We all know that our student groups offer a wide range of activities and events for our students; opportunities to make friends, relax, have fun, try new things, learn, grow and achieve.
The range of opportunities on offer is incredibly broad, from academic mentoring to zombie fighting. With such a wide variety of activities and events on offer it’s difficult to categorise all of our student groups, however many of our groups frequently demonstrate the key attributes that we wish to see in our clubs, societies and network's provision. Our Student Group Badge framework aims to recognise these achievements which demonstrate commitment from the group leaders, opportunities for their members and pride in their community.
The badges are awarded at the end of terms one and two, where a group has demonstrated on two or more occasions, the attributes of each badge theme, with the awarded badges feeding into the end of year student group Proud To Be Staffs recognition awards. When advertising events on the What’s On page, groups can identify which badge their event relates to, which also allows students to recognise where that particular event fits into the framework.
We are pleased to have awarded 34 badges to student groups during the first half of the year, with many more groups well on their way to earning theirs too.
Community & Civic Partners Badge
Awarded for developing & improving civic partnerships within our local community, EG working with schools, community organisations, charity fundraising / campaigns awareness
Sustainabilty Badge
Awarded for hosting or participating in sustainability themed activities.
Utilising the Students' Union Green Fund to make your event more environmentally friendly
Make a Change Badge
Awarded for positive contributions to making positive change for students, such as group representation at Better Staffs' Forums, or Student Group Executive Meetings
Supporting Staffs Badge
Awarded for contributing to or supporting events benefiting the wider Staffs campus community such as group representation at Open Days, Move-in, Squeezebox Nights or other University or Union led events
Collaboration Badge
Awarded for sharing opportunities, ideas and resources with other groups and harnessing each others creativity - providing even more opportunities for a wider range of students to engage.
Inclusion Badge
Awarded for consistently demonstrating inclusive practice, providing a variety of ways for students to engage, or for working alongside our networks; aiming to overcome barriers to engagement, celebrating member's achievements and encouraging all members to acheive their potential.
As busy student leaders, with many demands on their time, it is not easy for our committee leaders to consistently incorporate the badge attributes into each of their events. Recognising that studies must always come first, for those groups which have achieved Student Group Badges in term one, it really is an achievement to be commended. Congratulations to all of the badge winners so far.
With many additional groups being so close to their achieving badges also, we are really looking forward to awarding more badges at the end of term two and seeing which groups are in the race to receive the end of year student group recognition awards. Each any every student group makes us Proud To Be Staffs.