GCU Events Society is awarded Best New Society for successful first year
GCU Events Society is awarded Best New Society for successful first year
GCU Student’s Association recently held their annual STAR Awards – with 16 winners declared on a night of celebrating student success.
The award for Best New Society was presented to the GCU Events Society, who have been creating and hosting a series of events despite the limits of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The society, who haven’t had the chance to meet each other in person, have been developing ideas to keep the society connected and engaged with their members.
We spoke to the GCU Events Society about their award, the challenges they have faced and what they have planned for the future:
Firstly, how do you feel about winning the award for Best New Society?
“Unbelievably happy, proud and grateful - thank you so much to everyone who nominated us!”
How challenging has it been to operate a society during the pandemic?
“There have definitely been challenges in setting up and running a society during the pandemic, especially as there were complications in the hosting and planning of events! However, we believe that we have made the most of the past few months of virtual events and have all learnt so much from the experience.”
What kind of events have you been hosting? Any particular favourites?
“Although all the events we’ve held over the past few months have had to be virtual, we really believe that we’ve made the most out of it. During term time, we hosted weekly drop in sessions for students. It was a very informal zoom chat that allowed students to socialize in a time when they couldn’t. It was also a great space to share advice!
Our favourite event we’ve hosted was the Zoom quiz night last month. We were so happy at its success and would love to hold more in the future (in-person if possible!)”
Any events planned for the future when we can return to normality?
“YES! We’re all so excited to return to campus and be able to host in-person events. It’s crazy to think that the committee has never actually met in person!
To start the year off we’d love to host some social events for everyone to get to know each other (pub quizzes and nights in the union etc.). We’d also love to host some events that will help people when they go into industry, an example being workshops on networking.
We would also love to plan an end of year ball style celebration, and would love for our members to actually be involved in the planning of it and give them some hands on experience of the events world.”
For any students who have been interested in joining the GCU Events Society, what would you say to them?
“Our committee is made up from students from each year group (and can be found on our Instagram page @gcueventssociety) so please feel free to message any of us if you’d like to find out any more information!
We have a lot of ideas for projects over the next year and we’d love to involve as many students as possible.”
Find out more about the GCU Events Society on the GCU Students’ Association website
By Rachael McAlonan
Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media here