The Bucks Student: Edition 97

SHAg SEXUAL HEAlth, Awareness & Guidance

We welcome in a new campaign!

April 2021 - Edition 97

2 The Bucks Student

Welcome In this edition: Sabb update . . . . . . . . . . 3 Editor’s update . . . . . . . 4 Jessy covers COVID

Bucks Wins . . . . . . . . . . . 5 SHaG: Healthy relationships . . . . . . . . . 6 We launch our SHaG campaign with an article

Cassia interview. . . . . . 8 Zuzanna is back!

Mental Health focus group findings. . 10 What did you think?

Be career ready! . . . . . 13 Polish that CV

Events calendar . . . . . 14 Leadership Academy. 16

Page 6 - What is a healthy relationship?

Well here we are, Easter is in the rearview mirror and the final term is here!

So take a minute to congratulate yourself for making it to this point - as it seems the only way is up from here...

But what do you think to the easing of the lockdown? Can you not wait to get back to a nightclub as soon as possible? Or are you happy staying in the fort that you’ve become so accustomed to? It’d be great to hear about what you’re planning for when lockdown ends, so as always you can let us know by dropping an email to editor@thebucksstudent.com.

We’re more than happy to publish any other of your story or thoughts, just let us know if you have any content, articles, images, interviews or achievements you’re proud of, drop an email to editor@thebucksstudent.com to get started.

STRIVE festival . . . . . . 17 Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

For all advertising and media enquiries please contact the Students’ Union Communications and Marketing department.

Get the low-down on everything coming up

Graduate interns. . . . 19

Simon McDowell simon.mcdowell@bucks.ac.uk

Nunchi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Oli Gunson oli.gunson@bucks.ac.uk

Sport update. . . . . . . . . 21

Nellie Hughes nellie.hughes@bucks.ac.uk

JobShop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Psychology society. . . 23

Page 10 - We review the Mental Health focus group findings

Articles in this newspaper do not necessarily represent the views of Bucks Students’ Union but are that of the specific author. View this edition online at bucksstudentsunion.org/media/ newspaperarchive. © 2021 Bucks Students’ Union

3

Sabb update

April edition 97

By Tamsin Grainger (she/her), Tash Neal (she/her), Tom Featherstone (he/him)

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Bucks Student!

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the slow easing of restrictions! We have a load to update you with new plans!

Tamsin Grainger - President

Tom Featherstone – VPSI

Tash Neal – VPEW

Starting off, we have sent out are first batch of Thank You gifts to are Nursing and Allied Health and Health and Social Care students!

However if you are apart of either of these schools and haven’t signed up for one yet IT’S NOT TOO LATE! Hope onto the website and sign up so you don’t miss out!

Following this we’ve launched out SHAG Campaign (Sexual Health and Guidance Campaign) where we will be exploring the different ways of getting tested at home, healthy relationships and the importance of regularly testing your breasts/pecs/ balls regularly to look after your wellbeing! So, keep an eye out on socials for all the campaign material!

Another update for you all is are work for Mental Health awareness week coming up from the 10-16 May, we’ve got lot’s plans coming up both SU ran and collaborative with the Uni, but we are here looking for some ideas for what you would like to see covered in this week! No matter how big or small your idea is if you could message Bucks VPEW or email Tash on natasha.neal@ bucks.ac.uk with you ideas that would be amazing!

With the return after the Easter break make sure you come down to SU reception in Wycombe or just outside the SU office in Uxbridge and check out the ‘Help Yourshelf’ which has been put up as part of are hidden disabilities campaign!

From Pea Pod keyrings or coloured overlays there should be something for you, as well as this we have a bookshelf gone up with a load of different books based round different Sexual Orientations, Gender Identifications as well and many different disabilities (these have to be signed out through the reception desk) so make sure you come down and check these out!

We hope everyone is staying safe and enjoyed the Easter Break! We look forward to what is set to be a great final term in the sun!

4

Editor’s update

The Bucks Student

By Jessy Clark (she/her)

Editor’s update Hi all, Jessy here! (She/Her) I’m sure you’ve all taken advantage of the lockdown restrictions being relaxed; I know I have!

Being able to get back to work, meet with family and friends, and flit through those sales, is something we’ve learnt to no longer take for granted.

But we all must remember to stay vigilant and to keep ourselves and the people around us safe by continuing to follow the guidelines; you’ve heard it a dozen times a day for the past year, but the smallest precautions will make a huge difference!

Masks on:

University and Higher Education:

A reusable one or a single-use mask works fine, you can even wear both and throw the single-use mask away afterwards.

Recently, everyone at the university should have received an email regarding the latest government updates for students.

Ensure that your mask covers your mouth, nose, and chin! This means that you should buy a mask/pack of masks that aren’t too big or too small.

It has been announced that students not enrolled on a practical course will have to remain online.

Do not use masks with valves! These are not necessary and actually allow unfiltered breath to escape the mask.

Hand washing: Try to wash your hands with hand sanitiser or soap and water as often as possible when entering stores, using facilities, handling doors etc. For your hygiene as well as others who may touch something after you have.

Asymptomatic testing: It is still important that you, whenever possible, get tested for covid19 before attending on-campus lectures.

The tests are free for students and the centre is on campus!

You can book online to ensure a timeslot, or have a walk-in appointment, ensuring you have your ID card with you.

This is a very frustrating time for many students right now and it’s important that our voices are heard.

The Student’s Union is pushing for more support for all students where they feel we haven’t gotten enough.

Fighting for rent rebates and the continuation of the No Detriment Policy with their “We Stand By You” campaign.

Aside from this, Bucks will continue to keep its doors open for all students that need a study space, equipment, library resources or to protect their mental health.

Visit bucks.ac.uk/news/coronavirus-informationand-guidance for more details and FAQs.

If you would like to get involved with the Newspaper and writer’s newsgroup, you can always drop an email to us at editor@thebucksstudent.com or j_essyclark@hotmail.com.

5

Bucks Wins

April edition 97

By Tamsin Grainger (she/her), Tash Neal (she/her), Tom Featherstone (he/him)

We might be in the last term, but we’re still working hard to get those little and large wins on all of your behalf. There’s also loads more on the way...

BUCKS Started work on a Student Safety campaign

BUCKS

WINS!

Offered personal safety alarms to all of our students

WINS!

BUCKS

BUCKS Trained more of our staff as Mental Health First Aiders

Reopened our venues to be as COVID safe as possible!

WINS!

WINS!

BUCKS Worked on providing gender inclusive toilets throughout our Venues

BUCKS Persuaded the library to use Ecosia as it’s default search engine

WINS!

WINS!

6

Healthy relationships

The Bucks Student

By Nellie Hughes (she/her)

Healthy relationships Content Warning: abuse.

This article includes topics such as domestic abuse and harassment. We understand that this content may be difficult for some and encourage you to always put your well-being first.

Whether you’re in it for the long haul, thinking they’re just a friend, or keeping it strictly bedroom only, it’s important to ensure that your relationship is a healthy one. A healthy relationship can cover a wide range of factors and as always, we are here to support you throughout your time at University.

Did someone say red flag?

Sometimes something happens and we know we need to run a mile, but sometimes it’s not that obvious.

Whether it’s a lover, partner, or friend, understanding what makes a relationship unhealthy isn’t always clear. Sometimes we all do unhealthy things, but it’s important we recognise those and shift our behaviours to help build a healthy relationship. Remember to trust your gut and if you ever feel like you’re in danger – get help.

Signs of an unhealthy relationship can include: • Manipulation • Belittling • Guilting • Possessiveness Remember: a healthy relationship doesn’t mean it’s 100% perfect all the time, but it should bring out the best in you and make you feel good.

7

Healthy relationships

April edition 97

By Nellie Hughes (she/her)

It’s not only physical

Consent is everything

Firstly, we’d like to point out that abuse is NEVER the fault of the person being abused.

Healthy relationships are consensual relationships, and you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and have that choice respected. In sexual relationships, consent means that you both enthusiastically and willingly agree to take part. Love is respect talks about ongoing consent and you can find plenty of resources around sex, love, boundaries and healthy relationships.

Abuse is a really broad term, but many people think the relationship can only be an abusive one if there are physical acts of violence, like hitting. This isn’t true. Abuse comes in all forms, from physical to emotional, financial to verbal and even coercive and controlling behaviour is a form of abuse. If you want to better understand abuse, whether to help identify it in your own relationship or to spot it in the relationship of someone close to you, Brook.org.uk is a great resource and has guidance on what steps to take when seeking help.

An excellent way to explain this is with the video; “Tea Consent” I very much implore for you to watch this on YouTube!

Remember, it is still abuse if it seems minor compared to what you’ve read about and seen on the TV. There isn’t a ‘better’ form of abuse.

It is still abuse if it only happened once. If your partner or friend deliberately injured you once, it is likely to happen again.

It is still abuse if it hasn’t happened since you changed your behaviour. Giving up your right to express yourself in order to not be assaulted isn’t okay.

Where can you go for support?

National Domestic Violence Helpline 0808 247 2000 Womensaid.org.uk The Men’s Advice Line, for male domestic abuse survivors - 0808 8010327 National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline 0800 999 5428 Samaritans, 24/7 service - 116 123 The Mix, free information and support for under 25’s in the UK - 0808 808 4994

“it’s important for all partners in a relationship to feel comfortable with what’s happening, every time it happens.” - love is respect.

8

Cassia interview

The Bucks Student

By Zuzanna Majewska

Cassia

“Groundbreaking, vibrant or genius?”

You are doing meetups with your fans, and Instagram chats – which are full. How is it to be so close to your fans?

Everybody: Very cool.

Rob: It is nice to know and meet them. You know what I mean, it would be quite weird to just play all these shows and probably don’t meet people who come to see us.

So, it is quite nice to meet them.

Also, we have got a group of the same people coming to our shows as well. Yeah, it is super awesome, I think it was a good idea.

Lou: Yeah, it is funny. Funny to see people, you often got a lot of statistics, like “You have got this many Instagram likes at your site”.

You can forget that they are people behind it. But when you meet them, you are like, “Oh, people do like our music!”. It is very cool What was the moment in your career which made everything go that way?

Lou: I don’t know if it was one moment. Maybe.

Rob: I think we have always been working, so it wasn’t just one moment.

Lou: Now I have a reflection period.

Rob: I think, when we have started, we’ve got a BBC Radio One track of the week and then everything started taking off. Probably it was that moment, let’s say.

Jake: I think it was earlier. I remember when we started like “Let’s try to do this”. We went to BSTK. We have made lots of money. I remember, we had a festival called “Y-Not”, which is quite a good festival and somehow, we’ve got it really early on. I remember thinking - “Maybe we could do this”. And then we started working hard.

If you would describe your album “Replica” in one word, what word would it be?

Lou: Fantastic Jake: Amazing Rob: Groundbreaking Jake: Rushed Rob: Unfinished......?

Lou: Vibrant Rob: It is not the way to describe it Lou: Why not? It has a lot of vibes.

Jake: It is more than one word.

What about “need”? We are really bad at this.

Rob: Maybe stick to “groundbreaking”.

Jake: Just stick to genius.

Lou: Vibrant is a good one.

Jake: So yeah, we gave you about like forty.

You can catch the rest of the interview at teaindie.com!

9

Cassia interview

April edition 97

By Zuzanna Majewska

10

Focus group update

The Bucks Student

By Tash Neal (she/her)l

We want to be a mentally healthy Students’ Union so we held a focus group!

We recently held a focus group with several of our members to discuss our current approach to positive health and wellbeing and our goals in launching the Student Minds Mental Health Framework. The aim of the focus group was to hear our members input and find out what more we could do to help support student’s mental health.

The focus group included several members of the student body plus your Vice President Education and Welfare Natasha Neal, your President Tamsin Grainger, and our HR and Development Manager Sarah Jackson. The framework consists of 10 principles which you can find below alongside the input from our members.

Principle 1: The Students’ Union has a strategic, wholeUnion commitment to mental health and wellbeing.

The mental health of our members has always been a priority for us and year on year we have continued to include our plans for mental health support in our Strategic Plan and ensure we discuss and support mental health across our teams and not only within our Advice Centre.

Principle 2: The Students’ Union’s internal processes and culture support a high level of understanding and insight into the student experience, which informs their approach to mental health and wellbeing.

Our focus group felt that the Students’ Union are showing a lot of effort in gaining an understanding and insight into the student experience but would like to see the Students’ Union optimising their use of emails and letters for a more personal approach to communicating with students as not everyone uses social media. For those that don’t use social media, the Students’ Union could branch out into other forms of communication alongside the University such as announcements on Blackboard.

With everything shifting online over the past year, our members have noted the benefit this provides for students with families who perhaps have previously been unable to attend events and engage with training and activities. Going forward, keeping an element of online events would be beneficial so that students, such as those with families or in private accommodation, don’t feel excluded as well as providing a wider range of opportunities for those who are not active members of clubs or societies.

The University counselling service is a fantastic service, but members felt there have been challenges in using this service and the Students’ Union will be raising these challenges with the University. A wider promotion of who the Mental Health First Aiders are would ensure students are aware of all their options and know who they can talk to should they need someone.

11

Focus group update

April edition 97

By Tash Neal (she/her)

Principle 3: There is a shared language and understanding between staff, officers, representatives, volunteers and stakeholders around mental health and wellbeing at university.

Principle 4: Understanding of the SU’s role in the wider student support landscape within the community and carrying out that role effectively in partnership with the university.

Our focus group believes that members are aware of the support available and they find the tone used in communications from the Students’ Union around mental health and wellbeing to be mature and never taken lightly.

The members in our focus group feel that the Students’ Union could work on strengthening their relationship with organisations who can provide support in certain areas that are not covered by the services available on campus – such as Women’s Aid, domestic abuse, and being a parent.

Helping members understand the process of accessing that support and knowing how to reach out to the services has been highlighted as not the most straightforward. At the start of the year there is a lot of information about the resources, amongst all the other information regarding starting University and this information should be spread throughout the year. For those students who miss out on Freshers, it can feel as if they have missed out on what services are available and how they can be accessed. To ensure the information is readily available, it could be included in lectures and there could be a Students’ Union presence on the Blackboard banner linking to resources.

Our focus group felt that there could be more guidance given to students during the first few months of enrolling to enable students to be re-reminded of the services available to them at Bucks due to the overwhelming amount of information during their induction weeks. Our focus group felt the University could improve the level and style of their communications when it comes to offers of support and the Students’ Union will feed this to the appropriate University departments.

Principle 5: Actively practicing and promoting co-production with students, student campaigning and movement building in order to create change locally and nationally.

The campaigns run by the Students’ Union have been referred to as “brilliant” but members find that sometimes, as much as they want to get involved, they don’t always know about them and sometimes aren’t sure how they can get involved. The suggestion was to include students in the planning stages of campaigns rather than just the delivery.

Members in the focus group said they would like to see a more diverse approach to mental health conditions going forward.

Principle 6: The Students’ Union has well supported, performing and thriving sabbatical officers.

12

Focus group update

The Bucks Student

By Tash Neal (she/her)

Principle 7: Staff wellbeing and development is a strategic priority and people can speak openly about their mental health.

The Students’ Union has many student leaders as a part of their community alongside student staff and the Sabbatical Officers. Some of the members in our focus group are a part of that student leader community.

The Brew Monday chat was a really useful opportunity, and it would be good to see more informal conversation opportunities like this for all members.

Similarly, student staff see the benefit in having a coffee morning style chat for all student staff and having more regular ‘Honest Hours’ with the Executive Officers that are open to all our members – staff or not.

Our volunteer student staff (Executive Officers, committee members, School Officers, etc) may appreciate one day each month for a no email/no SU volunteer hours. This may support their wellbeing and give an opportunity to focus on other activities.

The Students’ Union regularly contact its members to complete surveys on lots of different things and our focus group felt a short survey specifically around mental health support would be beneficial Principle 8: Students’ Union staff have the knowledge, confidence and skills to respond to a student or a colleague experiencing mental health difficulties.

Principle 9: Student leaders and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, confidence and skills to understand their role in supporting student mental health and respond effectively to a student disclosing that they are experiencing difficulties.

Equipping student leaders and volunteers with the knowledge and confidence to understand their role in supporting our members with their mental health is vital and re-training happened halfway through the year for our School Officers. Opening the retraining to all student leaders and volunteers will help to ensure they are aware of what the current services are and how they can best support our members. This should include signposting so that no matter if a student approaches a Rep, School Officer, or Executive Officer, they are able to support them or let them know where they can go for that support.

Principle 10: The SU creates an environment and culture that supports positive mental health and wellbeing.

The Students’ Union has definitely created an inclusive space with opportunities to raise concerns at any time.

The staff are very welcoming and help to create an inclusive space. The offices themselves can sometimes feel quite daunting as the physical space doesn’t feel welcoming. The study lounge behind Beats Café is a great space that always feels welcoming and members in the focus group have suggested creating similar spaces to this including a family friendly social space.

Culturally, it’s great to see that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training has been offered to all staff, student staff and trustees to help ensure that they can positively contribute to a welcoming and inclusive Students’ Union.

An inclusivity survey each 6 months may help the Student’s Union understand if members don’t engage in specific activities and events for a particular reason, therefore allowing us to redefine our programme to make it as inclusive as possible.

If you have any questions or would like to give your feedback on what we can do to better support your health and wellbeing at University, you can email sutraining@bucks.ac.uk

13

Be career ready!

April edition 97

By Eva Solomon

Be Career Ready!

Your CV matters!

The Student Opportunities and Career Success team at Bucks, are here to help you navigate through these changing times and support you in securing that dream job.

Getting a graduate job can seem a long haul especially during a pandemic. Don’t give up! There is still hope employers are still recruiting graduates and there over a thousand different graduate job roles out there. It can feel overwhelming but you can succeed!

Being objective about your own work can be hard. The aim is to create a CV that ticks enough boxes to capture the interest of the recruiter and get you an interview! Writing your graduate CV can be tricky, regardless of how much work experience you have; it is important that you highlight the skills you have gained– even if this is from your academic, unpaid work experience or extracurricular activities; identify your transferrable skills.

Through our careers platform MyBucksCareer, we have a number of CV and interview help tools with interactive feedback to help you succeed. Below are 3 ways to help you build and perfect your CV and prepare for your interviews.

CV Builder - Invest in your CV! If you don’t have a CV, that’s ok! It’s important to take your time writing your CV. Why not make the most of our quick and easy online CV builder to make your CV stand out and promote your skills and experience.

CV builder allows you to choose a suitable template, you can create and manage different CVs. If you are a student, and want to have two CVs – one for work during your degree and a second professional one to note your credible work experience and internships in your chosen career path. If so, this is the tool for you!

CV360 - Are you graduating soon? Struggling to secure interviews? Leaving university without a job lined up can be a stressful and uncertain time. Don’t worry, keep pushing.

Use your time wisely developing your CV and interview skills!

How good is your CV? CV360 scores your CV against over 95 checks. You get instant, detailed feedback so you can optimise your CV and significantly boost your chances of getting shortlisted for interview.

Interview360 - Due to COVID-19, many things have had to change, and we’ve all been forced to adapt. Interviews and the hiring process have been moved online. How can we prepare?

That’s where Interview360 comes in; because practice makes perfect! Through tailored feedback on your answers as well as your body language, posture and eyeline, this tool will help you truly be career ready with: Mock Interviews, Practice Interview Questions, Artificial Intelligence (AI) - powered instant feedback, and over 100 interview training resources.

We offer a number of workshops throughout the year as well as working closely with your course tutors. You can also have one-to-one appointments to discuss your career choices, CV or cover letter and get feedback from our careers advisors.

To book an appointment with an advisor, for advice or to find out about the events and workshops we have coming up, email careers@ bucks.ac.uk

More information about how the Student Opportunities and Career Success team can support you can be found at bucks.ac.uk/careers

14

Events calendar | 19 April - 2 May

The Bucks Student

We may be in lockdown, but we’re still providing you with all the events to help pass the time!

If you don’t see an event listed below, check online nearer the time; bucksstudentsunion.org/whatson

Monday 19

Tuesday 20

Wednesday 21

Thursday 22

National student pride week

Japanese classes

Guitar lessons

Beer garden bookings

Beer garden bookings

Beer garden bookings

Friday 23

Saturday 24

Sunday 25

Monday 26

Beer garden bookings

Beer garden bookings

Kahoot Quiz: General Knowledge

Spanish classes

All week - What’s on page

Spanish classes

6pm - What’s on page 2-8pm - The Venue

9am - What’s on page

2-8pm - The Venue

2-8pm - The Venue

6pm - What’s on page

Beer garden bookings 2-8pm - The Venue

2-8pm - The Venue

2-8pm - The Venue

8pm - Kahoot

Beer garden bookings

6pm - What’s on page

Beer garden bookings 2-8pm - The Venue

2-8pm - The Venue

Tuesday 27

Wednesday 28

Thursday 29

Friday 30

Japanese classes

Public speaking

Beer garden bookings

End of life care awareness

Beer garden bookings

Beer garden bookings

6pm - What’s on page 2-8pm - The Venue

2pm - What’s on page 2-8pm - The Venue

2-8pm - The Venue

10am - What’s on page

Beer garden bookings 2-8pm - The Venue

Saturday 1

Sunday 2

Beer garden bookings

Beer garden bookings

2-8pm - The Venue

2-8pm - The Venue

Have a burning idea for an event, or need to get in touch with our events team? Drop an email to suevents@bucks.ac.uk.

We’re always on the look out for new activities, and are happy to listen to whatever you fancy doing.

Or, maybe you’d like to have a go at hosting a virtual event? We can do that too so let us know!

It’s time for us to give back to our students who have been working hard on the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic

As a thank you to all of our hard working nursing, health and social care students, we’ve put together a small token of our appreciation with a free gift and a few goodies just for you!

Head to bucksstudentsunion.org/thankyou to claim your free thank you gift from us.

16

Leadership Academy

The Bucks Student

By Emily West

Leadership Academy

having extra skills recorded on your CV and expanding your network will help you to make your next steps when leaving university.

Development activities will be sympathetic to studies, it really is an individual programme designed around you! It will be manageable for students at all levels and a typical programme will include: One to one sessions to agree your leadership development route and monitor progress - We will discuss your career aspirations with you, propose and agree a personal development plan with clear objectives and deadlines and review your progress throughout the academic year through regular emails and meetings.

Applications are now open for our next cohort of 25 students to next year’s Leadership Academy!

Given the current climate, it has never been more important to focus on building up your skills and having a clear set of goals to achieve by the time you leave university to search for your first job. Whether you know exactly what you want to do, or are still deciding, the Leadership Academy can help equip you to give you the best possible advantage when leaving university.

The Leadership Academy was developed to recognise the value of developing future leaders early on. It is a bespoke development programme for talented students to gain specific skills for routes through the Union into leadership roles.

It’s a series of training, courses and opportunities to enhance employability and build leadership traits - all free of charge courtesy of The Big Deal. Now more than ever,

Workshops focusing on leadership styles and self-awareness - Through an external agency, we would fund and deliver formal leadership training which would provide you with workplace critical skills. We can also offer a free Strengthscope personality profile to help you understand your key strengths and how to use these to your advantage.

Accredited training courses specific to your chosen route - We can provide licensing qualifications and legislation compliant certificates for those in the hospitality industry; safeguarding or coaching qualifications for those in the sports industry; your development programme will be specific to your route and we will source the experience that you need. We can fund specific external courses either online or in person to help you meet your goals.

Employability sessions focussing on CV’s, interviews, applications and assessment centres - Group sessions in all of the above will be scheduled regularly alongside the University’s Careers and Employability Service. One to one sessions are also available with both the Students’ Union and the University.

Access to networking opportunities through conferences, staff days and external events - There may be a national or industry specific conference that we agree will benefit your leadership journey and you will be invited to be involved with Students’ Union meetings and development days and consulted with when we have new initiatives or policy to implement.

Mentors – we will discuss in the initial meeting whether you could benefit from a mentor either in or related to your chosen industry who can give you real-life tips and advice on how to get your foot in the door and progress in your career.

Plus full support of the Students’ Union Development Team through one to one meetings, reflective developmental sessions and assistance with finding your ideal leadership role. Once you have completed the year, you will receive a certificate of completion plus a free Leadership Academy hoodie!

But the support will not end there as we will continue to support you through to your graduation and beyond.

You can find further information and apply for the Leadership Academy via the “Jobs and Skills” section of the Bucks Students’ Union website.

If you have any questions, please contact sutraining@bucks.ac.uk.

17

STRIVE Festival

April edition 97

By Sarah Jackson, Emily West Work Experience There will be a number of charities at the event, with volunteering opportunities on offer to help boost your volunteering hours and your CV, but also a great opportunity to do some good and get involved in something that you believe in.

Networking STRIVE Festival is a development programme designed to help improve your employability and delivered free courtesy of the Big Deal.

After a successful first year, we are excited to be bringing back a bigger and better online STRIVE Festival for 2021 on Monday 10 May! Designed to meet all your career and employability needs, this will be your opportunity to improve your employability skills by attending our dedicated workshops, including: • Time Management • Interview Skills • CV Skills • Networking • Leadership • LinkedIn • And more!

Panel Events There will be panels answering all your questions, run by alumni and local leaders throughout the day.

Career and Placement Opportunities We are also excited to be hosting a number of local and national employers at our event who will be available (virtually) for you to find out a bit more about their organisation and what it would be like to work for them. They might even be advertising upcoming jobs that you might like to apply for! We will be working directly with your course teams, to try and ensure that there are relevant opportunities available to all of you attending, with course team staff and careers available also attending to give you tips and advice on taking your next steps after leaving university.

On top of all this, signing up will guarantee you entry to our networking tables, where you will be able to practice your key networking skills, meeting university staff, Students’ Union staff, other students as well as the employers attending the event! This really is a great opportunity to build your contact base and find out a bit more about options available to you when you leave university.

Incentives There will be opportunities throughout the day for you to win some of our prizes we have on offer….. you just need to get involved!

It is never too early to start thinking about your career so whether you are in your first or final year, there will be something available at STRIVE Fest for you. There will be different opportunities running all day to enhance your employability skills and put you in touch with your potential future employer.

Sign up through the event on our What’s On page to stay up to date with everything STRIVE 2021 If you have any questions, would like any further information or a chat about what sessions may be most relevant to you, please email sutraining@bucks.ac.uk.

18

Upcoming activities

The Bucks Student

By Emily West Welcome back! I hope you managed to have a good break over the Easter and are looking forward to something closer to normal this term! We have some great activities lined up for you this term, whether you are thinking of enhancing your employability prospects with one of our skills sessions to add to your CV or just want to get involved in something not online, we have

something for you and we want you to take full advantage of all the amazing opportunities offered by your award winning Students’ Union, all FREE courtesy of the Big Deal!

Coming up in the next few months we have all these great opportunities for you…..

Japanese Lessons

Thorpe Park

Public Speaking

As requested! We are now running a follow on 5 week course of FREE Japanese lessons! For those with a basic understanding of Japenese, this is a great chance to build on the fundamentals of an important language, especially relevant if you are entering the international business world, but just as important if you fancy a trip to Japan in the future!

For everyone who has missed being outdoors and looking for some time to unwind this is the trip for you!

THORPE PARK Resort is the ultimate destination for thrill seekers featuring some of the UK’s most popular roller coasters and amusement park rides. Reach new heights with Stealth, the UK’s fastest roller coaster launching riders to 205ft at 80mph in just 2.5 seconds. Take flight on THE SWARM the UK’s only winged coaster, or face one of Jigsaw’s most twisted traps with SAW - The Ride, the world’s first horror themed roller coaster featuring a 100ft “beyond-vertical” drop.

Make sure you’re always ready to speak in front of an audience!

Attending this workshop will provide you with practical tips and advice on public speaking and presenting. This session will help to develop confidence, address nerves and deliver engaging speeches in a friendly environment that will enable you to try out techniques and develop your own personal style. Whether you will be speaking in front of a lecture theatre, as an election candidate, or you are an experienced public speaker looking to refresh your skills, this session is a must.

Guitar Lessons Back again for this term, we have these great online guitar lessons available for students with access to a guitar and a good internet connection! Whatever your level on the guitar, you are welcome to sign up for these classes with our professional tutor on hand to provide 5 one to one lessons over 5 weeks.

You can book onto any activity through our website so be sure to keep an eye out on bucksstudentsunion.org ‘What’s On’ page – don’t miss out by not reserving your place early on!

19

Bucks Graduate Interns

April edition 97

By Sarah Jackson

Bucks Graduate Interns

Now recruiting for 2021 Would you like to work for your award winning Students’ Union? We are excited to be announcing our Bucks Graduate Intern recruitment has started for this year! Open to all students graduating in 2021 and those who graduated in 2020, these unique roles will give you the chance to work across a variety of our departments gaining invaluable transferrable skills.

As a Bucks Graduate, you will know your Student’s Union is in the top 3 in the UK - for the 3rd year running!

And now we want you to be part of our award-winning team and are looking for 3 Bucks Graduate Interns for the coming academic year.

As a Bucks Graduate Intern you will have the opportunity to work in our fun and creative environment and contribute to our mission of making life better for students at Bucks.

We are committed to improving the student experience and actively seek to bring positive change to student life.

You will spend time with different departments of the Union gaining an understanding of the day to day operation as well as involvement in key projects such as Varsity, Union Awards and Festiball. You will gain experience in campaigns, representation, development, marketing, communications and events making for an excellent opportunity to enhance essential career skills as you’re exposed to different aspects of business over the period of your placement.

You will be fully supported by the Training and Development Team who will work with you to agree a development programme of formal training and mentorship to compliment the employment experience you will gain. We will also then support you in finding your next career step at the end of your contract providing coaching, advice and guidance wherever it’s needed.

We value employees with ideas and personality and believe that lively, active and vibrant people shape our organisation so if you think this could be you, read the full job specification on the ‘Union Jobs’ page of our website and then send completed application and equal opportunities monitoring forms to sujobs@bucks.ac.uk.

We look forward to receiving your application!

20 The Bucks Student

The power of Nunchi

By Orla Carlin

Nunchi

tips from an ancient Korean concept

Reading throughout lockdown was often something I would do for mindfulness, and to be honest reading is sometimes a wonderful shield from the negative news around. As a masters student working full time, I was a little overwhelmed with all the screen time and just before bed, dipping my head in a book was a pleasant escape for my burning eyes.

I ordered a book called the power of Nunchi, a Penguin publication by Euny Hong. It helped me manage myself during restrictive times and equipped me with new knowledge that I can look forward to implementing when social situations are back in full swing. So here are three tips I learnt about Nunchi: Never pass up a good opportunity to shut up!

With emotions heightened during lockdown and people separated in their bubbles it can be easy to sometimes say things we do not mean. I always tried to follow the advice I learnt in school. Is it kind? Is it necessary? Is it true?

Nevertheless, this method did not always work for me. It was hard to stop and think mid conversation to ask these three questions. As they say never pass a good opportunity to shut up and they even relate to how asking questions in Korean schools and colleges during lectures and lessons is not always welcomed. The point may be a culture shock to many westerners but if just applied to some normal social interactions, it can help improve our relationships. They highlight a French proverb “you should turn your tongue in your mouth seven times before you speak” and now when I try it helps me think before I speak. Giving something physical to do, is a good strategy and saves me from saying something I may regret.

Plus having a mask on nearly everywhere I go means nobody really notices.

Step back and breathe With less opportunity to meet people (old and new) and most people subjected to staying at home, it may be even easier to read people inaccurately. The shift to Zoom calls, and other platforms and the reliance on social media to communicate, means that engagements with new people or people we are not that close to can get easily tangled. Nunchi is all about highlighting how prejudice can prevent us from learning anything about people. Fast forwarding in our minds with our own notions about others, may lead us to skip past people that could be valuable in our lives. Assuming we know everything about a topic or a date for example, means shutting down your senses and decreasing the ability to gather the real picture.

As they say listen more, we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

Find a sense of meaning in the midst of pointless drudgery If you hate your part-time or your studies, the Korean buddhist monk ‘Sunim’ suggests getting up a little earlier and meditating. He recommends breathing deeply and asking “how is my work or studies helping other people?’, sometimes shifting our focus on others can help us reconnect with the purpose of our work or studies. As well as this, nothing is permanent and things won’t be like this forever.

What purpose can you find today?

Is there a plant to water? A bird to feed? Who will your course help in the future? If you are considering changing course, how might your story help others in the future?

21

Sport update

April edition 97

By Fergus Adams

Sports are back!

Well, almost...

With Lockdown restrictions easing we are excited to announce that we will be putting on training sessions for all of the outdoor sports we ordinarily run, these sessions will run until the last week of your third term.

Please see sports/times as follows: Cheer For information please contact fergus.adams@bucks.ac.uk Men’s Football Flackwell Heath 3G pitch Monday 19:00-21:30 Women’s Football For information please contact fergus.adams@bucks.ac.uk Men’s Hockey Royal Grammar School Friday 19:30-21:00 Women’s Hockey Royal Grammar School Friday 18:00-19:30 Netball Kingsmead recreation courts Tuesday 19:15-21:15 Rugby Marlow RFC Monday & Friday 18:30-20:00 Unfortunately we still have to wait for indoor sports to be allowed, but as soon as we are permitted within government Covid guidance we will put them on for you.

If you would like any more information regarding sports at Bucks please contact: fergus. adams@bucks.ac.uk

22

JobShop

The Bucks Student

By Sarah Jackson

Part-time jobs!

We understand that many of you will need to work while studying and with this in mind we regularly update our Jobshop page on the website with current, local and part time vacancies. We also have some great opportunities coming up with the Students’ Union! Would you like to work for your Student’s Union? We are planning to come back bigger and better after this difficult year and if you want to be a part of our team we have a number of vacancies for student staff - some starting now and some from September 2021 and we are accepting applications now! Please see below a list of opportunities currently available: Freshers’ helpers

Bar staff and team leaders

Responsible for helping students integrate into Buckinghamshire New University and the local community and providing a friendly welcome to new students during the first two weeks of term. As part of a team, organising trips and activities for students, providing information about Bucks Students’ Union and local services and socialise with Freshers as well as acting as ambassadors for Bucks New Uni and Bucks Students’ Union..

Working with the team to ensure the smooth running of the bar within the Venue at our High Wycombe campus and consistently delivering the highest customer service standard

Head freshers’ helpers

Events technicians

Responsible for supervising freshers’ helpers whilst on duty, including organising and distributing daily briefing sheets, working with the Project Coordinator in the construction and distribution of rotas, managing the rota during staff shortages and motivating and encouraging freshers helpers. You will also be helping with the key task of helping students integrate into Bucks New Uni and the local community.

This opportunity includes running the entire production for all live nights within a team of five ensuring you’re a key player in delivering the events programme.

Events staff A varied and interesting role, this opportunity includes stewarding responsibilities as well as that of door entry and running the cloakroom.

“If you have the opportunity to become a Fresher Helper, then I would strongly urge you to apply and give it a go. It is a paid role which looks good on your CV, it provides you with new skills and abilities but develops the current skills you have. For example, communication, problem solving and teamwork. These skills are important in any workplace, however, doing this role will allow you to become a bigger part of the students’ union exploring other jobs, getting to know your team and meeting new people.”

Event Security Staff Working closely with other security and venue staff ensuring the delivery of our duty of care to all customers and the opportunity for further shifts outside of the Students’ Union.

You can apply for any of these roles via our website under ‘Jobs and Skills’ then ‘Union jobs’ page or contact sujobs@bucks.ac.uk for more information.

With recruitment now picking up again, there are a number of websites it is worth checking for current part time vacancies in the local area, alongside our JobShop page, especially in the retail, care and hospitality industries: uk.indeed.com, totaljobs.com, reed.co.uk, jobsite.co.uk If you would like any advice or support in finding a part time job, drop an email to sutraining@bucks.ac.uk.

23

Psychology society competition

April edition 97

By Lucy Webb

Psychology Society photo competition fundraiser!

The Psychology Society is holding a virtual Photo Competition Fundraiser to raise money for our Society and our RAG charities!

Perfect to do from your home or when going out for exercise, we have 3 photo categories: Nature, Buildings, and Pets! Each £1 ticket purchased will be 1 photo entry to 1 category and your donation.

Donations to be made via: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ photo-competition

To submit your entry, just email your photo to susocieties@bucks. ac.uk and state the category. We also welcome you to post your entry on social media with the hashtag #BucksPhotoComp, and tag Bucks’ Students Union and Bucks Psychology Society to share your entry!

A team at the SU and our Committee will then judge your entries and choose a winner for each category. These winners will be announced shortly after this date on social media and in the Bucks Student Paper! There may also be an opportunity for some paid work at SU Events!

Please ensure you submit your entry (or entries!) by 5pm on 30th April

Have fun and submit your best photos!

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