Introduction

September has been a month of exploring, learning and planning as I settled into my role as Women’s Student Community Officer. I wanted to take some time to understand what could genuinely interest and benefit students rather than simply organising activities for the sake of having them.

Goals

What were you hoping to do/achieve this month?

My main aim was to explore ideas that would make the Women’s community feel engaging, useful and welcoming. I wanted to look beyond traditional events and consider areas such as careers, wellbeing and creating spaces where women can connect and feel supported.

I also wanted to understand what support already exists at Essex and where there may be opportunities to make it more visible and accessible to students.

What have I done this month? 

What have you done this month e.g. events, networking, etc? 

Did you manage to meet your goals? 

Did you work with any staff or students? 

A big part of September was exploring ideas for events and activities that students would actually be interested in. I looked at areas such as careers, wellbeing and community, and started thinking about how I could make these more engaging rather than just running typical events. I also started speaking to teams like Startups, Careers, Student Leaders and Alumni about possible collaborations.

I had my initial meeting with my supervisor, where we discussed existing women’s initiatives, period poverty support and the Women’s Social. I also spent time researching the Women’s community fact sheet, including areas such as safe spaces and racism, as well as existing support and relevant days of significance at Essex.

Towards the end of the month, I started preparing content for the Women’s community Instagram, which I will begin sharing in October. Overall, I feel I made good progress this month and now have a much clearer idea of the areas I want to focus on and how I can turn some of my ideas into actual activities.

What can we expect in the next month?

What are your plans for next month?

Do you have any events coming up? Feel free to add details if they are available.

October will be about putting some of the ideas and planning from September into action. I’ll start sharing content through the Women’s community Instagram and will have the Freshers Fair as an opportunity to speak directly with students, hear what they would like to see and introduce them to the community.

I’ll also be continuing to develop the career and wellbeing ideas I have been working on with the relevant teams and collaborators. I’ll be involved in the Women’s Social on 16 October and will continue supporting period poverty provision across campus. I’m also hoping to use the feedback I get from students throughout the month to shape future activities.