October alumni newsletter 2022

Welcome to your October alumni newsletter! Since your last newsletter, we’ve welcomed students back to campus, sent our alumni magazine to the printers and enjoyed speaking to alumni visitors. Looking ahead, we can’t wait to share a special announcement with you, learn more about our alumni community through our alumni snapshots and mark quite a few events coming up too. 

We also can’t wait for you to receive your alumni magazine this month. We hope you enjoy reading it, and can’t wait to read your feedback about it.  

Remembering Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

Since the last newsletter, many things have changed. A few days after sending out your September newsletter, we were sat in our office as the news reporting began.  

Like many, our university community was saddened to hear of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and gave our condolences to the Royal Family.  

During Queen Elizabeth’s lifetime, she visited York quite a few times. If you were studying her near one of these visits, you might even remember seeing her! 

• York Press have an article looking back at the Queen’s visits to York throughout her life. 
• The Yorkshire Press shared one local woman’s recollection of meeting the Queen during her final visit to York. 
• You can read our university statement released by the Vice Chancellor.  

Black History Month

This October, York St John, like many other places around the UK, will be celebrating Black History Month. Black History Month is a time to educate and challenge ourselves as we celebrate the Black icons and trailblazers who have shaped our history.  

Here’s what we’ll be doing, alongside some resources you might find interesting: 

• At York St John, we’ll be holding free film screenings of influential films by Black directors. 
• We’ll also be holding a variety of free events. 
• Last year, our Students’ Union collated a history of Black History Month which gives a brief overview from 1948 onwards in the UK.  
• The Students’ Union also produced a short read and watch list to help educate our university community on a range of issues. 
• English Heritage have an insightful webpage about Black history in the UK, ranging from a saint who had a pivotal role in the early English church to stories from the Windrush Scandal.  
• The National Archives also has various resources about Black British history on record. 

What was your first month like?

This year’s first year students are still settling in after an exciting welcome week with a range of familiar favourites like £1 a pint, the poster sale and mass club nights. But now that the excitement of joining a new community has started to fade, they’ll be settling in to catch up on reading lists and navigating the Quad.  

Many will also be looking at their bank accounts to figure out how they’ll make it to Christmas with the rising cost of living. Studies suggest that many studies see a shortfall between their maintenance loan and their necessary outgoings like rent, utilities and food. One survey showed that the average loan falls short by an average of £439 every month! For new students working a minimum wage role, that’s the equivalent of 47 hours work a month alongside their studies, just to afford their living costs, never mind the money for non-essentials or emergencies. 

This year, we expect more students than ever to apply for our alumni-funded scholarships. You can find out more about our scholarship and how to support it on our website. 

Apart from freshers’ flu, what do you remember from your first month studying with us?  

Free Wills Month

Writing a will isn’t just about deciding who gets what, it’s also an important way of planning what happens to your loved ones too. If you have a pet, your will is a great way of formalising who looks after them and how they pay for it. If you’d like to leave something specific to your grandchild, or you’d like to make sure someone else doesn’t receive something specific, writing a will is the easiest way of making that happen. 

Every year, some solicitors take part in free will month, an initiative that lets people write their will with a legal professional, for free. This means that writing a basic will outlining everything you want to happen is easier than ever. 

• Find out more about Free Will Month and book an appointment with a participating solicitor. 
• The York St John Law Clinic is one of the places you can take part in free wills month. You can email lawclinic@yorksj.ac.uk to make an appointment and find out more. 
• You can find out more about leaving a gift in your will to York St John on our website.  

Events at York St John

Did you know that York St John hosts a range of different events? Including lectures, musical performances and film screenings, there are plenty of different events happening in the next few weeks which might be of interest.  

Find out more about our upcoming events on Eventbrite.

World Mental Health Day

This month we’ll be marking World Mental Health Day on 10 October. This year’s theme is ‘make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority’.  The mental health foundation has released their best mental health tips which are backed by research, resources to support someone else with their mental health and how to take measures to prevent your mental health declining.  

You might also be interested in: 

• Mind’s information and support pages, including tips and how to find support. 
• The York St John Communities Centre services, including support groups and counselling. 
• Rethink Mental Illness’s website, which includes advice and how to get involved.  

Alumni snapshot

No matter when you studied with us, or where, we’d love to hear from you! We want to learn more about the journeys our alumni go on after they complete their studies with us. 

So, whether you graduated two years ago or twenty, we want to hear from you! Please complete our alumni snapshot form to share your story with us. 

York St John Communities Centre

As alumni, you’re part of a worldwide university community, including students, staff and alumni. At York St John, we and our founder colleges have a long and proud history of helping those within our community thrive, especially those that are at the beginning of their university journey.  

With that in mind, here are a few things happening in our community soon: 

• We’re releasing regular blogs from our alumni community. You can read the latest blogs we’ve posted on our blog. 
• The oldest club at York St John, the boat club, have been fundraising to maintain and buy new equipment. You can find out more about this on their fundraising page. 
• Our law clinic has reopened after a summer break. You can find out more about their services on their webpages. 
• This month, six members of staff are running the Yorkshire Marathon Relay to raise money for the university Student Support Fund. You can find out more about this on their fundraising page.  
• You can find out more about how you can support our students on our webpages.  
• If you have fond memories of eating and dancing the night away in the Willow Restaurant and Disco on Coney Street, a new community project would love to hear from you. Find out more about this project and how to get involved on their blog.  

Your career

Not sure what your next steps should be? As an alum of York St John or one of our founder colleges, you can access free career advise from our specialist career team. Whether you’re wondering about going for that promotion or swapping sectors, you can chat with a professional career advisor to discuss your options. 

Book an appointment with a career advisor now by emailing careers@yorksj.ac.uk.

Did you know that we have a LinkedIn group? We post job vacancies, advice articles and remind you or core alumni benefits. The group is also open for you to post your own questions or post your own advice.  

Join our LinkedIn group now to connect with your alumni community.

Halloween

It might only be the start of October, but ‘spooky season’ has arrived! Campus and York itself have begun to feel more autumnal and campus has certainly felt chilly when moving between buildings! 

If you’re thinking about getting into the spooky spirit this month, you might find these articles interesting: 

• If you’re in York, make sure to search for some of the 26 ‘ghosts’ around the city’s outdoor spaces. York Press have written an article about where some are and what they really are too.  
• If you’ve been inspired by Bake Off recently, the BBC Good Food website has some easy Halloween recipes to try. 
• BBC Good Food also has a list of ideas for what to do with a pumpkin, including after you’ve carved it!