STAR Awards 2020: GCU Nursing Society
The GCU Nursing Society is celebrating after double success at this year’s STAR Awards.
On a night focusing on all that’s great about the University, they were crowned ‘Society of the Year’ for their work on mental and physical health and support to students during lockdown.
Second year Child Nursing student Kimberley Brown also won ‘Best Overall Contribution from a Committee Member’ for her work in helping the society return after a hiatus.
Social media officer Nicole Hutcheson explained their delight at the society’s success.
She said: “We were all buzzing when we found out - it was so lovely to get the recognition. We put in a lot of hard work, so we’re just over the moon!
Facebook in particular has been a great way for us to interact with everyone. We’ve had the page going for a few months now and it’s been ideal for us keeping everyone in the loop about what’s happening.”
Nicole also spoke about what the future holds for the society going into the next academic year.
She explained: “Our plan is to keep supporting nursing students in any way possible. This will be especially important with online learning in Trimester A.
I know there are students who are feeling slightly anxious about going out on placement, so it’s just about us being there as much as possible for them.”
Nicole, who’s in her second year studying Child Nursing, added: “We’re obviously an academic society but for us it’s also about keeping everything as fun as possible and as soon as we can do some events we’ll make sure we deliver on that.”
Kimberley also reacted to her award but was keen to stress that it’s been a team effort which has led to the success.
She explained: “It’s lovely to win the award and I’m really touched however, in all honesty, it didn’t feel well-deserved because we’ve been working so hard between us all.
Everyone else in the committee has helped out just as much and really deserve credit - especially Natalie (society president) who’s been keeping us all going.
I originally just wanted to get the society up and running again because we’re such a big cohort in the University. A lot of the time we’re away on placement, so our time on campus is really limited.
Nursing is emotionally and physically draining and it’s vital there’s that support there for students.”
Kimberley also spoke about the now famous GCU Nursing Society fleeces, which she organised and distributed.
She said: “Overall we’ve sold about 200 fleeces, which is amazing! I’ve still got around 90 that I’ve been unable to send out due to lockdown.
It’s a really nice thing to have because it represents us when we’re out on placement. It’s also a good conversation starter with other members of staff because they’re interested in finding out about the society and what we do.”
The STAR Awards is an annual event held by GCU Students Association to celebrate students' hard work and dedication throughout the year. For more information see here.
You can also find out more about the GCU Nursing Society and how to reach them on social media here
By Ross Clark
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter