Setting up and leading a new society: the pitfalls and successes!

When I was a fresh-faced first year, just over a year ago, I went around the Welcome Festival, formally known as Fresher’s Fair, at least three times. Primarily for the freebies I’d like to clarify, but also because I thought I’d missed the English society (Note: English Lit and Linguistics soc) and wanted to find it. Although there were many different sports clubs and societies, there wasn’t yet the society for me.

As a slightly older first year (I was 20), I had hoped to meet second and third year students in the society who were my age and properly embed myself into the department. So, as the months moved on, and I met more people, I began to realise that an English society was not only wanted but needed.

I had heard that the Students’ Union support students to set up new societies, so I set one up: the University of Huddersfield English and Creative Writing Society, or HudEngCWSoc (we know, it’s a mouthful).

It was not easy by any means: paperwork and finding a committee and really adverse weather pushed the ratification back and, before I knew it, it was ratified but it was also March and term was winding down. So, we pulled back and decided to launch at Freshers’ 2018. 

So far, we’ve hosted events and learnt a lot - it’s a steep learning curve, especially when juggling uni and jobs and lives (yes, we have those too - sometimes). As the president, I feel a lot of pressure to make a success of my time and make sure there are people who want to keep the society going after I graduate. My role consists of planning, delegating and making sure everyone is fulfilling their jobs - it’s a bit of a figurehead role which can be fun but also scary as you’re putting yourself out there.

Being president of a brand new society is hard - there’s no framework to build upon, no established network of people and people don’t really know you exist. My committee are incredible and support me so much. While keeping motivated can be tricky, if an event flops, we’ve had some real successes as well. We’ve had work exhibited in the new Heritage Quay exhibition, we’re in the process of launching our new blog to showcase the writing of our members, and we’re planning for the next Freshers’ again already, it’s never too early.

The role of president is really rewarding but it needs a lot of investment from the person - you’re the tie-breaker and often decision maker. I have learnt so much from this role, it’s been a privilege as well as an education and I would really recommend going for presidency if it’s something you would be interested in. There are a lot of pros and some cons - but it all adds up for some crazy fun life experience.