Townies

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

Lifesaver Day Combo

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 2

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.

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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

Wellfair 4

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.

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

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