STUDENTS
News from the GCR A message from the GCR President, Emma Lecavalier (MPhil International Relations, 2012)
O
ver the last year, the College has undergone significant changes, and to this trend the St Antony’s Graduate Common Room is no exception. It has been an exciting and dynamic year: we have introduced new projects and initiatives to our academic, social and welfare portfolios. We have also worked hard to strengthen our sense of community in St Antony’s, an endeavour of increasing importance as our body of students and fellows continues to expand. There is a long list of exciting events and
major improvements that have taken place over the course of 2013. Some of these involved bringing our amazing and interesting Antonian community closer together, whether it be through connecting our alumni and students, or highlighting the fascinating work being done by fellows around the College. We had intimate lunchtime discussions with Alumni in our CCR, including Thomas Friedman and Michael Ignatieff. We also hosted academic teas with Rosemary Foot, Tariq Ramadan, and our Warden, Margaret MacMillan. These events
allowed students to meet some of our fantastic Fellows around the College, and reminded us all to appreciate the high calibre of individuals that exist in our little community. Many of the improvements and activities over the last year also centred around enhancing students’ personal wellbeing. With all of the stresses that come with student life these days, the GCR worked especially hard to improve and expand our Welfare initiatives. We improved our student-run gym, adding a new treadmill and improving the erging room for our award-winning rowers (did I mention that our women’s boat won blades at Torpids?). Additionally, our Peer Support team, which consists of six trained members of College, also expanded their efforts over the last year, and its work over the term can only be considered a resounding success. Their Cookie Fairy scheme was especially popular and they pidged about 60 cookies to students every fortnight. Finally, the GCR ramped up its Welfare activities during exam time, offering additional Welfare teas and even putting on a massage parlour in the Common Room. Judging by the student turnout, which exceeded 80 students, the concept was a hit. Finally, the GCR negotiated to make tough changes to its own system, and to the College system in general. In Hilary Term, we introduced an online voting system for GCR meetings to keep up with our globetrotting student body. In Trinity, we reassessed every room in college and recategorised over 35 rooms in order to meet our students’ demands for more affordable and lower grade housing. Finally, we worked with the College administration to provide a rent rebate to students affected by the construction of our new Middle East Centre, which began in January. These represent just a portion of the work done by students in College in an effort to improve the Antonian student experience. Standing now at the beginning of a new year, I can only say that on behalf of the St Antony’s 2013 GCR Executive, I am proud of the progress that has been made in the past few months, and I am certain that, with these new changes and many more that will surely come in the next year, the St Antony’s community will continue to flourish.
Antonians at Matriculation
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