"The students I have worked with have been amazing" Emily, VP
The time has come, the end of my sabbatical year as VP Activities. There were 287 number of days where no face to face activity could happen, it’s been a year like no other and I have had an experience like no other.
The students I have worked with this year have been amazing, they have been so supportive and understanding in such a strange year so shout out to my sports and societies who I absolutely love and it is so nice to have so many amazing students running our clubs at LJMU.
I am so proud of what I have been able to achieve this year here is a little summary!
TeamLJMU Together At Home: a campaign I created in September to keep students engaged and active at home. Over 10 weeks there was different challenges to get active and go outdoors, and to keep creative to engage both sports and societies. We created a virtual leader board to get the teams competing with each other from home.
BUCS: I was elected the BUCS Competition and Performance Student Officer where I have represented students across the UK at BUCS Competition Group and Sport Review Implementation Group. It’s been great to work with other sports officers, with the aim to make the most of the year and keeping student voice improving the BUCS experience.
Promoting Physical Health and Mental Health: Through Movember, Time to Talk, You Are Not Alone, it has been really important to promote the benefit is of physical activity for mental health during the pandemic and for students to reduce stress and anxiety and boost brain power.
InclusActivity Campaign: I created InclusActivity with an aim to increase students who join sports and societies at university by tackling barriers to participation for less represented groups of students. I am now working on inclusion toolkits, training for students and an InclusActivity pledge so the work is continued!
Record Breaking Society Memberships: This year societies have been vital for keeping in contact and making friends online. Through supporting societies we have seen record breaking society memberships! Something I am super proud of my societies.
Supporting Opening of the New Building: throughout this year I have been involved in the project groups for the student life building and sports building, keeping students the focus. And it has been fabulous to see the new buildings and take in the first group of students to have a look around!
Student Safety Net: in January we worked so hard to get a Safety Net for students. Through writing the letter to senior members of the university we now have a safety net to reduce detriment to students during the pandemic.
Employability and Careers: Working with the careers departments at LJMU we have provided weekly webinars and co-created careers sessions for student leaders I want students to capitalise on what they do at uni to further their CV!
You Are Not Alone Challenge: I created this at the start of lockdown 3! I saw an important message, as 24% of UK adults said they had feelings of loneliness and isolation, therefore we challenged students to, walk and cycle 5991.6km, equal to 24% of students at LJMU. Encouraging to donate to MIND raising awareness and support mental health.
Return to Activity: In April we piloted 4 sports at IM Marsh successfully and safely returning students to sport for a few weeks. It was so good to go and see them getting back to training and introduce some freshers to TeamLJMU sports.
I’ve done all of this from home I can’t wait to be President and see what the next year holds.
Emily, VP Activities 2020/21 & President 2021/22
