Have you noticed a new sign outside of Ember Lounge? Learn what it is, why it's there and more!
Some of you may have noticed a new sign that has appeared outside of Ember Lounge over the Welcome period. This is something that I and the rest of the officer team thought would be a really fun idea for this Academic Year. What is it? Why is it? How does it benefit you? Here’s the story behind our society adoption board!
A Little Bit of Backstory
Over summer, me and the other officers travelled to the University of Birmingham for Lead & Change – organised by NUS (National Union of Students) and hosted by Birmingham’s Guild of Students. The Guild of Students was one of the first Students’ Unions in the country, and very big compared to us (their building is huge!) so we thought it was a good opportunity to look at what other big Unions do!
We noticed that they had a large chalk wall with a list of new and dead societies in their SU – obviously we don’t have the same space to do that, but we did think it was a really good idea. We decided to do our own, smaller version outside at Ember Lounge! This is how our cute little “Adopt me!” board came about.
So… Why?
The reason we thought this would work well is that we have a multitude of lost groups that we know people would ABSOLUTELY want to revive. Alongside this, from my experience working as student staff as Engagement, a lot of people seem interested in starting or picking up groups but didn’t really know what was on the table. This way we can show off the groups we think people would like to a bigger audience, and it makes it easier to students to know WHERE to contact about it. More groups = More things for students to do – so why not?
But will it work?
The short version is - it already has!
We’ve already had 6 potential adoptions, as well as a rise in new start-up societies this year! I’ve also seen a lot of buzz on the ground of people actively seeking out what we do have in response to it. We had people approach us about groups and ask questions even as we were still writing groups on the board. For only being up for a week – it seems to be working very well!
So, what are you waiting for? Stop by, see if there’s something you’re interested in and get in touch with our wonderful Engagement team at studentengagement@staffs.ac.uk!
(P.S: I added a silly doodle of Freddy Fazbear on the board - I hope you like it!)