April alumni newsletter 2023
Welcome to your April newsletter! Last month we welcomed prospective students to campus, enjoyed some of the warmer weather towards the end of the month and marked International Women’s Day with a new webinar and blog post about our alumnae.
In the alumni team, we enjoyed listening to your entries for the heritage audio tour, launching Alumination and beginning work on your annual alumni magazine. We also enjoyed welcoming members of our Cordukes Circle to campus, sending out the first Ripon newsletter of the year, and seeing Spring (finally) make an appearance on campus.
Next month, we’re excited to release our latest webinar from Dom, mark Easter alongside other religious festivals and begin posting some of the fantastic family stories we’ve uncovered.
Update your details
When did you last update your details with us? If you can’t remember, please update your details with us now.
Every year we send all UK based alumni a copy of the alumni magazine, and every year we get hundreds returned because we no longer have current addresses. Our aim is to reduce this number as much as possible by asking all of our alumni to update their details.
You should update your details with us if:
- You recently moved and don’t remember if you told us
- You’ve got a different email address you prefer we use
- You’ve changed your name
- You’d like to tell us which sports clubs or societies you took part in
- You’d like to tell us where you work
- You didn’t receive a magazine last year, but would like one this year
To update your details, please complete this form.
Not long left until Your YSJ Reunion
There’s less than four months left until Your YSJ Reunion! We can’t wait to welcome as many alumni back to campus as possible for a fun day together.
If you’ve already got your reunion tickets, remember you can still buy your raffle tickets and accommodation via the online store too. Our raffle prizes currently include tickets to the York Dungeons, a York Knights experience and a local distillery tour! Raffle prizes also include YSJ merchandise and items and services from local, and alumni, businesses.
Buy reunion tickets and add-ons – https://store.yorksj.ac.uk/product-catalogue/conferences-events/alumni/your-ysj-reunion-2023-alumni
April Fool’s Day
A few days ago we posted an April Fool’s joke on our social media channels, but if you didn’t see it, here’s the real story about fire in the quad.
A few weeks ago, we welcomed a fantastic reunion group back to campus, and they shared many memories with us, including the time they staged Prometheus in the quad with 10ft fire poles! We weren’t sure whether to believe them or not – 10 ft fire poles? Surely not!
But one of the reunion goers sent us this fantastic photo which really does make it look like the quad was on fire!
You can find out more about this on our blog.
Cordukes Circle
At the end of last month, we welcomed members of the Cordukes Circle to campus for their annual lunch. Cordukes members are invited to join after committing to regular donations, donating over £1000 or pledging a gift in their will.
Cordukes members enjoyed hearing from our Vice Chancellor, learning about the impact of their donations from scholarship recipients and touring our new NHS course facilities.
Martin Roberts visit
Late last month, we welcomed alumnus Martin Roberts to campus as part of our students’ industry week. Martin is a senior cameraman at the BBC and was able to offer invaluable insights and advice to current students.
It was wonderful to learn more about Martin’s career, and we can’t wait to share his story with you in this year’s alumni magazine.
You can find out more about Martin’s visit on our blog.
A month for religious observances
This month, many of our students and alumni will be taking part in religious festivals. This month, we will be marking Passover, Easter, Yom Hashoah and Eid.
Passover is one of the most important Jewish festivals and celebrates the story of their departure from Egypt and following Moses to safety. You can find out more about Passover on BBC Bitesize.
Yom Hashoah is the UK Jewish community’s National Holocaust Commemoration. This commemoration marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. You can find out more about Yom Hashoah and how it differs from Holocaust Memorial Day on the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website.
Eid takes place at the end of Ramadan, a month of prayer and fasting for Muslims around the world. You can find out more about Eid in a BBC news article from last year.
Easter
This month, many people around the world will also be celebrating Easter. For many Christians, Easter Sunday is the most important Christian festival as it marks the day Jesus rose from the dead. You can find out more about Easter, including information about Holy Week on the BBC Bitesize website.
York is preparing itself for a Royal visit as part of Holy Week this year. King Charles III will be visiting and distributing the traditional Maundy Money from York Minster. You can read more about this on the York Press website.
But for many alumni, Easter is also time to meet up with family, celebrate the start of (hopefully) warmer weather and eat copious amounts of chocolate! But if you’re looking for inspiration for this Easter weekend, here are a few articles that might help:
- Good Housekeeping have once again rated the nation’s Easter Eggs to suggest the best buys. Including luxury, supermarket own and everything in between, you can read their rankings on their website.
- If you struggle to eat all your Easter chocolate, or are just looking for some baking inspiration, BBC GoodFood has an amazing 43 recipes using Easter eggs. You can view them all on their website.
- The Visit York website has a full list of different activities happening over Easter! From chocolate masterclasses to Easter activities around the York area, you can find out more about these activities on their website.
Archies day
Archie’s day might have started out as a celebration of the end of the winter term, but today’s students enjoy a celebration at the end of each term in the Students’ Union!
More recent graduates will fondly remember (or not) their afternoons in the SU bar with friends, teammates and maybe even the odd member of staff. But did you know that for many years, Archie’s Day was actually a formal event?
Before a bar was introduced to campus Archie’s Day was celebrated very differently, with students invited to more formal events, including a dance!
What’s your favourite memory from Archie’s Day?
CELTA discounts
Did you know that you can get an alumni discount on our CELTA courses? When hiring for English teaching roles, 4/5 employers will ask for CELTA, showing that it is a fantastic career-orientated course.
The next course begins on 10 May and will be face-to-face.
Find out more about CELTA and its learning options on our website.
April’s webinar
This month we’re posting a brand new webinar from alumnus Dom Smith. Dom graduated in 2007 from our Film and Television degree and now works as a digital journalist running the music publication Soundsphere. He has also written for Metre, NME.com and Metal Hammer Magazine, and has interviewed everyone from Judas Priest to The 1975!
YSJ Families
Did your tall tales of slipping back into your room after curfew make someone in your family study with us? Or maybe after hearing about our facilities and small, welcoming atmosphere you decided to apply?
If you have a family member who studied with us, we’d love to hear from you!
Please tell us about your family connections to YSJ by completing this short form so we can get in touch.
Voter ID requirement
With local elections coming up in York, we thought we’d share an important reminder. Did you know that depending on where you live in the UK, you might need voter ID to vote in upcoming local, and after October, general election?
The electoral commission has some helpful guides about this:
- Find out more about this new law
- Types of ID you can use
- Learn about applying for a free voter ID document
- Register to vote if you haven’t already
Did you also know that being on the electoral roll improves your credit score and can save time when applying for credit? You can find out more about this on the Experian website.
Alumination
We’ve been asking you all to submit your alumni snapshots for a while now. So, we’re excited to announce that we will soon begin posting them on our new Alumination site!
All snapshots submitted will be added to Alumination to highlight the fantastic careers and lives of our alumni community. We’ve started by posting a handful to begin with, but keep an eye out as we upload more every few weeks. You’ll also be able to search for alumni by academic School.
International Women’s Day
Last month we marked International Women’s Day with a new webinar from alumna Emma. We also posted a new blog exploring Ripon College one hundred years ago and what life was like for our students.
Watch Emma’s webinar and read our blog post.
York International Shakespeare Festival
The bi-annual York International Shakespeare Festival is back, and this year York St John has partnered with them! Including exclusive performances, workshops and lectures, this is a fantastic opportunity to see both local and international performers bring Shakespeare to life.
You can find out more and book your tickets on their website..
VCL Big pitch competition
At the end of last month, some students from our London campus took part in our Big Pitch Competition! Ten students had the chance to pitch to a panel for the chance to win cash prizes and the chance to be endorsed for a Start-Up Visa.
You can learn more about our Venture Creation Lab on our website.
