Hi anon,

Thank you for your submission, and apologies for the delay in getting back to you regarding this.

For students who aren't familiar with the terminology, our sports colours are an established awards system for students who have either excelled in their sport or shown outstanding contribution to an Athletic Union sports club. Colours are awarded on a nomination basis and are judged at the discretion of the Athletic Union Committee before being awarded at our annual Athletic Union Ball event in May. We consider colours to be an important aspect of the awards presentation, and are a way for us to recognise the hard work of our student athletes.

The Union has a similar event to the Athletic Union Ball that happens in the same week called the Excellence in Volunteering Awards or EVAs. At the EVAs we set out to recognise the volunteering efforts of students across the Union and beyond by presenting them with a different set of awards in a comparable setup to the AU Ball.

You might be aware that from last summer I worked with the Vice Chancellor of the University and the graduation department to acknowledge AU colours in graduation ceremonies. Fleur Walsh has since had talks about the possibility of bringing more of a volunteering focus to graduations, and subsequently the sabbatical team have agreed to begin an arrangement with the graduation department whereby SUSU sabbatical officers attending graduation ceremonies will give speeches in which we will recognise students who have made exceptional contributions to volunteering during their time at University.

Best wishes,

Steve Gore

VP Sports and Acting President.

Hey there!

Thanks so much for this suggestion. I definitely agree that a more comprehensive recognition system for our student volunteers is necessary, and anything we can do to encourage more volunteering would be wonderful. I am going to start looking into ways in which we could implement such a scheme. In the meantime, please don't hesistate to contact me at vpengage@susu.org. I'd love to hear any ideas you might have about improving our volunteer recognition!

All the best,

Fleur Elizabeth Walsh

VP Engagement