Freshers’ Week Fun 2011!
23/09/2011
Cheerleaders from Crystal Palace FC handed out smoothies!
Freshers' Week came to Central Sussex College, with events taking place at both the Crawley and Sixth Form Haywards Heath campuses.
New students at the Crawley campus were invited to call into Freshers Fair', which has been running daily all this week outside main reception.
The event involved a mixture of promoting fun enrichment activities, introducing opportunities to make the most of student life and providing useful information for those just starting at the College.
The theme for the week was 'Fresh Start and New Beginnings' and each day's activity was based on the letters that make up the word FRESH. Monday's event was opened by Crawley's Mayor, Cllr Carol Eade, who spent the morning chatting to students and stall-holders, before embarking on a tour of the campus.
She later spoke of how much she had enjoyed attending the event, saying: "I felt honoured to open the fair and meet representatives from the armed forces and other organisations. The tour of the College was extremely enlightening and the variety of classes on offer was very impressive. It was a joy to see the enthusiasm the teachers have during their lessons, and I felt moved by the care and attention given to those with learning difficulties."
After it was officially declared open, Monday (F) focused on finance, fun, forces and free stuff; Tuesday (R) was about recruitment, road awareness and respect; Wednesday (E) looked at education, equality, energy, entertainment and eating; Thursday (S) promoted studying, sexual health, and safety; and Friday (H) was all about health, helping others, housing and happiness.
Banks, driving schools, gyms, volunteering agencies and healthcare organisations all exhibited during the week, alongside public services including: Sussex Police, with College PCSO Tony Cook, and Crawley Fire Station's Bluewatch. In addition, there were numerous opportunities for students to pick up information about having fun in the local area, represented by Lazerhub, GoKarting, Karaoke, and human table-football.
Staff representatives from several departments also took park throughout the week, with Employer Services, the Careers team, Andrew Bull and staff from the Food Court, Darren White, Judith Field, and Norina Yakub amongst others, all putting in sterling work to make sure the event was a success.
Organiser, Natasha Braine, said: "Freshers' 2011 has been a successful event which has only been possible to the kindness of staff giving up their time to help and local organisations providing stalls, the weather has been great which is a bonus when running an outside event, the Students have interacted well and got involved with playing the inflatable football, trying the fruit, wraps and speaking to agencies and asking questions, which is great as this event is for them.
"Everyday has been different and I think Friday was my favourite, with the Crystal Palace cheerleaders and the karaoke, although I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole week. I'm already planning a bigger better event for next year!"
Freshers' week at the Haywards Heath campus saw three days' worth of activities to provide new students with information about College life, staying safe and having fun!
There were stalls in the common room 1-2pm daily, where students could learn more about sexual health, sports teams at the College, the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme, local theatre companies and opportunities to become a volunteer locally. They could even sample free fruit juices at the Juice Bar.
Perhaps the highlight of the week took place on Thursday, when the 'Flashmob', which had been rehearsing for three days prior to their performance, stormed the Common Room with their dance interpretation of the Madness classic 'Baggy Trousers'!
