Read what I've been up to.
💛 We’ve Got Your Back🪽
Exams, assessments and performances can be really stressful 🫨. We understand and we believe in you 💪. Sometimes you just need to unwind and take a break from studying 📚.
🐔 Over 800 of you came to the SU Miniature Farm! It was lovely speaking to you about how it’s all going 📖 and let you get your head out of your work to cuddle a chicken or stroke a goat 🐐.
🪨 To stop you caving in 👀 we had a mobile caving experience 🧗♂️. It was so fun to navigate of 90 feet of tunnels and obstacles & have fun with friends 🤩.
🚨 On Tuesday, don’t miss Zip To Success with a zip line experience by the lakes 😱 and Chill The Duck Out 🦆 an activation on Silberrad Plaza where you can unwind & send good luck messages that’ll appear on screens and social media 🍀.
The student consultation begins ⚡️. With plans to alter the University’s academic framework for 2027/28, we’ve been working on the Academic Framework Student Consultation to gather and represent student interests & ideas💡.
We hosted Focus Group A and B, our first two consultation events with student representatives, who were joined by Professor Larra Anderson who talked them through the current straw-dog model 🙌. It was wonderful to see how engaged and analytical everyone was, which led to detailed discussion and lots of written feedback that will inform the SU & the University going forward ➡️.
This is a big project but the potential for positive change is why we all do it 😄. In just a short space of time…
🤝 We’ve developed a lengthy consultation plan to ensure the students are at the heart of the proposals.
📣 Hosted our first focus group with key student representatives & with PVCE Designate in attendance.
📖 Designed feedback booklets so student participants can give us rich data and clearly communicate what they like & what they don’t.
📝 We’re working on a large survey project to poll students on what their ideal university model would look like, to break down the jargon and capture opinion.
📁 We’ve got agreement to launch a group looking at the broader student experience to ensure a sustainable vision for student life.
🤩 Bringing in key student stakeholders into the consultation process to ensure representation is truly powerrd by students.
🌈 Holding several different focus groups with different types of students - ones who are engaged, but also those who aren’t or have barriers, to ensure that concerns are addressed.
🌎 I’ve liaised with my counterparts around the country who have gone through or are going through similar experiences so we can share best practices.
This is a big student voice exercise, but when it comes to student voice, we’re always ready & willing to amplify it 🔊. It was so exciting to see the passion and engagement in the first focus group. Thank you to our student representatives for taking part and thank to Professor Larra Anderson for coming along and listening to students 🤝.
🤩 I am never getting over this!! Essex Got Talent was so fun 🌟. The acts were phenomenal - thank you for sharing your talents with us, you’re all stars.
We were able to raise an astonishing amount, of well over £800, 💪 for Open Road, a local addiction charity, and Doctors Without Borders, which provides global medical aid support 🎗️. What a beautiful night ☺️.
It was an honour to host this!! Well done and thank you to all of the volunteers Essex SU VTeam who worked to make this showcase of passion & joy possible ✌️. Thank you to Kieran & Nifemi Wilson-Adu who made this all come together 🎤.
And most importantly, to my co-host & soon-to-be boss, Lily-May Cameron you absolutely smashed it, hosting a live and complex show like this for the first time is not easy 💪 & I’m so proud of you - thank you for trusting me & agreeing to do crazy things like have a lip sync battle in front of hundreds of people 🤣. We had so much fun!!!! I won the lip sync battle, of course 👀 but I had been waiting for that moment my entire life 😌. Thank you to the audience for your unbelievable energy 🌟.