What a year it has been! Starting off our 2020/2021 officer year by being elected into the role a matter of days before Covid-19 impacted universities all over the world; we didn’t realise exactly what we had signed up for.
However, I think the challenges that have been thrown at our team have only pushed us to work harder and better than we ever imagined.
- Starting off the term, we worked with the university to ensure that our clubs and socs were able to socialise safely in person to keep our students safe in terms of the pandemic, and also their mental health.
- Despite being unable to have the big event we may have hoped for, we also joined the university in celebrating the re-opening of Pantycelyn.
- As our international students began to arrive in Aberystwyth, many of them were required to isolate for 2 weeks – so we worked hard to assemble wellbeing packs for these students to welcome them and make them feel a part of our Aber community. This also inspired us to take things a step further come December, where we provided Christmas packs, sent Christmas parcels to the elderly, hosted a greetings card drive, and spread some cheer on Campus in some rather silly costumes. Oh, and let’s not forget when we covered our wonderful opportunities officer in gunk to raise money, alongside many of a clubs and socs, for the Old College fund!
- Knowing the many challenges that students may face with blended learning, we also worked with the university to make sure that students could easily access special circumstances and extensions, without the need to provide evidence.
- We also lobbied the university to widen the eligibility criteria to ‘Study from Home’, adding mental health, caring responsibilities, and ‘other’ to the list of acceptable reasons why a student may not wish to return to campus.
- As the term progressed, teaching and socials were temporarily moved online due to the pandemic, which led us to quickly secure you a safety net/no detriment policy, giving you peace of mind that should things be tough, you have the opportunity to re-sit your assessments.
We have faced one hell of a year and we are extremely proud of the work the SU has done this year in spite of Covid-19. We really couldn’t ask for a better team to work alongside, being such a caring group of individuals who ultimately put students at the heart of everything they do.
Thank you AberSU team of 2020-2021 for being a true breath of fresh air.
Nate, Chloe, Moc, Wojtek and Connor
Aber SU Officer Team 2020-2021