Hi all, hope you have all had a fantastic first term and are getting ready for a well-earned festive break!

We thought it would be schamazing if we could share with you some of our favourite bits from the first term. So we have put together this blog to cover some of the key events, activities and projects that kicked of the academic year. Firstly, we signed with our new associated bar – The Zetland. Already we have held a range of Society events there and look forward to hosting further events in the New Year!

In September, we hosted the most successful Freshers’ to date; this included HudCrawl, HudComedy and Chase and Status at HudLive! On top of our classic events, we had a range of daytime events with a plethora of freebies - essential to any student event I know!

Volunteering this term has been a huge success and Tom, your Communities Officer, has been working hard to drive volunteering opportunities for students, and importantly, fundraising for local charities. We have raised an amazing £1500 and had over 300 students get involved with volunteering. 

Before we knew it, it was Halloween! For the first time we held a Halloween HudCrawl  -  it was great to see so many of you get involved in dressing up and getting involved! Similarly, Bonfire Night was lots of fun! We saw a great mix of students and staff, as well as guests from the community, come together to enjoy the firework display and the warming Bonfire! We were very happy to see so many of you attend.

What about all of Your Big Ideas I hear you say...well we had a record number of ideas proposed that we Officers are now working on with you and the university to make them happen! Please keep an eye out to see Your Big Ideas blossom and post any ideas you have to make change!

Educating Huddersfield soon followed, which focused on the Black, Asian, minority or ethnic (BAME) attainment gap. This saw the BAME Ambassadors speak authentically around their experiences in higher education as well as plans for the scheme going forward. We were pleased to have a great turn out of Course Reps, University staff and an NUS representative, Ali Milani – Vice President for Union Development.

The Student Champions scheme was started in term one, giving students who self-identify as one of the NUS minority groups: BAME (Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic) Disabled, LGBTQ+ and Women the chance to represent and run campaigns to ensure that all students are heard, better represented and can voice their views from a position of authenticity. 

Also this term, we had our NUS Delegate Elections, where we saw a fantastic number of students campaign to represent Huddersfield Students’ Union and great voter turnout. The results night welcomed in the successful candidates who are now in the process of training ready to boss their places at National Conference!

We had a fantastic Christmas Week and were very pleased to welcome some very cute reindeers onto the plaza. We raised a considerable amount of money for our RAG charity that contributed to the whopping £1500, and everyone loved our special guests. As your Officers, we also played a part in Sexual Elf Week, where we hosted the Sexual Elf Quiz, donned some rather embarrassing costumes (Tom rocked that dress!) and talked to students across campus about being safe and attempting to dismantle any varying forms of stigma.

To top it all off, it was Huddersfield Students’ Union’s 90^th Birthday! We threw it back to the 1920s with a Gatsby-style theme, where students together with SU and University staff were invited to come along, eat cake and see the SU exhibition that highlighted the history of the Union and the changes that have evolved as the student movement shifted!

In summary, it has been a great first term with lots of opportunities for students to get involved with different areas of the Union. We’ve not even mentioned the Coffee House Sessions, Give It A Go Week or the great work of the Course Reps, the Societies and Sports Clubs!

We're looking forward to all the things planned for Term Two like ReFreshers’, another Give It A Go Week, Volunteering Week, Elections and the SU Awards!

Don’t forget about Varsity too!

Have a lovely festive break and New Year, take time to relax, ready to come back and smash term two!