Social media:
Hannah has grown the @nusu_au Instagram account massively, by posting and sharing highlights throughout the year. Many of her posts celebrate the sports clubs within NUSU as she posts the BUCS results each week, photographs from said matches and has created 'Club of the Week' - where she writes about their achievements and how proud of the clubs she is.
You can see, by following plenty of the sporting clubs, and Hannah herself on Instagram that the account has grown massively. She also regularly posted everything that was going on in both stories and posts, reposting the clubs matchdays, posting the final fixture result but also where to go to watch our teams. Sports clubs have been posting on their accounts, tagging @nusu_au, in order to share their posts. There is a real sense of how proud Hannah is when she shares their posts and definitely a higher engagement when she reshares.
The use of the Instagram account has also been used to get in touch with sports clubs to remind them and inform them of particular events; Play with Pride and Movember. Essentially the Instangram has - and is - creating a more intimate relationship with students.
Play with Pride:
At the beginning of 2023, Hannah started her Play with Pride campaign. This campaign ran for one week at the end of February with the aim to make sport more inclusive.
Throughout the week, there were multiple taster sessions held by different sports clubs, by mixed/non-binary sports clubs, from dodgeball to archery. Dodgeball in particular was very impressive as they raised £120 for the LGBTQIA+ North East charity Human Kind.
As well as these taster sessions, there were also boards left in/around Cochrane Park for sportspeople to leave notes on inclusivity - what it means to them, how they've been included and much more! Hannah posted a photograph of the messages on her Instagram and they were lovely to see!
As well as the more major events during the week, there were also little bits that Hannah put together to raise money and - more importantly - awareness for LGBTQIA+ rights. These little bits were as small as selling rainbow laces to the sports clubs for them to wear throughout the week and forever.
Hannah should be extremely proud of this campaign and what she has done for the LGBTQ+ community. It is so important to raise awareness, and Hannah did amazingly!
Varsity:
Varsity was back for its second year since the pandemic. Team Newcastle had to defend their reigning title whilst organising the event, providing new warm up t-shirts in collaboration with the sport centre. The t-shirts launched our new logo, and a way for every athlete and supporter to feel like one providing the team with bucket hats, foam fingers and the ultimate vibes to get their support going. Almost every fixture had an outstanding attendance! - with Northumbria’s sport centre overfilling with people. Huge crowds in blue saw our AU Officer lifting the Varsity trophy once again.
BUCS:
This academic year, Team Newcastle finished in the top 10 universities in the UK! Hannah played a major role, having to ensure all year round that all the teams are financially able to cover all of their expenses, have the right equipment but also coaches, whether those were student coaches or external ones. Always working hand in hand with the university’s representatives of club sport to ensure students feel supported in terms of facilities, team and individual progress.
Hannah also ensured that our teams had their say in the kit designs and merchandise decisions after the university decided to change their supplier. Hannah brought into the AU Executive six designs for the members to narrow them down to what represented them the best, what they felt more comfortable in and what would best suit their team mates! As Hannah took the designs to AU exec, the union was able to work alongside students, constantly receiving feedback and actively working on it to meet student’s needs.
AU Ball:
Finally, and most recently, Hannah organised the AU Ball! What a night it was! The amount of organisation that went into the event was outstanding - you could tell from the incredible details that Hannah put her heart and soul into the night.
From the 11 awards that were handed out - to some incredibly deserved winners - to the rodeo bull and candy floss machine on the bottom floor... the night was eventful and what everyone expects out of a summer ball. Hats off to Hannah for her amazing work.