EXPERIENCE

Wellness Week

UNE Life once again assisted in the facilitation of Wellness Week by participating in the various activities, including providing speakers such as UNE Life Director, David Schmude, Event Administration and ex-police officer, Graham Watson. On the day of arrival for many commencing students, Life Safety, Security & Information were on hand to assist all students with enquiries and transport, and Tune!FM provided a “Move In Day” Broadcast and Snapchat competition, which was won by both Austin College & Wright College.

Further support was provided when UNE Life was asked with Residential Support to fund and facilitate an activity on the Thursday evening of Wellness Week. Born into existence was “Granny Bingo”, which attracted huge numbers, and commentary from those that were unable to attend that it was an activity that should be repeated.

Townies BBQ

On Sunday 14th February, the Official ‘Townies’ welcome was held in The ‘Stro from 5pm. In addition to facilitating the day and coordinating attendance, the Student Experience Team were capturing photo and video media.

Supported by the UNE Student Support team, the day provided commencing non-college students an opportunity to hear from a range of on-campus service providers, as well as the UNE Townies Association (unincorporated) who facilitated a series of ‘ice-breakers’ that were extremely well received and set the tone for non-college student engagement for the remainder of the week.

With UNE Life now responsible for Life Safety, Security & Information, 2018 allowed an integrated opportunity for commencing students to learn more about these services, as well as order and collect ID cards on the Sunday ahead of commencement. The Safety & Security team facilitated a shuttle bus between town and campus, ferrying commencing students to and from the event.

Sports Clubs @ Lifesaver Day

OWeek Comedy Night

The TUNE!FM Crew welcome new students

Granny Bingo @ Wellness Week

Monday Commencement Ceremony

The Commencement Ceremony is an incredibly important component of Orientation, with rich history dating back to the days of New England University College of Sydney when it was known as a “matriculation ceremony’. In recognition of this, all students are required to don academic dress for the occasion, and our Graduation Services team were happy to provide all non-residential students and those at colleges which do not require the purchase of academic dress, with robes for the occasion. UNE Life Student Experience through Uni4Me, cooked pancakes and distributed free coffees to both encourage attendance and gather all non-residential students in the top courtyard and this worked on both levels.

As with every year, Life Functions and Catering served an outstanding buffet on Monday and catered for the Parents’ Session morning tea.

Lifesaver Day

Lifesaver Day was a fantastic opportunity to engage directly with the new student cohort and demonstrate the variety of services that UNE Life offers. As well as coordinating attendance, throughout the day the Student Experience Team focused heavily on driving social media engagement. Students were introduced to each service’s social media pages through a variety of competitions and give-aways, establishing an initial touchpoint for information distribution throughout the year.

The major activation that took place around this involved student taking part in the competition to win an X-box One console, with a duo from Mary White College taking home the prize.

Students were introduced to each service’s social media pages through a variety of competitions and give-aways, establishing an initial touchpoint for information distribution throughout the year.

Life Functions & Catering again catered to the entire cohort and in something that has become somewhat of a tradition, staff from UNE Life Corporate Services assisted on the day, welcoming new students to UNE.

For the first time, UNE Life invited our sustainability consultant from packaging supplier “Vegware” to be part of the Lifesaver Day activation and with staff and packaging materials from our own outlets, educate students on the composition and product lifecycle of these materials in an effort to raise awareness of personal responsibility in waste management.

Sports Olympiad

The annual Sports Olympiad took place in the afternoon of Lifesaver Day and continued the tradition of facilitating social sport and an introduction to SportUNE, through a mass participation inter-college event. A variety of sports were offered including netball, volleyball, soccer & the tug-o-war challenge.

Comedy Night

For the fourth year, an O-Week Comedy Night was held in The ‘Stro, with metropolitan-based comedians providing two hours of entertainment.

Fresher Bash

On Thursday of Orientation, nearly 300 students packed into The ‘Stro for ‘Fresher Bash’, and witness invited vocalist, DJ & international collaborator; Sarsha Simone.

As usual, the night was very popular and patrons had the opportunity to receive prizes for their attendance including bar fridges, gaming consoles and other uni-useful items.

Tree Planting

Each year, Orientation Tree Planting enjoys a tremendous turn out of students from UNE colleges with the PVCAI challenge ensuring that the college (including townies) with the most students in attendance walk back with $500 for their chosen charity.

In 2018, 353 students were on the Uni4Me tree planting site contributing to not only planting, but weed maintenance, clearing, and other landcare duties, with the top three groups of students per-capita being Duval, Robb, and Austin, in order.

Our sincere thanks are extended to the University’s Facilities Management Service for their support in clearing the site and working with UNE Life, and Southern New England Landcare for their invaluable assistance on the day.

WellFair

In its Fifth year, WellFair is a known event at UNE which focuses on simple pleasures and encourages students to take a small break from study and get to know one another, as well as the support services that are available to students.

In 2018 a specific theme of ‘circus/carnival’ was built upon with UNE Life Student Experience team building multipurpose booths that could be used for a variety of events, arranging specific attractions and providing activities for various clubs and support services to host throughout the day. It has become a standard event at UNE, with both staff and students making contact throughout the year and seeking ways to be involved.

Winter

In its second year, Winter once again received outstanding support and was an enormous success.

With a higher budget in 2018, than in 2017, there was sufficient funds to address shortcomings of previous years and we thank the SSAF committee and Executive for supporting this event.

Student Support, UNE Residential Support, Counselling and Uni4Me were all present on the evening and there was a number of activities and initiatives to ensure messaging around “check-in” and census date were saturated.

Over 750 students attended “Winter” in 2018 and enjoyed atmosphere, snow, a movie tent, 6 seperate food items and stalls, and an extremely well received activation from Uni4Me where students were encouraged to write a “check in” to friends and family, which we then posted for free. Over 200 postcards went across Australia and around the world with some truly heartwarming messages.

OVER 750 STUDENTS ATTENDED IN 2018

Clubs & Societies Highlights

In 2018, Clubs & Societies continued to be supported by student experience staff of UNE Life and the management for direct funding, provided by the Student Services & Amenities Fee.

The SSAF Committee provided $70,000 in 2018 for direct clubs funding, which assisted student organisations to hold events, activations, training and provide curricular-focused support through peer-to-peer projects, such as the Practice OSCES days held by the UNE Medical Student Association.

The balance of considered funding and administrative support has been the focus of the Clubs & Societies program for the two years that it has been under UNE Life, and we are working to reinvigorate the engagement and support activities that clubs undertake, as a basis for increasing the financial support available to student organisations.

A focus for 2019 will not only be on increasing direct funding for clubs, but retaining a dedicated clubs manager to work with student organisations and focus on conveying the enterprise benefits of student leadership.

UNE Exercise and Sports Science Association
President: Adrianna Marshall (2018)
text provided by Club

In 2018, EXSSA was in its first year of establishment, and was founded with the overarching aim of bringing together on campus and off campus students in exercise and sport science and the clinical exercise physiology degrees. As both courses have a very small cohort, a few students with the aid of some academic staff thought it would be great to form a fully student-based association to help bridge the social gap between on and off campus students.

Due to being a new association, we faced the challenges with getting our name and goals out to students and staff. Additionally, we faced challenges establishing something that would be able to support the students more than just socially. With these challenges, there were questions of financial feasibility and whether there would be enough interest to warrant everyone’s time and dedication to the cause. Thankfully, we were able to overcome all these challenges and had a very successful year with over 70 financial members at present!

In 2018 we were able to provide a discounted CPR and first aid course which is integral to our degrees and placements.

Events for 2018 included:

Guest speaker night at the ‘Stro during intensive schools
Staff vs Students soccer game and BBQ
Meet and greet social night at the Whitebull during intensives
Participated in Lifesaver day in o-week.

The careers night was a great success! It facilitated all types of students to mingle with one another in a safe and mutual environment. It also helped students to see how vast our degree is when it comes to career opportunities, especially the first years in attendance.

Due to unforeseen circumstances a few of our guest speakers pulled out at the last minute. However, we were able to save the night as a few of the lecturers stepped in. This provided both the on campus and off campus students in Armidale for intensive schools an educational insight into our vast industry. Along with the lecturers we had practising AEP’s, a member from cricket VIC, a qualified strength and conditioning coach and many more!

In all, over the year students involved in EXSA managed to forge relationships that will last a lifetime!

UNE Pharmacy Students Association
Previous President: David Smith (until April 2018)
Current President: Lainie Johnston
text provided by Club

In 2018 PhUNE won the NAPSA Charity Cup! This is a competition between all pharmacy student associations in Australia to see who can raise the most money for a nominated charity. A winner is decided by seeing who raises the most relative to number of members. In 2018 this charity was Fullife Foundation and PhUNE won by raising $1314.57 to aid women and children in Africa.

We hosted multiple events, including the Charity Cup, our Annual UNE Pharmacy Ball and some Free Networking BBQs. Our bbqs went particularly well, and allowed for both internal and external students to network within their profession and take a well-deserved break during intensive schools. In 2019, PhUNE hopes to improve engagement with both internal and external students.

We are very excited about the new heights achieved by both the organisation and pharmacy students during 2018, and we looking forward to an even bigger and better 2019

UNE Student Nursing Society
Previous President – Georgie Hamilton (until August 2018)
Current President – Olivia Sheather
text provided by Club

The Nursing Society’s aims are to enhance the experience, welfare and wellbeing of Nursing students through social, educational, cultural, sporting and charitable activities and functions.

Some challenges that the nursing society faced in 2018 were the constraints facilitating the UNESNS Ball and filling the committee. There was also a slight decline in event participation among the members of the society. Despite the decline in participation, the society was able to pull together some great events this year. The executive held a careers night for first to final year nursing students, which featured several key speakers to present and talk about the various different areas of nursing. There was also free food to cater to our members and a raffle for a stethoscope donated by the SOH to raise money for the society.

The Student Nursing Society was also able to run and participate in several events in 2018, including:

Lifesaver Day
Welcome BBQ
Movie + Pizza Nights
International Nurses Day BBQ
First Year Examination BBQ
Nurses Stro Night
Careers Night
Bunning’s BBQ

2018 was a successful year for the Nursing society, despite the challenges faced, and recognizes the potential to grow in 2019.

UNE Medical Students Association
Previous President: Sophia Fitt (until July 2018)
Current President: Laura Mallett
text provided by Club

In 2018, UNEMSA had many triumphs advocating for our students, and implementing several very successful new initiatives. These including:

Working with the Faculty to establish a Crisis Response, Bullying and Harassment Guidelines for the JMP.
Getting Flexible Accommodation Contracts for 3^rd year students, and establishing Mental Health Leave Days for 1^st and 2^nd Year students that can be used without requiring a medical certificate.
Reintroducing #UNEMSAWellbeingWednesday, a popular initiative that allows members to share photographs and strategies that improve their own wellbeing.
Introducing a monthly newsletter to improve transparency and communication between the committee and our members

A challenge UNEMSA faced this year included addressing the lack of engagement with our fourth and fifth year medical students located in Armidale, Tamworth and Taree. To address this challenge for next year, UNEMSA has joined with University of Newcastle Medical Society Inc. to introduce Joint Clinical School Representatives at Armidale, Tamworth and Taree. We hope these new positions will help us improve our engagement with and support of clinical students.

UNEMSA also had challenges with financial reporting due to our Financial Year not aligning with our calendar year of events and funding. As a result, we have changed our Financial Year for 2018-2019 which we hope will address these problems.

Over the course of the year, UNEMSA organised many events, including:

12 Academic Events including Practice OSCE days, PASS sessions, Women in Medicine Cocktail Evening and a Futures in Medicine & Clinical Skills Night.
12 Social Events including First Incision, Med Week, Medicine Charity Ball and an End of Year Cocktail Party
5 Sport Events including Inter-year Sports Competition, Parkrun and entering UNEMSA teams into Dodgeball, Touch Football, Basketball, Soccer and Mixed Netball Competitions
4 Charity and Wellbeing Events including the Charity Fun Fair, RSPCA Cupcake Days and NSWMSC Mental Health Breakfast
Australia Medical Students Association Blue Week to promote mental Health
A 3 Day Orientation Camp for first year students in Coffs Harbour

And of course our annual Med Revue: Monty Python’s Royal Flying Doctors Service.

One of UNEMSA’s most popular academic events, Practice OSCE days, are extremely beneficial to our members. Run each semester, Practice OSCE days are an opportunity for medical students to have a trial completing their practical exams (OSCEs) before the exam period begins. Older students assess and give feedback whilst younger students act as patients. The highly organised day is a great collaboration between year groups and gives our members a greater confidence to succeed in their practical exams.

For UNEMSA, 2018 has been a year of re-establishing stability, continuing our advocacy to Faculty, new internal initiatives and improving our current events.

Christian’s United
Previous President: Mitch Buster (until September 2018)
Current President: Brandy Ritch
text provided by Club

In 2018 Christians United faced challenges in the following areas:

Including Christians from different church backgrounds
Inviting international students to engage with our group and the Christian message
Continuing to make adjustments to our regular patterns of gatherings in order to match the university trimesters.

These challenges involved creating and adjusting strategies, building rapport and communicating well with diverse people, and our student committee ‘sharing a vision’ for working with international students to our broader group.

However, a significant triumph for our group was the establishment of a weekly Bible study group for international students delivered in simple English, and increasing numbers of international students attending our events throughout the year.

Events Christians United ran throughout the year included:

O Week events (these included a stall at Lifesaver Day as well as a dessert night, pancake brekkie, games night, social soccer, café catch-up and a barbeque at Dumaresq Dam)
Two camps for our members at Scotts Head
A Q&A for UNE students at Easter, ‘Did Jesus really rise from the dead?’
Series of public lectures and talks by historian and speaker John Dickson (organised in partnership with St Marks UNE Church)
Weekly Bible studies
Text for a Toastie during trimester 1 & 2 exam periods

Members also participated in:

St Peter’s Anglican Church’s bush dances for welcoming international students
UNE Life’s Winter
UNE Life’s WellFair Day
The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) National Training Event in Canberra

Overall, I think that Christians United committee look back on 2018 with thankfulness.

Vietnamese Social Club – National Day

Farming Futures Careers Expo in Lazenby Hall

General Practice Student Network Trivia Night

ASPIRE’s Red Week in the Courtyard

UNE Gaming Society – 24hr gameathon

UNEMSA Wellbeing Day

UNE Women’s Basketball