It’s hard to believe that we are already at the end of another academic year here at Surrey! There has been so much going on across the campus, and your Union have been working incredibly hard to ensure you make the most of your Surrey Life. From wellbeing events to nightlife events, celebrations, sporting activities and making sure your voice is heard, there have been endless opportunities on offer for you.

May was no different, and with the exam period taking up a huge chunk of the month, your Union were on hand to help with advice, guidance and taking care of your wellbeing through a range of different events with Don’t Worry Surrey.

Let’s recap on what each of your Zones have been up to throughout May:

 

Community:

• Launched ticket sales ready for the return of Grad Ball, and prepped your End of Year shows. We have lots of super exciting things planned for Grad Ball, and tickets are selling fast, so make sure to grab your ticket before it’s too late!
• Welcomed SO many of you at the Lake Bar, and thanks to (mostly) good weather, we have sold an impressive 7,000 pints since we opened in April. We even opened across the May Bank Holiday weekend to make the most of the heatwave!
• Hosted several Rubix nights including Hammered for Charity Coachella Night with Rugby Club, GradSport, and a sold-out evening to celebrate after Colours Ball.

Voice:

• Celebrated the achievements of our Reps this year at our annual Course Rep Awards – we saw a total of 45 awards given during the ceremony. A huge congratulations to everyone who received an award!
• Held the final Student Equality Network meetings of this year to help evaluate our successes and plan for next year. The Network also collaborated with AutiSoc during Autism Awareness Week on outreach stalls to engage students across campus.
• Hosted our inaugural Surrey Teaching and Academic Greatness Awards presentation with the University staff who won this year’s awards, and published the results to students and staff to celebrate the staff who have made an impact on you this year!
• Your VP Voice, Luana, presented a Student Voice Report to University staff at the Student Experience Subcommittee based on student feedback gathered throughout the year – an example of how your voice truly helps make a difference!

Support:

• Supported you through the exam period with our Don’t Worry Surrey campaign – our advice team ran a total of 18 Quick Query sessions across the month, three Manor Park Social drop-in sessions and for the first time, two vet school drop-in sessions.
• Ran lots of wellbeing events to help you prioritise your mental health, including weekly pet therapy sessions, mindfulness events, a Wellbeing Walk with Talk Together, and a very successful Goat Yoga session with over 20 attendees!
• Added encouraging and motivational messages to over 1,000 cereal and chocolate bars to give to you during the exam period, to provide a little bit of joy.

Activity:

• Hosted two Union Trips, one to Bourton-on-the-Water and another fast-paced, adrenaline filled paintballing session!
• Organised Union Ball and Colours Ball in collaboration with the Community Zone to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our students, Clubs and Societies. Both events were a huge success, and it was amazing to see so many of you come along to support each other! Read more on our Union Ball and Colours Ball winners!
• Held another successful Black Sport Collective social event - this time we ran a Padel tournament over at Surrey Sports Park.
• Delivered committee handover training for incoming Club and Society signatories, which was attended by 375 students!

Your Union:

• Launched a formal review of Union Forum led by the Union Chair, consulting current officers and other Students’ Unions across the country to improve the impact of this meeting for you.
• Hosted over ten Belonging Events across May, some in collaboration with Don’t Worry Surrey, and some over at Manor Park Social. We can’t wait to bring the Surrey Belonging programme back for next year, with even more free and affordable events for you to get involved with!

 

Congratulations to everyone for making it to the end of another year, and good luck with your exam results in the coming months. We hope you’ve managed to make the most of your year with your Students’ Union, and we can’t wait to welcome returning and new students back in September with a super exciting Freshers’ Week!

In the meantime, make sure to keep an eye on our What’s On calendar for all upcoming events, and follow us on Instagram for all Union related updates!