After lockdown in the first year of my studies, I wanted to experience as much as possible and so my second year was the real start of my journey at Buckinghamshire New University. During the summer I emailed the Students’ Union and asked them – “Who is the chair of the Gaming Society and how can I help with the running of the society?”. To my surprise, I was told there is currently no one running it and I was offered the opportunity to take over as the chair of the society.
I remember thinking at that moment, how crazy and unexpected this was. I knew I want to get involved everywhere so, 6 emails later, 3 forms been filled out and here I was the chair of the gaming society. There was so much freedom to do anything I wanted with the society and I loved it completely. I sat down and started planning the year and as the society started and had the first meetings, I soon found people for my committee team that would later become good friends of mine. We had loads of fun together planning events, thinking of more activities, scheduling, and of course, gaming.
One of the biggest and most satisfying challenges this year, as a chair of gaming society, was the 24 hours game-a-thon. This was an event where we played DnD, poker, VR, Just Dance and many other games for a 24 hour period, starting one evening and ending the next day. Planning this out took us over 2 months and the result was spectacular- we had so much fun and raised over £300 in donations. We brought something almost unseen to the university. We’re very excited for everything we learned while doing the event and are looking forward to bringing the event back again this year but bigger and better! It’s definitely something you don’t want to miss.
Seeing as gaming society became the biggest society in the university for year 2021-22, I decided I want to do even more, so I started the climbing society in the second term. This was even easier to set up as by this point, I knew all of the Students’ Union staff by their names, and it was definitely not surprising for them to see me in the office on a daily basis, whether that was dealing with an issue about gaming society, as a societies chair, or something to do with any of the other leadership roles.
Another thing I loved was Sport for Fun - this was a really great opportunity to learn new sports without commitment. While part of it is trying out sports such as Volleyball and Basketball, it also provided activities like Liquid Leisure (an obstacle course on water), colour runs, trampoline parks, climbing, and event snowsports.
Moving into the third year of my studies, I’m happy to be part of four society committees. Being in these positions hass provided me with memories I will never forget. It’s challenged me to grow as an individual and a team leader. All of this was thanks to a short email that I wrote when I had an extra minute.
I encourage everyone to get involved with societies and Sport for Fun, it’s the experience and memories that you will bring home, it’s the place you will find most of your friends. Take every opportunity you get and enjoy meeting new people, trying new stuff and making some core memories.
- Vytautas Kravcenka, Gaming Society Chair