September alumni newsletter
Welcome to your September alumni newsletter! It’s been another busy month at York St John with several important events happening throughout August.
On campus, part of the alumni team volunteered to work on A level results day to assist our admissions team with our clearing hotline. Although we usually look at the other end of the student journey, we were very excited to help make prospective student dreams come true!
We also welcomed prospective students to campus during our final summer open day. This was also held on the main day of the CRYSJ reunion. Although others may disagree, we’re pretty sure the free campus tours we ran for the reunion group on the Sunday must have been the reunion highlight!
This month we’ll be sending this year’s alumni magazine to the printers. After months of work, revisions and discussion, we can’t wait for you to read it. There’s also a very exciting announcement inside, so keep an eye out next month for your copy.
We’ll also be marking Remember a Charity week, watching as autumn comes to campus and revealing the Class of 2022 pin badge.
What was your first month like?
September is often seen as a month for new beginnings. For many of our alumni September is the month you came to study with us for the first time too!
Whether you arrived in London, Ripon or York, what was your first impression of your new home, and why was it how nice the campus was?
Remember a Charity Week (5-11 September)
This month we’ll be marking Remember a Charity Week. Every year, we, like other charities, use this week to remind you about the possibility and simplicity of leaving a gift in your will.
As one of our alumni, you already know how special studying with us can be. You probably also remember how difficult it can be too, especially when no amount of budgeting can make the sums add up.
Whether you have a will yet, or you’re yet to write one, it’s never too early to think about how you want to support the things you care about. If you decide to leave a gift in your will to charity, you can decide to do so for more than one.
Leaving a gift in your will to York St John is a way of supporting our students to reach their potential. You can decide how your gift is used, or ask us to use it how we see best at the time, but we always honour your wishes.
- Find out more about leaving a gift to York St John on our website.
- Read why York St John’s first Vice Chancellor is leaving us a gift on our blog.
- Learn why Stuart has decided to leave us a gift in his will.
- Read Remember a Charity’s complete guide to making a will. This includes common mistakes and how to amend a will on their website.
If you have already made the decision to leave a gift in your will, we would love to hear from you by completing our new pledge form.
If you’d like to discuss leaving a gift to York St John, please email alumni@yorksj.ac.uk and we’d be happy to discuss your ideas.
CRYSJ Reunion
At the end of August, we welcomed a large reunion group back to campus. Organised on the CRYSJ Facebook group, it was amazing to follow its development from initial enquiry to final reunion. We especially enjoyed meeting alumni on the Sunday to give them a tour of campus.
Spread over three days, this was a reunion that took a lot of planning! From pizza in the Students’ Union building to an evening event in the main canteen space, we hope everyone who attended had a fantastic time!
If you have a reunion coming up, let us know so we can share the word and support you where possible!
Your alumni team
We’re excited to introduce you to a new member of our team. Sally joined our team at the end of July. Since then she’s spent August getting to grips with all things York St John! As our Fundraising and Projects Officer, Sally will be looking at new ways we can support our students moving forward.
We’d also like to reintroduce our Alumni Communications and Projects Officer, Jess, who recently got married to fellow YSJ alumnus, Ethan. If you have your own YSJ or Ripon love story you’d like to share, please let us know by emailing alumni@yorksj.ac.uk.
As for the rest of your alumni team, we’ll be reintroducing ourselves properly in this year’s magazine.
Events at York St John
We’re currently contacting interested alumni about completing a webinar with us. But in the meantime, there are still plenty of events planned over the next few months at York St John!
From inaugural lectures to rethinking mentoring, find out more about our upcoming events on Eventbrite.
Is that a gravestone?
If you’ve ever looked down in York and wondered if you’re looking at a grave, the answer is probably yes! If you’ve ever covertly eavesdropped on a tourist tour of York, you might have heard the incredible ‘fact’ that York has a church for every Sunday of the year. Unfortunately, this is entirely false and stems from the fact York had 40 parish churches in the early 16th century, of which only 19 survive today. But that does mean there are also a lot of ‘repurposed’ areas.
If you’ve ever wondered why some parts of York appear to have random gravestones, York Press have written about some of York’s missing churches to answer your question!
News from campus
There’s always something new happening on campus! In August:
- Dr Sue Jones, the originator of our bioscience courses, was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship.
- York St John was ranked joint first for our overall student wellness provision.
- A two year evaluation concluded Converge, a university run programme of free educational courses for adults with experience of mental health challenges, has significant benefits.
- The first business to use our Enterprise Centre have signed a major new deal with M&S. Their business will monitor, manage and improve how many pollinators visit their farms.
Road life
We always love learning what our alumni have done after crossing the stage at graduation. In 2014, alumnus Sebastian graduated and started his alumni journey in a slightly unexpected way! Now, eight years on, he’s written an inspirational guide to living, travelling and enjoying life on the road. Including tips and tricks about converting vehicles, Sebastian’s latest book is released on 6 September!
Find out more about his work on his website, and order his latest book to inspire your life.
Cost of living crisis
It’s all over the news, discussed on social media and splashed across newspaper headlines. We know that many of our alumni will worry about their finances in the next few months. Although we can’t guarantee these sources will help, they’re well worth looking at to see how you can tackle your finances this winter:
- The Open University has partnered with Money Saving Expert to create a free short course on how to master your personal finances including getting to grips with pensions and budgeting.
- Citizens Advice has set up a main webpage about getting help with the cost of living. They can also give advice on topics like budgeting, mortgage problems, rent arrears and many more.
- Money Saving Expert has set up a landing page to help with the cost of living crisis. Including ideas on 90 ways to save, energy bills help, budget planning and how to overhaul your finances to save money.
- Which? Have also set up a cost of living help page including articles on money-saving tips and which own-brand supermarket labels beat the big brands.
Retirement writing
We love sharing what our alumni have been up to! Staff alumnus Stuart hasn’t stopped working despite retiring. In his spare time, Stuart has begun writing fiction alongside his continued work promoting access to higher education.
You can find his latest books on the Blackwell’s website, including:
- The Cat and the Kooky Professor (ISBN 9781839343711)
- From Access to Engagement and Beyond (ISBN 9781803820408)
You can read more about Stuart’s career and his writing retirement in a blog post from last year.
Careers
If September reminds you of the start of the school year, does it also mean you start thinking about your career in September?
As an alum of York St John or any of our founder colleges, you can receive free career support from us. Whether you’re thinking about a career change, applying for new roles or thinking about going for a promotion, they can help streamline your career journey. Simply email careers@yorksjac.uk to book an appointment with a career advisor.
