Throughout July, work life at Student Hubs has been as varied as the weather. On one hand, we’ve been wrapping up the year with impact analysis and the summer SIP Showcase events in Kingston and Winchester. On the other hand, we’ve been relaunching face to face delivery with Branch Up in Southampton and getting started with planning and recruitment for next year.
SIP (The Virtual Edition)
The Social Innovation Programme takes place in Bristol, Cambridge, Kingston and Winchester. Teams of student consultants receive training, work together on a community brief and produce valuable reports for local organisations. In light of Covid-19 the programme turned virtual for the remainder of the year for our student consultants. Read Bristol Hub’s spring SIP impact report for some more details of their transition from in-person to virtual delivery.
This month, both Kingston and Winchester held Showcase events for their entirely remote SIP cohorts. In Kingston, briefs ranged from strategy work for community organisation Community Brain, to community consultation for RBK Community Hub, to funding research for new social project Oversight.
In Winchester, all the briefs were looking at responses to Covid-19 for different organisations. The teams presented both short and long term solutions which will be very useful in getting our partners to bounce back from the crisis. Below is a screenshot from the winning team’s presentation for Wickham Community Centre.
Southampton Hub Branch Up
Southampton Hub collaborated with Youth Options to deliver their first Branch Up activity day since February. The day included den building, collecting wild mint for making tea, playing pooh sticks, learning how to light fires with flints, baking homemade bread rolls in a dutch oven and heating smores on hand carved marshmallow sticks.
Catherine, Southampton Hub’s Youth Projects Officer, said: “The highlight was watching the young people work together to make the dens – their teamwork was great!” The young people clearly worked hard on their dens, as when ‘Storm John’ arrived and threw a bucket of water over them all, they managed to stay warm and dry!
Graduate Impact Survey
We are excited to share our Student Hubs 2020 Graduate Impact Survey with you. It will be open over the summer and we want to hear about all of the amazing things our alumni are up to. Whether you left Hubs 10 years ago or you are a recent graduate, complete the survey to fill us in or your life post-Hub – and to be entered into a draw to win a £50 Ethical Superstore voucher!
In the Spotlight
This month we are putting the Kingston Hub staff team in the spotlight. Over the last academic year they have been an amazing three person team: Harry, the Hub Manager and Annie and Clara, the Programme Managers.
We want to wish Annie and Clara the best of luck as they move away from the Hub family. Clara has worked at Student Hubs for several years, in both Southampton and Kingston, and has been a constant source of positivity, knowledge and energy for the organisation. Annie joined Kingston Hub in 2019, and has spent the year sharing her knowledge on design and collaborative learning with the team. We are sure lots of our alumni have great memories with these inspiring colleagues and would like to join us in saying thank you and all the best!
What To Look Out For
- As we start to hear your stories through the Graduate Impact Survey, we thought it would be a great time to share the journeys of our staff alumni too. Keep an eye on our Instagram for some case studies and look out for a blog coming later in August.
- If you are interested in hearing more about Service Learning, one of Kingston Hub’s programmes, check back mid-August for a blog post.