Hi everyone, it’s Harsh, your Activities and Events Officer! As my first year in office is coming to a close, I wanted to share some of my achievements from the past year. 

I started my journey with the Students’ Union after I lost my last job and saw that the Leadership Elections were coming up. I hadn’t been thinking of applying, but the timing was great, so I nominated myself and students voted for me. It felt like destiny!  

Starting the role as Activities and Events Officer was a really hard adjustment. While I had worked as a Course Rep before, the officer role was a completely new work environment as it was a full-time job in a second language. Over the course of my first year in office, I’ve learned how to communicate better, do meetings, manage projects and even put on quite a few events!  

Exciting events

Diwali was one of the events I’m most proud of. The Diwali event was totally new for LBSU, and we held the event out at Headingley Campus. It was one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had at Headingley with over 250 students attending the evening event!  

Around Christmas, we held a really exciting Festive Fair where students who wanted to run their own businesses could come and set up a stall. We had bakery, jewelry, food stalls and more! It was awesome to see so many students there and it was great to be able to support Leeds Beckett students starting their own businesses too.  

In March, we hosted an International Party here at LBSU which more than 1200 students attended! It was a lot of work – from changing the whole set up of The Hive, coordinating a DJ and more. It isn’t easy to get that kind of turnout, but it was amazing to see that the event was so well-received! 

For the first time in years, the Students’ Union played a much more active role in Varsity, which was wonderful! This was a huge accomplishment, and I had the opportunity to input into the Varsity panel and help plan different promotions with our Marketing Team and those at LBU, the University of Leeds and Leeds University Union. I was also invited to attend the Varsity Rugby Finale at Headingley Stadium as a VIP guest!  

Other accomplishments

Alongside many of the events I’ve run, I have also done other work and juggled a variety of responsibilities in my role. I sit on the Board of Governors at the University and I’m also a trustee of both the Students’ Union and Unipol. I’ve worked closely with the Athletic Union and Global Village to get them more involved in the Students’ Union, and I’ve worked hard to improve our communication so that we can share more information and cross-promote our events.  

One of the things that I’m most proud of this year is how we improved international student engagement with our events and with the Students’ Union in general. We had lots of events geared towards international students, including our collaboration with the Leeds Holi Festival and the International Party.  

As this year comes to a close, I’m excited to head into my second year in office as your Activities and Events Officer and I can’t wait to see all the exciting events this year will bring!