A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The awards ceremony, held on 18th June, saw students gather in L/N/028 for the announcement of this year's winners.
Scarlett said: “The awards went fantastically. Everyone in attendance seemed to have a good time and enjoy seeing their fellow students recognized.”
“It seemed that the addition of University Challenge captain Andrew Clemo kept the crowd happy!”
Looking ahead to next year, Scarlett revealed: “We're trying to build the profile of the event, as it’s a really fantastic way to recognise the people who put the hours into making the student experience so fantastic.”
He said YUSU are open to suggestions for new categories, which could include an additional welfare award, as they aim to increase the awards to “have the scope to recognize student contributions across the board”.
All prize winners received a small trophy, a Parker pen and a certificate commemorating their achievements over the year.
It’s a really fantastic way to recognise the people who put the hours into making the student experience so fantastic
Lydia Blundell received the ‘Outstanding Leadership’ award for her contribution as Halifax president over the last year and her involvement in RAG Parade and Kids Camp.
Blundell said: “These things have really shaped my university experiences and have meant that I've met some great people!”
“I was truly shocked to win; I was up against some great people who had put so much time and effort in to societies, sports and colleges and it really meant something simply to be nominated!” she added.
Romanian Society was crowned ‘Best Society Newcomer’; the society was only set up in February this year to bring together York’s Romanian students.
Their events have included film screenings and a Martisor workshop in March, where traditional talisman were made and handed out to students to celebrate the beginning of Spring.
Chair Mihai Vasile said: “This award comes more as an encouragement to keep on going with the same enthusiasm.”
“We are doing our best to promote the culture of Romania around campus and we have avoided creating a closed club for Romanians only and focused on promoting our values - traditional and modern - to other students.”
Their hopes next year include establishing a good partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute in London to try to bring some of their events to York, engaging in projects with other European societies, repeating the Martisor workshop and film screenings and bringing in expert speakers on various topics related to Romania.
The award for ‘Most Developed Society’ went to Ballet, after they gave their first performances in their five-year history: they took part in DanceSoc’s Showcase, attended their first National University Dance Competition and will perform at Woodstock at the end of the term.
They have introduced a new weekly choreography class, alongside the technical class.
“This time last year we were genuinely worried that we wouldn't exist anymore. We had barely 40 members and a pretty much negative bank balance!” chair from the last year Gabriella Veysey admitted.
“Now we are one of the biggest societies on campus with well over 150 members! With our new committee being more than twice the size of last year's, we're really becoming an established society on campus.”
They hope to perform even more on campus next year and also to start a beginners’ choreography class and chances for beginners to perform at various events, as well as advanced members.
“We're just planning on getting bigger and better, making sure everyone on campus knows who we are and giving them the opportunity to learn this beautiful style of dance.” Veysey said.
York Carnival won the ‘Community Relations Initiative’ award after their festival in June proved a huge success.
The event brings together the community, York St John and the University of York in music, dance, street performances and this year offered free arts and crafts workshops for schools, as well as an artist’s corner showcasing work from York's up-and-coming artists.
Danielle King, chair of this year's carnival, said: “Our team has worked especially hard this year to go above and beyond expectations.”
“We had a strong sense of giving something back to the local residents of York as an aim of the project and I think we achieved this very well this year.”
King added: “It is a huge privilege to win this award because it acknowledges all of the hard work of the committee. Each person has helped extremely hard in making this event the success it was.”
“Also by publicising our achievements, we hope that many more people will want to be involved in this exciting project in years to come.”
Visit the YUSU website for a full list of this year's categories and winners.
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