SU President Rich Croker
Hello and welcome (back) to York! If you’re new to York, welcome to the beginning of the best time of your life! Your time at York will provide all the thrills, frills and spills that you could want from a Uni life! Over the coming years YUSU will be here to help you have a fun filled and action packed life at University. We’ll be here to provide support for any problems you may have, any clubs or societies you want to get involved in and for those nights when you just want to let your hair down and have a good time!
Some of you may wonder what I do with my time in the YUSU office… well it’s a good question… some people suggest I just swan around to University meetings and dinners letting everyone else get on with the work… well that’s half true, thankfully. My main roles lie in representing the student views to the University, and other bodies to ensure it gets heard and considered. I also try and ensure all the areas inside the Union work together effectively to ensure no one treads on anyone else’s toes. Check out the blogs on the YUSU website to find out what all the officers have been up to recently.
And now for the wanton ramblings that I will fill these pages with over the coming year… I hope you enjoy them…
This year was the first time I’ve ever spent the full summer in York-admittedly it was working from the YUSU Office rather than as a student free to wile away the summer months lying in the sun. For a while it appears nothing has changed - students are still around going to the same old bars in town, kids’ campers leave with the same anticipation and return with the same looks of joy as ever, the same people facebook you to find out how life is.
Then the summer nights draw in and the updates from friends start coming… it slowly dawns upon you – the people you have spent the last few years with have gone - many round the world, others into the real world of work for the first time - some wonder how they were so lucky… others wonder where it all went wrong. Most would look upon you, the York student of 2006/7, with an envious smile and desire to swap places for one last Club D or Ziggy’s. But the truth is we all know we will have to leave some time.
There is no doubting the time you spend at York will be the time of your life, something that you look back on in years and smile with fond memories. Somehow, though, looking back so soon you can’t help but wonder where the time went, who you will see again - whether you will ever be so careless and free again.
If you throw yourself into life at York you will reap the benefits. Sometimes life isn’t easy at University, but your time spent here is what you make of it. I lost my first Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC) election and yet went on to become Chair of Derwent. The opportunities are out there for you if you want to find them - just believe in yourself and what you want to do. Think of your time at Uni as an opportunity rather than your right.
Don’t stand back and watch your time at Uni pass you by. Don’t be stood on the train platform in three years time with a piece of paper, no matter what it says on it, as your only reward for three years at York. Do what makes you happy whilst you are here- don’t feel forced into or not do something just because that’s what your room mates do. Try new things, expand your boundaries-spend your time at York living, not just existing. Stand on that platform in three years time and look back with a wry smile on your face and be able to say ‘job done, no regrets’.
