was absolutely amazing and we got fully stuck in with workshops, lectures and meeting as many people as we could! We especially made key links with Reading Uni, who are not only firm friends now but also a team of Sabbaticals that we can always call up for a chat about work and what works or doesn’t at each of our institutions. 
My next conference was one for BUCS. This time I went with Andy and Mark and it was crazy!! With Kelly Holmes as one of the guest speakers I was in my absolute element. Kelly was inspiring, speaking about her life and what she’s been through to get where she is now. I also sat in on workshops with one of the members of the organizing committee for the 2012 Olympics and got to met all the other VPSA’s in the country…obviously resulting in a few very heavy nights, but completely complimented with a huge amount of best-practice sharing.
Back on campus the preparation for Fresher’s’ week begins! With the guidebook, calendar dates and Fresher’s Fayre to help organize I worked closely with David and started to see how much we all need each other and are here to represent as a team of 4 sabbaticals. I absolutely loved this time and think this is the make or break month for any sabbatical team, finally getting to implement our ideas and making them fit.
 At this point I was the most excited I had been for ages, with a few fresher’s already popping onto campus and getting to see returning students again, moving back to Egham. Campus had been a ghost town for the whole of the summer so it was nice to see familiar faces around again.
 I think I’ll leave it there for my first blog!!! Sorry for delay, as you can see I’ve been pretty busy so far!
 Your VPSA
Emma Montague
vpsa@su.rhul.ac.uk
Huge Student Activities love
 Email: vpsa@su.rhul.ac.uk
 

 
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