Fresher Take

Your Lincoln Students' Union

September 28, 2020 UoL Student Life Season 2 Episode 2
Fresher Take
Your Lincoln Students' Union
Show Notes Transcript

On this weeks episode join Ben and special guests Amina and Lucy to learn more about your student's union and how you can get involved this academic year!

All of the Virtual Fayres will be live online from the 1st Oct, with live chat available at different times across the two weeks following this.

You can find the Student Union website here.

For more content made for students by students, check out Student Life blog or follow us on social media @UoLStudentLife!

Ben :

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Fresher Take. My name is Ben and today we're going to be talking about your student union ahead of the beginning of the next academic year. Now to do this, I am joined by two very special guests.

Lucy :

Hi, I'm Lucy. I'm the Vice President Wellbeing Community for this academic year at Lincoln Students Union.

Amina :

Hi, I'm Amina and I'm the Vice President International at Lincoln Students Union for this year.

Ben :

Well, it's lovely to have you on the podcast, guys, thank you very much for giving us a little bit of your time. So this episode is going to talk about the Students Union and how new students coming to the University of Lincoln this academic year can get involved with social events and sporting events, and everything to do with enriching your time here at Lincoln. Now, obviously, the first event that will be happening, I believe, is the Welcome Week. Is that correct?

Lucy :

Yes, indeed. But we are actually hosting some events at the moment for our early starters and medical students.

Ben :

Oh very exciting. And I want to quickly say that the Welcome Week lineup does look fantastic. There's loads of events and activities you can take part in, such as walking tours, retro gaming, golf, the big quiz, and open air cinema. And of course, all of these events are in line with the current government guidance. And obviously, everything is taken super, super seriously, which is really exciting. And for more information on the Welcome Week, and anything else coming up sort of more recently, within the Student Union, make sure you check out the SU website, which is lincolnsu.com. So guys, obviously sports and societies are a big part of student life at Lincoln. And obviously getting involved in extracurricular activities, such as sports insight is going to be no different this year, there are just going to be a few changes. So do you guys want to let us know what them few changes will be?

Lucy :

Yeah, of course. So all of our societies are fantastic. And obviously the current government guidelines, we know that science is going to have difficulty meeting. But our societies have been amazing and adapted to this, there will still be offering all their sessions, but a lot of them will be virtual, just to ensure everyone's safety. Erm, however, if societies meet in groups of six, they can do that. But obviously, it has to be within government guidelines, it has to be in groups of six. And sports are a little bit more difficult. But sports can continue so long as they are in line with their national governing bodies. So for example, rugby union can train so long as they train in line with their national governing body. And indoor sports are going to be a little bit trickier. And I know that guidance will be released on this in due course. And we're just really trying to make sure that every student that's part of the sport or part of a society can have as much experience as we can possibly give them. And whether that's just social, and online, then that's fine. But if we can, they can meet in like licenced venues in groups of six.

Ben :

That is fantastic. And of course, obviously, joining a society is something that a lot of students would like to do, because obviously, it allows them to meet new friends, learn new skill, find like minded people. And of course, if you're doing a sport, stay active. And of course, it is important to remember that the government guidelines could change as they change all the time. And so obviously, you guys at the Lincoln Student Union, we'll make sure that everyone has the relevant information as and when they need it. And as well, of course, some examples of societies that are available at Lincoln, such as the terrible Film Society, and then you've got football, you've got rugby, you know, there's so many different if you've if you've got a hobby, there's probably a society for it. And I know for a fact that the terrible Film Society, for example, and I hosting sort of Netflix watch alongs and as opposed to actually meeting and going to a cinema. So that's just one example of how COVID has changed the way that people can still interact with each other. And do you guys have any other examples of how societies have been changed because of COVID.

Lucy :

As I said, a lot of our societies are coming into the 21st century meeting virtually at doing lots of events virtually so I know when we're in lockdown, our rugby union hosted a virtual quiz every Sunday. And that was a really good way of their team still staying together and being able to bond even while we were in a national lockdown.

Ben :

Fantastic. So how can students find out more about how to join societies this year at Lincoln.

Amina :

Um, so basically, we have all of our societies listed on our website. So basically students just have to go onto their website and look out for the societies that they feel they would be interested in. And the join in procedure is just the like-- if you click on a society it tells you what to do next. And then if you also check on the list of societies and you happen to have a society that you think you may be interested in, and it's not there, and you want to create your own society, you can also do that.

Ben :

So So if I'm a student that is looking at, say, a bunch of different societies, and I don't really know which one's the right, the right one, for me is the sort of a way that I can sort of find out about the different societies.

Lucy :

So a lot of our societies in normal times would host face to face taster sessions. And again, they're moving all of these online so that students can have a taste of it before they decide to join. And but we generally recommend to students, that one society, one sport and one academic society is probably enough, you don't spread yourself too thin, you get to something you enjoy, you get to stay active, and your academic society lines up really well with your course, and helps just with actually studying and being with students who are on the same course, as you.

Amina :

As Lucy mentioned, would usually have the face to face taster sessions and then our freshers fair, also sometimes a way of getting to know about the things that you can be involved in a diversity and that this year, we're going to have that online. So you would always, once you go online, and you find something that you're interested in, there'll be someone there that you can talk to, to give you more information on how to sign up or how to join.

Ben :

Yeah, it's fantastic to know that, you know, at the University of Lincoln, you've got so many different societies and so many different ways you can get involved so that there really is something for everyone. So moving on now to venues and events, obviously, this is something that is also going to be changed as a result of the new government guidelines that are coming in. And obviously to do with COVID-19. So do one of you want to tell us a little bit about how that is changing, and obviously what implementations have been put into place in order to keep students safe.

Lucy :

So all of our venues have been made COVID secure, our commercial team working really, really hard to do that. And everything we've planned, we planned so it can be within government guidelines. So for example, our quizzes, students go to their tables, they're sat in no more than tables of six, they wear a mask, unless they're at their table, if they go into the toilet, they put their mask back on. Everyone stay socially distanced. And food and drink is ordered on our new student orders app. And it's delivered directly to the table. And this just means we can limit anyone getting up and walking around and the contacts that people have with each other. And that is how we've done all of our events like the indoor cinemas, the quizzes, bingo. Everything like that is done in like the guidance, obviously. And then our walking tours and cycling tours are being done with no more than six people on to ensure that we remain within government guidance.

Amina :

We recently within this week did videos of what students should expect when they visit our venues, just to give them more information on like the one way system, and where to like find sanitizers and how to just go about being in the venue. So I'm sure students will find that easy and useful before they arrive in the venue.

Ben :

And as well, there is also something known as the Twilight cafe. And would you like to give a little bit more information on that, please?

Lucy :

Yeah, so we created the Twilight cafe for students who maybe don't feel confident enough to go to our events, we don't know anyone and don't want to go on their own. And if they're feeling a little bit lonely and isolated, especially this year, we know it's gonna be very difficult for students. There aren't the normal ways of meeting people, you don't get to socialise with the flat next door to you, because you are very much in your bubble in your flats. So we have the Twilight cafes, they were going to run from 11 to 1am in the swan, but obviously COVID guidance change. So we've had to adapt that very quickly. So now they will be run for 8:10pm. Every night, they will be hosted by one student leader. We're all going to do two during the two weeks. And we are going to a slight theme I think so I know Georgia is thinking about crafts. I think if you come to a twilight cafe with me, we can have a little bit of a bake along. I do love making cookies. So it'll be a great time. And it's just a nice way for students who potentially don't want to leave their accommodation or feel too anxious to leave that accommodation, to meet new people to be able to have a conversation with someone else and not feel like they're on their own.

Ben :

That's great, because I obviously know people, obviously that do struggle with sort of socialising and sort of things like that. So I think something like the Twilight cafe would be perfect for them. And did you say that was every evening in the swan, which is the local cafe er- local bar, sorry

Lucy :

It's now every evening virtually to remain within government guidance, so there will be held on Microsoft Teams from the comfort of your own student accommodation.

Ben :

Lovely, I was gonna say, especially in Lincoln, you know that the winters can be a little bit rough. So maybe it's a little bit nicer that they're, that they're indoors and online. And of course, speaking of sort of socialising and things, not every event has to be superduper social and the SU have community volunteering, that is something you can go and do on your own, if you'd like to get out and do something. And so would you like, tell us a little bit more about that, and how students can get involved with this.

Amina :

So you should have seen Lucy's face, she was really excited about community volunteering. So like, we have lots of volunteering and opportunities for students to, to be part of. I for one, as an international student took part in volunteering in the community, last year, it was at a food bank, which was really, really, really good. Students will be amazed to know the kind of skills or experience that they would get from like taking part in community volunteering. You could only imagine how I felt when one of the people that I went to hope in the volunteering work mentioned that she had been to Ghana before, which is where I come from. I was like, shocked, you know, so like, sometimes you come all the way as a student, you may feel lonely, and you just happen to be volunteering with the community and you find someone that probably has a history of where you're coming from, so that you can have that build that type of relationship. So we also have volunteering opportunities within the university, the SU itself. So for the SU in our campaign networks, the wellbeing networks, the well being, Lucy, I think is even looking for is it volunteers, right? Yeah, so Lucy, for lots of volunteers is to be part of a wellbeing network. With myself and my roommate as well. We have voluntary opportunities for students who can take part in the pen pals scheme, and can also take part in the international buddy scheme. Basically, these schemes are just to help current students to relate to international students and share information regarding culture, signpost, them to SU services and volunteering, within the university, the SU and the community all ties up to your skills log, which is a fantastic opportunity for every student that is enrolled because the skills log, adds up to your CV that you'll be preparing at the end of your course and then helps you in your employability skills. So um, listen, you want to add something or touch touch on community volunteering?

Lucy :

Yep, so community falls under my remit. And I have a fantastic community officer. He's a part time officer. So he's a student he worked really, really hard with his network. And we are currently working with the local community to create some short term volunteering opportunities for students, we completely understand that some students may not have the time to give six months to volunteer, they may not know what their course is going to be like in six months time. And they don't feel like they can commit to that. But we are looking at creating sort of one off litter picks that they can go to, and ways to get involved with the community that don't require giving up six months.

Ben :

So if students are interested in volunteering, how do they get involved?

Lucy :

As with everything they can go to our website, our website is the font of all knowledge when it comes to the SU. And there is a volunteering page underneath employability, and all of our volunteering opportunities that are currently open are there. So at the moment, we have the penthouse scheme, and we have wellbeing champions are available for students as well.

Ben :

Well, that sounds fantastic. Again, it's something that will allow you to not only become more employable with learning different skills, but also potentially meet some new people as well. If you're not, you know, a fan of going out and meeting people that way, you know, you may be able to make some lifelong friends by you know, meeting them doing something that you care about, like volunteering at a food bank, as Amina said so I think that's fantastic. And if you thought that was it, no, we still got more the campaign's network are another is another great place for you to get involved this year. And and there are a few depending on what exactly you want to get involved with. So you have for example, you have BAME, you have Women's, LGBT, disabilities and community and environmental. And of course, if you guys have any more information on this, and want to let students know how to get involved, now's the time to let them know.

Lucy :

So our campaigns network is headed up by the wonderful Bailey, who is our vice president campaigns and environment this year. And she basically looks after all of our part time officers, so our women's officer, our LGBT officer, our disabilities officer, our BAME officer, all of whom are very, very passionate, and are doing great things and would love to help people get involved. And they are actually holding a campaigns fair, it's going to be virtual, just like all our other fairs this year. So you can find out more information there. And you can also get involved. But while we have those waters under Bailey, I mean, her and I have stolen a campaigns group each, so I stole the community group off Bailey and they now sit in my well being that work. And they are brilliant. And Amina has a say in the International Students Association. And between the three of us and all of our campaigns networks, we just really made sure that all students and all demographics of students can be represented.

Ben :

Speaking of the international students network, Amina, would you like to take the floor and tell us a little bit about the International Students Association?

Amina :

I would gladly do that. So I'm basically with the International Students Association. Because the name is long, we just go by ISA every international student that comes to Lincoln gets automatically enrolled to this network. And, but it's not meant for only international students. That's the beauty about this as well. Home students are encouraged to be part of the ISA, because I'm one of the goals that ISA wants to achieve is to be able to integrate home and international students. And ISA has a Facebook page, Twitter page Instagram page, and it's run by an ISA officer who works with me, we also have a committee. So for all those listening, we have two slots available. So just in case you're interested in the volunteering opportunity, ISA is really to welcome you. And with ISA we have monthly events, we call the hubs. So basically, this monthly events we do is a way of engaging our members and also getting feedback from them as to how they are settling within the university or any other feedback they would like to share with us, we would have different types of discussions we have every month. Previously, last year, there were meetings were done face to face, and in different ways. But obviously, because of COVID this year, things would have to be done differently. And I'm hoping that all our members will be happy and still engage with us as we should. We don't have to like think about the fact that we can't do all of the things that we want to do by it's just for us to have a platform to be able to like talk to each other and express, you know, our concerns within the university just like an informal place where you can just meet people and talk.

Ben :

I think as well. It's fantastic. Because obviously there are a lot of international students that come over to Lincoln. And I think we've had you know, many international students come on the podcast, and before and of course, that I can imagine the integration from a different culture to that of Lincoln can be something that is quite daunting. So obviously, I could imagine the International Student Association or the ISA is the perfect place to sort of make that transition so much easier and so much more enjoyable for students.

Amina :

Yeah, exactly.

Ben :

And as well as that we also have the pen pal scheme. And again, Amina, would you like to tell us a little bit more about that and how students might want to get involved?

Amina :

Right. So the pen pal is another baby thing of, of my roommate, which is doing really, really amazing this year. I'm interested to know that all the sabbatical officers have 10 pals at the moment. So pen pal is just the scheme that allows a current student gets paired to an incoming international student. So basically, we have few questions that when you sign up, you'd answer maybe, just tell us about your cause. Maybe your agenda, age bracket and just for us to know how easy you want this to pair you with another person? And once you answer those few questions, and there's someone within the same match you just get paired, we have a training module, which can be found on the SU's website just for you to know some of the things that you can do as a pen pal, because some for some people, is going to be completely new to them talking to people that they haven'y met, and they may not know how to go about it. So that's why we created the training module just so people can have information as to how to start the conversation, maybe if you do send, but nothing too much that a student can no handle. And just to be in touch with international students and tell them a bit more about your experience within Lincoln and the UK because I'm, I'm guessing lots of international students will be asking questions about, Is it cold? Is it raining? What should I expect? Can I get this, Can I get that? So just you know, make them feel that when once they're in Lincoln is in one community that do feel home and feel welcome. And I think it's soothing for like an international students to be travelling, knowing they have someone that is speaking to already who is already a current student. So then when they come is not quite difficult for them to access the community. And I think the pen pal is going to be much more crucial this year, given that we are dealing with COVID. So it's not going to be like easy for people to just pop out of nowhere and then meet people and then you know, start friendship. But then if we once we have this scheme in place, we would have like catch ups, probably via teams, or you know remotely where all of the pen pals that we have paired, would come along and just like give us a brief intro of how you know they found the pairings and how they've gotten along just to like break the ice so people can like continue to like be friends. So basically, that's what the pen pals scheme is about, and is a volunteering opportunity as well. So if you take part in the pen pals scheme, you would be adding a lot of skills on your schools log on to ACS website to for more information about the pen pal scheme, or if you're interested to sign up, you can always send me an email at internationallincolnsu.com. Or you can just drop me a message on my Instagram page, or you can just head to the Lincoln SU's website and just type pen pal and then every information you need will pop up.

Ben :

That sounds great. Something that again is a fantastic way to sort of merge two communities together to different cultures together and to create as we mentioned earlier, one big community here at the University of Lincoln. So the final topic or aspect of the Lincoln Students Union I would like to discuss today is the advice centre and well being network. Now of course I've just seen your face light up Lucy so I will I'll hand this over to you. And so will there still be an advice centre running this year? If so, what can students expect and how can students access this?

Lucy :

Of course that will still be an advice centre running this year and I don't think we could function as an SU to support students without one and we are going to be doing as we have been throughout all of lockdown telephone appointments. So students can call up and book or email and book and they can then receive a one to one telephone appointment with one of our advisors who are fantastic. And we are also doing pre booked appointments face to face on Wednesdays and we have a video that has gone on our social medias to show how we're doing that in a COVID secure manner. And which I had great fun filming and that we are basically you will be asked come in with touch will be checked. You'll do the NHS track and trace and the SU test track and trace as well. And you will then continue the facemask, be seated in the waiting area and then go and do a socially distanced one to one appointment. And I have nothing but praise for our advice centre I think they're wonderful which is why my face lit set up and they are fantastic. As for the well being network is another new thing this year. We've been very busy during lockdown and the last six months creating loads of things ready for when students return. And so the wellbeing network, it's brand new, it's my remit and which is fantastic because before now, I didn't really have a network and It's quite nice to have a little army of students myself. And we have three lead well being champions, they are under the sexual health, mental health and physical health areas. And they are fantastic. I trained them last week, and I am already so proud of them. And we are currently recruiting wellbeing champions, who will sit underneath them across all three areas as well. And then these students are there to signpost to the relevant services. So ensuring the students know where the advice centre is where student well being is, where the GP centre is, where the nearest sexual health clinic is ensuring, students are all fit and healthy, and representing them, and also to be there to help with campaigns and get student feedback. So if we get a lot of student feedback in one area that she has really thought that there needs to be a campaign around it, or they feel that they need more support in a certain area. And the well being champions are hearing this, we can then work as an assay to ensure that we are providing that for students.

Ben :

Wow. So much information there. And again, this seems to me like something that I've used before and seems to me that it's something that students will utilise a lot, especially in the new year with all the COVID restrictions and the uncertainty in the air. Another fantastic way of ensuring mental and, you know, mental and personal sort of strength and well being at the University of Lincoln. And is there any other little bits of information you want to give about the well being centre? I remember you saying that there was face to face, socially distance face to face, one to ones on a Wednesday, what times are they specifically?

Lucy :

And so a student can pre book so you need pre-book appointments just to do with social distancing, and make sure you're okay with people in the building. But you can email or go online to book and then you'll be given a list of appointment times. So students can access that very easily.

Ben :

Well, again, sounds fantastic and very flexible as well to allow students to be able to take care of themselves mentally as well, which which is always one of the most important things about coming to university. And that is it. That is a very quick wrap up looking at your Students Union coming into the 2020/2021 academic year. Thank you so much to Lucy and Amina for coming on the podcast. We really appreciate you guys and your knowledge has been very rich and very, very important. And I assume a lot of students will will take a lot of information from this.

Amina :

Thank you, Ben for having us as well.

Ben :

No worries, no worries. And again, if you would like more information about anything we spoke about today, make sure you check out the Students Union website which is Lincoln su.com. And don't forget you can get involved in the campaign's network and also the International Student Association. You can find out details about who to contact on the website as well. Thanks again to Lucy and Amina. My name is Ben. Until next time, see you later.