STOP THE PRESS!
WHAT’S NEW AT THE SU
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We have just been awarded the Best Student Union of the Year at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards
Champions of change During COP26 in November, the Officer team launched Festival for the Future, a sustainability-focused week of panel events, talks and interactive workshops with sector leaders. Our SU President and Welfare and Sustainability Officer also travelled to COP26 in Glasgow along with a group of students to be part of the historic event. In the same month, our Liberation Officer and Women’s Officer organised Sheffield’s 2021 Reclaim the Night and led the empowering march through Sheffield city centre. This was
followed by our 16 days against Gendered Violence campaign. Throughout December, our Disabled Students Officer organised a series of networking events for our disabled community at the University, and our International and Community Officer launched a new Winter Wellbeing week to support students with their mental health through the colder months in the UK. In February, we shone a light on marginalised identities in an LGBT+ History Month campaign led by our LGBT+ Students Officer.
Students march through Sheffield city centre for Reclaim the Night.
Students get stuck in Our Refreshers Fair in January was attended by over 6,000 students, and over 13,000 students are participating in our clubs and societies this academic year. Student societies have also been busy fundraising and organising inspiring campaigns. The Boxing Society skipped over 100 miles in three hours to raise hundreds of pounds for a local charity. November also saw the return of Baby Bummit – our first inperson ‘Bummit’ for two years! The sell-out charity event saw over 150 students safely hitchhike their way to Edinburgh, raising over £10,000 for good causes. Following a turbulent time during the pandemic, it’s great to see our SU building buzzing with student activity once again. We’ve built back and are ready for the future, with a newly restructured Officer team and even more capacity to give students in Sheffield the best possible university experience.
Sheffield Students’ Union gets its buzz back In 2021, our Officer team grew to 13 student representatives for the first time. As well as seven full-time Officers, our Students’ Union (SU) also now has six part-time Officers who each represent a group of students at the University: postgraduate, mature, women, LGBT+, BAME and disabled students. The expansion of our Officer team, along with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, has meant this year has been packed with
new and uplifting campaigns, programmes and events. In September, we greeted over 15,000 students at our Welcome Week and saw the return of our building as a hub for students to make new in-person connections. Almost 3,000 students took part in our first series of Give It A Go events, which are an opportunity to try something new through one of our clubs and societies. We recruited around 1,000 students as Academic Representatives in departments
across the University, and our Student Advice Centre helped over 1,500 students adjust to University life in the first few weeks of term alone. In October, we celebrated Black History Month with a carnival organised by our Liberation Officer and BAME Students Officer. The event took over the whole SU building with food vendors, cultural performances, live music, and market stalls from local, Black-owned businesses. 2022/2023 | YOUR UNIVERSITY 11