UniVerse | Volume 23 | Issue 10

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UniVerse

NEWS

Top 10 volunteering projects | pg 9

tridentmedia.org HEALTH FEATURES

A guide to student housing | pg 20

Volume 23, Issue 10 Tuesday 5 May 2015

SPORT

Meet Juddy Otti from HertsAid | pg 22

UH wins Guardian Award | pg 30

Best TV Content

Celebrating student successes at the Students’ Union Awards Kealie Mardell | Print Editor

Student Staff

On Thursday 30th April Hertfordshire Students’ Union held their annual awards evening in the Forum Hertfordshire. Dressed to impress and ready for drinks, dinner and awards 150 students attended.

The awards were hosted by Matt Richardson (The Xtra Factor) and sponsored by Outfit and Dominos.

Congratulations to the following winners!

Student Staff Member of the Year:

Margaux Bonnet Best Team:

Halls League

Societies

Student Leadership Award

Volunteering Volunteer Of The Year:

Imogen Stuart Volunteer Project Of The Year: THINK Volunteer Project Committee Of The Year: Marrow

Society Of The Year:

Mixed Bag Committee Of The Year:

Sikh Society Committee Member Of The Year: Representation

Alex Hearnden Best Society Event: SSRO Of The Year:

Herts Got Talent

Maria Walker Most Improved Society: Student Representative Of The Year: Motorsport Society

Sarah Puntis Best New Society: Staff Champion:

Mixed Bag

Belinda Mobbs Change Maker Of The Year: Raise and Give (RAG)

James Montgomery RAG Event Of The Year: Union Fellowship Award Jailbreak

Marie Walker Outstanding Contribution:

Sean Ryan

Bradley Johnson

Bradley Johnson

Matt Creasey

Trident Media Best Radio Content:

Troublesome 2 Best TV Content:

Campus Football Best Print Content:

BlueMoon’s Sex Survey Outstanding Contribution:

Kealie Mardell Best Media Outlet: Print

2 Editorial •

Trident Media 2014-15 Run by students, for students. Here’s some of our achievements this year!

156 members 608 likes 567 followers Over 40,000 views TridentMedia.org

Written, designed & edited by students, for students, and provided by Hertfordshire Students’ Union

Print Editor

Kealie Mardell print.editor@tridentmedia.org

10 issues of UniVerse 5 issues of BlueMoon

Deputy Editors Brad Johnson Laura Noakes

Sub Editors

Best TV Content: Campus Football Recap Show

Emma Langschied (Design) Shelby Loasby (News) Mercedes Brazier (Sports) Taveena Atsu (Features) Krystyna King (Events) Rebecca Harding (Photos)

Contributors

Chloe Burrowes Robert Wheatley Kat Clements Matt Yeoman Charlotte Mullin Jacob Beckingham-Wells Mohammed Afkhami Matt Creasey Kieran Burman

Best Radio Content: Troublesome 2 Ones to watch next year: Nearly Friday and Two Divas and a Ginger

After being nominated for Best Radio Content at the Students’ Union Awards, Crush’s Gammon and Joe’s Notorious Show decided to launch their own awards, which were announced on their show following student nominations.

• • • • • • • • •

Editor in Chief Shannen Rock

Copy Editor

Most Bantz Student at UH: Tom Alcoran Best Act @ The Forum: HODOR (Christian Nairn) Best Album of the Academic Year: Jamie T – Carry on the Grudge Best Artist of the Academic Year: Jess Glynne Best Song of the Academic Year: Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Marks – Uptown Funk Best Member of the Notorious Show: Auntie Jo(e) Sexiest Member of the Notorious Show: Gammon Best Guest of the Notorious Show: Henry C Best Society: Pool Society

Sean Howlett

Contact Us

vp.comms@hertfordshire.su VP Comms & Media Hertfordshire Students’ Union College Lane Hatfield Herts, AL10 9AB

Tweet of the Week: @charlubby "at last, my bikini body is ready!" said dr frankenstein

Kealie Mardell | Print Editor

I’ve been putting off writing this all week, but here goes – my last ever editorial for Trident Media! Firstly, I need to say a massive thank you to everyone who’s helped me reach the end of such a successful year. My amazing committee, Sean, Shannen, Ciaran, all our contributors, everyone who picked up a copy or read an article online, I wouldn’t be writing

Published by Iliffe Print Cambridge Winship Road Milton Cambridge CB24 6PP

Highly commended for Best Use of Digital Media by the Student Publication Association and winner of Best Print Content at the Students’ Union Awards. this now if it wasn’t for you.

I can’t stress enough what an incredible opportunity student media provides, and if even just one person reads this and decides to join Trident next year then I consider that a job well done.

I’m currently on a quest to get back to California, but I’ll definitely be staying in touch and seeing what next year’s media team get up to!

I’ve honestly put more into this than anything I’ve ever done, and I’m ecstatic to have been awarded Outstanding Contribution, Best Print Content, and Best Media Outlet at the Students’ Union Awards. I do it for the love of it, but a few nice awards are certainly a great way to end the year on a high! Best of luck everyone and I’ll see you all at Summer Ball!

@TridentMediaUK tridentmedia.org

• Editorial 3 Deputy Print Editors Brad Johnson WOW, WOW, WOW! That is all I can say about the fantastic work that the print team has done this year. It has been a true pleasure to work with Kealie, Laura and all of our fantastic sub editors. It has been fantastic seeing UniVerse and BlueMoon grow in popularity throughout the year. I want to also say a massive thank you to Sean Howlett for all his support across the year, without the fantastic relationship we have with SU staff, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. Being Deputy Print Editor inspired me to follow in Shannen Rock’s footsteps and become your Vice President Communications & Media. I look forward to working with next’s years committee and hope they are just as good if not better than our current amazing committee. WOOOOO YAY PRINT TEAM! This year has been crazy to say the least, and not in the way I’d expected. After suffering a pretty rubbish knee injury last summer, my final year didn’t go according to plan. Even though physically I’ve had a rough year, I think as a person, I’ve grown SO much.

Learning to walk again really puts life in perspective and makes you appreciate the little things, like walking the dog or going out with friends. My immediate plans for after my exams finish is to not get out of bed for a few days and be completely and utterly lazy, after that, who knows, I’m just going to go with the flow, say ‘yes’ more and enjoy life. The highlight of my last year in uni (sob) has definitely been working on UniVerse and BlueMoon and seeing some of the great content our writers have put out there. It’s been a pleasure to be your Deputy Editor. Have an amazing summer!

Design Sub Editor

Laura Noakes

News Sub Editor

Emma Langschied

Shelby Loasby

I can’t believe it’s almost over! The past four years at university have been absolutely life changing. It’s funny to think that on my first night living in halls I was on the phone to my dad begging him to take me back home again.

Then an hour later, I was at the Forum having the time of my life – and that feeling hasn’t changed since. I’ve met so many incredible people and found myself involved with insane opportunities, including an unforgettable year in California. I am lucky to have been a part of Trident Media, particularly this year, as both print publications are stronger than ever. Congratulations to everyone at Trident, I know you’ll continue to do a terrific job next year and I wish all those graduating the best of luck. See you at the Summer Ball!

What a year it’s been! I joined Trident Media not really knowing what to expect and with no idea how to actually write a decent article - luckily that changed!

I’m proud to have been a part of such an amazing committee who have taken print from strength to strength, being nominated for six national awards, winning Highly Commended for Best Use of Digital Media and being shortlisted for various awards at the Students’ Union Awards. We couldn’t have done it without Kealie’s leadership and the help from Sean Howlett and Shannen Rock, who we have to thank for their support, especially when it came to asking about the various kinky sex articles we wanted to write. I have loved being involved this year and cannot wait to get stuck in again next year! Enjoy our last issue, have a fantastic summer and see you all next year!

Events and Social Secretary

Sports Sub Editor

Krystyna King

Mercedes Brazier

We made it to the end! Congratulations and thank you to all of Trident Media for their hard work and support as I finally cross the finishing line of my degree. This past year has been bittersweet with mountains of essays but also lots of events, giving me the most amazing experiences to end with. The past four years have been a whirlwind of once in a life-time opportunities (especially with study abroad), prestigious education, friends for life and many awkward moments at The Forum. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. My only regret? Not joining Trident Media sooner of course! Best of luck to my fellow graduates of 2015 ! I hope to see you all celebrating at Summer Ball!

Four years at University and its coming to an end already? I’ve gained so much from being here and being able to be a part of so much! Who would have thought that on my first day at Herts, with my I.D around my neck and after getting lost on the way to the Park and Ride, that I would have met so many amazing people, had the opportunity to be a part of Trident Media, RAG and the Student Rep team, the thought of it all coming to an end eventually was an incredibly distant thought. It has been a pleasure to work with some of the most enthusiastic, dedicated and hard working people - who I would never have met if it wasn’t for Trident!

Photography Sub Editor Rebecca Harding First year on the Print Team, last year of Uni! I’m incredibly glad I chose to get involved this year! I feel the publications have been better than ever, due to the hard work and commitment from the whole team. I’ve really learnt a lot along the way and so pleased to make a group of fellow editor friends! My one regret - that I didn’t join in my first year!!! Everything has whizzed by, just wish I could start all over again.

Such a pleasure to work with everybody and I wish every success for next year’s team. Summer Ball now awaits us!

Features Sub Editor

Taveena Atsu

It’s been amazing seeing Trident Media’s hard work this year! I’m so grateful I’ve had a chance to be a part of it all. I can’t wait to see how much more BlueMoon and UniVerse have to offer, and what lies ahead. A big thank you to all those that have helped to make it happen and I wish all of the other Editors all the best for the future.

4 News •

End of the year for our Elected Officers Farewell from Shannen Rock | VP Comms & Media

Introducing your new President | Jack Amos

It has been an amazing two years working for Hertfordshire Students’ Union as your elected Vice President Communications and Media and I can’t believe that this is my last piece of writing for both UniVerse and BlueMoon. The two years has gone so quickly! I have been so lucky to see a transformation of student media. The quality of both publications has improved with every issue and I have loved reading them, I hope you have too. We have moved into a brand new media suite.

We have launched a new media umbrella brand. We have a new website that has had over 40,000 hits in less than a year! We have more TV content than ever before and continued content from radio including involvement in SU and UH events! Amongst all the amazing projects, events and campaigns I have been involved in one of my main projects has been working with the consortium colleges to

I’ve had a fantastic year as VicePresident Democracy & Services, with some great wins for students!

All year we have been spearheading a campaign to represent student views to UnoBus. Back in November we produced a report outlining our recommendations, and we are pleased to see the bus company listening to students! Amongst other things, I have been doing a lot of work to improve course based representation throughout the University, and have met with programme tutors from every school to introduce the idea of students as partners rather than customers, which has gone down extremely well! This year I have enjoyed representing students at a national level at the NUS National Conference, and through my elected position as an officer on the National Student Fundraising Association.

I am so excited to be President of Hertfordshire Students’ Union next year! I felt so honoured to be elected

News in brief:

build relationships and increase engagement with H.E. students who study at these locations. So much positive work has been done to include this group of students more such as inductions, tours, roadshows, information sharing and focus groups and I can only see this initiative becoming embedded within the SU’s structures. The support has been incredible and those students are seeing a difference. I would like to wish the new elected team as good a time as I have had. Thank you to everyone for a brilliant opportunity, it’s been an incredibly fun job, with wonderful experiences and amazing memories for life. I’ve had many firsts in this role, first Freshers’, first broken bone (my ankle at the Colour Run this year) and soon to be first Summer Ball! I wish you all the best throughout your journeys at the University and with Hertfordshire Students’ Union.

back in March, and I cannot thank everyone enough for voting me in.

I have some big plans for the year ahead, and am looking forward to campaigning for students on such issues as paperless coursework, assessment and feedback and access to university facilities at evenings and weekends. Next year I will be the lead student representative during the Higher Education Review, which is an extensive review that comments on the quality of education at our university. I am prepared to fight for full student representation and will stand up to anything that challenges the rights of students at our university, to ensure that each and every student at Hertfordshire has a great student experience and gets a fair deal during their time here! If you are back at Herts next year I look forward to seeing you in September, and if this is your last year, I wish you every success in the future!

Warner Bros. offers scholarship to Film and TV student

For the second year running, Warner Bros. has offered a scholarship to a University of Hertfordshire student as part of Warner Bros.

Creative Talent, the company’s commitment to invest in skills and training for the UK creative industries. Carrie Cooksley, a 22-yearold third year Film and TV student, was shortlisted by academic staff and interviewed by Warner Bros. Cooksley will now receive a scholarship including a maintenance grant and funding towards her final project, as well as a short paid placement within the Warner Bros. companies.

UNO BUS: Your questions, their answers.

Brad Johnson | Deputy Editor

In 2014, we investigated the viewpoints of students in relation to the University’s bus company, University Bus LTD. For the final issue of UniVerse this academic year, UniVerse has conducted further research and secured a one on one interview with UnoBus’ Managing Director, James Thorpe. This interview was one of the first times such a senior member of staff from UnoBus has met directly with a student to discuss student views regarding the bus services around campus and around Hertfordshire.

In our previous article, key themes of timings, customer services and the use of their social media accounts were raised. Since then, Hertfordshire Students’ Union has managed to secure 12 hour manned operation of their twitter account @UNOBUS and started the steps of towards achieving many other reccommendations.

Sadly and inevitably, many issues were still outstanding and therefore UniVerse took on the task of meeting with UnoBus to discuss students views and the impact that these failings have on their student experience and academic life.

Many students who commute, including those on academic placements at hospitals and schools, are often late due to bus cancellations and lateness.

After our research and extensive feedback via social media, we decided to take it all to the UnoBus Headquarters behind the de Havilland Campus and share our findings and feedback with the top man at UnoBus, James Thorpe. We managed to secure a thirty minute interview with Thorpe and he answered all the questions we asked both sincerely and honestly.

• News 5 UniVerse UNO Questionnaire Results

Photo-transport.co.uk

Is UnoBus funded by the University?

University Bus Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of UH Holdings LTD (owned by the University). While they are a commercial bus company some of the routes aren’t profitable, but are needed by students (such as evening routes, Forum Shuttle, and Park and Ride), and are funded through support from the University.

Why are there discrepancies in waiting times for the Shuttle Bus services in the evening and the weekends?

“All of our buses are tracked in real time so we can see whether a bus has been on time or it has been late and it is measured against the timetable. Without specifics it becomes hard to give a clear answer.

In weekends and evenings, there is a reduction in frequency in relation to the demand. Uno tries to match the service provided to demand that is there. The shuttle carries until around 3:30am and all of the late duties tend to be the same drivers who have the same duties week in week out. With specific times, Uno would be able to drill down to the details of why the service was late or there was some issue elsewhere on the network that affected the service,” said Thorpe, and “if somebody has a problem with the bus service, the more detail [we] have, the easier it is to investigate, the more information we get, we are more able to provide a full answer.”

Why are the 614 and 644 services regularly late?

“These routes use the A1 and the route is very busy and encounters traffic congestion in Greater London.

They have reviewed the data and have identified there are issues with reliability. From the start of April, there will additional trips available and more buses available on the 614 to compensate for the delays,” said Thorpe. “Any route decision is based on dialogue with the university, dialogue with the students and the general public and sometimes the demand can mean some routes can be cut short.”

Are there reliability issues with the bendy buses - sometimes the replacement buses make it hard to get on and off and often they are overfilled?

“No, there are no issues with the bendy buses. The reason there are hire buses at the moment is because we started a new service (797) and we needed some extra buses for that.

The replacement buses are in use just in the short term,” said Thorpe.

He explained that reason the hire buses are used for the Park and Ride is because it doesn’t take fares, meaning there is no ticket machine needed. As the machines are hard wired, the bendy buses are used on other routes, such as those with a large number of passengers or those where a double decker can’t be used.

“They are very reliable and very well engineered buses and I was one of the people that came up with the scheme to use them,” said Thorpe.

“The bendy buses are brilliant for high capacity routes due to their capacity and three entrances.”

• 92% of respondents used the Shuttle Bus • The most popular routes were the 602, 601, 695 and the 614.

• The shuttle bus was said to be late every day by 45% of respondents, every other day by 33% of respondents and no respondents said ‘never’.

• When UniVerse asked what students would improve, the key themes were Timing (67%), Scheduling (25%), Specific Route Issues (13%) and Customer Service (10%).

• In relation to driver customer service, the responses were mixed but there were many cases where customers had experienced rudeness from both shuttle bus and other route drivers.

• 56% of respondents don’t follow @UNOBUS but 13% said they did but didn’t find it useful, and only 3% said they found it useful for updates.

• A staggering 73% of respondents said they had experience speeding or dangerous driving while on a UnoBus. • 54% of respondents were first years, 15% second years, 26% third or final years and 4% were postgraduates.

• 13% of our respondents were on placement with two thirds of them relying on UnoBus services to get to placement.

Thorpe assured us that the intention is to ensure the bendy buses are used on Park and Ride routes all of the time, and that the replacement buses are only for a short period while there is pressure on the system.

Some of the drivers don’t drive safely, is there is a driver monitoring system?

“We have a quite multilayered driver monitoring system,” said Thorpe. “All of our buses are fitted with telematics which monitors speed, braking, acceleration and picks out when there are any unusual events . . . anything like being over the speed limit or harsh braking.”

The tracking system is monitored online, and is assessed with a red-amber-green system.

There are safety assessments every month and driver assessors who independently monitor the drivers, for factors such as how smoothly they drive and how they interact with passengers.

How is communication through the Twitter feed run?

A lot of placement students raised concerns over the current Twitter feed, which runs between 7am and 7pm, feeling that they are been left without information out of hours.

“We started the 7 to 7 coverage at the beginning of January 2015 and two people are dedicated to tweeting and updating throughout the day.

They sit with our live tracking team and can look, see and respond as quickly as they can,” said Thorpe.

Between 7am and 7pm is when the majority of the fleet are on the road. Uno are currently appraising this and looking at how it could be improved. Thorpe said: “It has been suggested that some managers may take on this out of hours service but it is being looked into.”

Problems with fares and change from on-board cash floats.

Good news - this year, you can buy tickets on the Uno Bus buses on your smartphone using the Intalink app. The buses take a lot of cash and at times there can be a lot of cash changed hands. The cash floats are quite large but the mobile ticketing has been in place since the start of the year and it is advised that people use this. Since 1st March there have been reductions for university students of up to 15%.

“We would very much encourage people to use mobile tickets,” said Thorpe. “It is a much quicker and cheaper way of getting bus travel.”

What can you do if there’s a problem?

Thorpe urged that if any one feels that there is an issue they aren’t happy with, if they contact Uno with specific details including the time and place, they can investigate that thoroughly.

You can do this by calling 01707 255764 or emailing unobus@herts.ac.uk.

For the full interview and future UNO updates visit TridentMedia.org.

6 News •

Help 81-year-old Ian Miller get to America to defend his Strongman title Kealie Mardell | Print Editor Hertfordshire’s own Ian Miller is 81 years old, and is currently trying to raise enough money to travel to the USA to defend his Strongman title.

Since he started competing in 1953, Miller has amassed 243 medals, won 40 world championships, received the first ever Welwyn Hatfield Sports Person of the Year award in 2004, and is the current Highland Games Masters World Champion.

Whilst serving in the army, with 27 ½ years in the Scots Guard, Miller broke his coccyx and was initially told he wouldn’t walk again.

With a strength and determination that still shines 40 years later, Miller instead built himself back up, earning a black belt in karate in the process.

At 81 years old, he goes to the gym at 6:45am every morning, and is a voluntary coach, supporting many

people including disabled athletes.

This year, on the 25th and 26th of September, the Highland Games will be taking place in St Louis, USA. As the current World Masters Champion, Miller hopes to be there to defend his title. But to get to America, he needs to raise £2,000.

Helping him to achieve his goal is Jason Haines, Student Engagement Officer at Hertfordshire Students’ Union. It was after reading an article in the Welwyn Hatfield Times that Haines thought he might be able to help.

“I don’t really know Ian, or I didn’t until last week,” said Haines.

“I’ve seen him in the gym most mornings, but we had never spoken.”

Haines contacted WHTimes who passed on the details so that he could contact Miller. Since then they have met a couple of times, and Haines has set up a GoFundMe page on his behalf, as well as a Facebook and Twitter accounts.

“I’ve also emailed a lot of papers and news outlets to try and raise his profile, as well as contacting loads of companies to try and get him some sponsorship,” said Haines.

Miller has paid the competition entrance fee, guaranteeing his spot to defend the title, but he is unable to afford the extra expenses of flights and accommodation. He has tried applying for part time jobs, but has been rejected because of his age – despite the fact that he is stronger than most people more than half his age.

“I think people should offer their support because Ian truly is an inspirational man,” says Haines.

“Most people struggle to get up and go to the gym in the mornings, but here is a man at 81 years of age that goes every morning because he still has ambitions, he still has things to achieve. It would be a shame that he should be denied because he can’t afford the expenses.”

Miller told the WHTimes: “I want to get over to the USA because I reckon I can win the competition again. It was amazing winning it in Scotland but to retain it would be tremendous.

Haines is urging anyone who can to donate or offer their support.

He said: “It would be great if people could donate whatever they can spare to his cause, but we would also love it if people wanted to hold events and fundraise in his name.”

“One of the first things he said to me was that any money he had left over from the campaign he would donate to charity.”

If you can help this inspirational 81-year-old man in any way, please visit GoFundMe. com/IanToAmerica or get in touch through their social media accounts.

Twitter: @GetIan2America Facebook.com/ianmillertoamerica

• News 7

Graduates apply for 20 or more jobs before securing work Shelby Loasby | News Sub Editor

Graduate jobs forum WikiJob in recent research suggested that today’s graduates expect to apply for twenty jobs or more, before they secure a work placement.

WikiJob surveyed over 1,000 of its forum contributors, all of whom are graduate job-seekers. The survey found that 45% of them believe that they need to submit applications for at least twenty graduate schemes before they receive a job offer.

Competition has grown even more fierce over the past year. In 2014, LinkedIn conducted a similar survey and discovered that the average graduate had to apply to at least 12 jobs before being successful.

Head of Digital Marketing at WikiJob, James Rice, said; “These findings surprised us a little. It seems that despite the buoyancy of the graduate recruitment market at present, graduates themselves are feeling that the competition for placements is tougher than ever.”

Recent Research from High

News in brief:

Fliers told a completely different story, and found that the 100 leading employers in the UK plan to increase their graduate vacancies by 8.1% in 2015. High Fliers also suggested that the average starting salary for graduates would reach a new record of £30,000 this year.

The Wikijob survey also found that only 20% of graduates believe they will have to apply to five or fewer graduate schemes before securing work, despite the rise in vacancies offered in the market.

The pessimism about job prospects is shared by many students and graduates, even at the University of Hertfordshire.

Katie Emms, final year Law student, said: “My ambition is to become a Criminal Defence Solicitor, so the career path is quite specific and I don’t think that there are any graduate schemes that are particularly useful - I just need to get more work experience.”

She went on to say: “Graduate schemes should be better advertised to students, but the timing is quite

essential. Throughout final year I think most students are too stressed with their workload to have time to dedicate to job applications. It’s something that we don’t think about until our exams have passed. By then, it’s often too late to apply.”

Greg Pain, final year Events Management with French student, also feels slightly pessimistic about job prospects.

“I’ve applied to five or six graduate jobs recently, mostly with sales and recruitment companies,” he said. “It’s not the field I want to go into, but it’s a good place to start my career.”

Pain explained that it has been hard trying to find a job for after uni: “There’s not a lot out there for graduates in the fields I’m looking into. I’m lucky enough to already have some experience in my field, but I can imagine it being almost impossible without that.”

He felt that graduates need more opportunities: “Most jobs want you to be experienced before they’ll hire you, but you need to be hired to

get experience. It’s a vicious circle.”

Pain also added that it would beneficial if more lenient jobs/ schemes were offered for those who don’t necessarily get the 1sts and 2:1s.

“Just because you’re not academic, doesn’t mean you’ll be a bad professional,” he said. “People need to give graduates more chances.”

If you’re worried about securing a job after uni, the Students’ Union offer free, confidential and impartial advice on College Lane from Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, and on de Havilland on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, 1pm to 4pm. If you want to contact that clinic you can email at advice@hertfordshire.su or call them on 01707 285022

You can also head over to Careers, Employment and Enterprise on College Lane, open MondayThursday 9am-5pm and Friday 9am-4pm. You can contact them on 01707284791.

Robots playing draughts at the University

A pair of ‘Baxter’ robots joined the School of Computer Science. The two robots are able to interact with people and have now ‘learnt’ to play a game of draughts. One robot is used in undergraduate teaching and the other for postgraduate research.

Hatfield in top 20 safest towns for students Shelby Loasby | News Sub Editor The University of Hertfordshire has been named in the list of top 20 safest town for students in the UK.

Hatfield was rated 18th

by StuRents.com - a student accomodation search portal - who compiled official police data which looked at how exposed a student would be to crime in 64 of England and Wales’ student towns and cities.

The ratings analysed 535,468 crimes occurring across the various towns and cities in the areas surrounding 608 private halls of residence, between February 2014 and January 2015.

Hatfield ranked higher than Cambridge, London and Exeter with 157.7 crimes per thousand, whilst Swansea and Brighton ranked the bottom two with 633.1 and 829.4 crimes per thousand, respectively.

Deputy Dean of Students at the University of Hertfordshire,

Geraldine Ward, said: “This isn’t the first time Hatfield’s safety has been recognised and we welcome this reiteration. We want our students to have the best possible time with us and we take their welfare very seriously.”

Ward added: “The university is proud of the highly productive partnership we have with the Hertfordshire Constabulary and the Welwyn Hatfield Community Safety Partnership and the University policing team. We do all of this to ensure our community is safe and welcoming for everyone.”

Michael Rainsford, CoFounder of StuRents.com said: “Crime statistics serve as an important metric for students looking to make an informed choice about where to live. Our research had uncovered the alarming statistic that students live in areas with crime rates 2.5 times higher than the national average.”

Rainsford added: “This year so far has been huge for investment in

the student accommodation market.

We hope that going forward student safety will be high on the agenda.”

Every town and city has its good and bad areas and Hatfield is no stranger to this. Whilst it is statistically one of the safest student towns in the UK, many students still feel unsafe when walking around after a night out, primarily due to the street lights automatically turning off at midnight. In a previous UniVerse article we looked at the debate of street lights being turned off and found a majority vote in favour of keeping them on.

Since the article no change has been lobbied, but we would love to hear your thoughts and want to know if you feel safe in your university town. Tweet us @TridentMediaUK

For more information about student safety or to see the official report from StuRents.com pop in and see our Advice and Support team at the Hutton Building, 10am-4pm, or visit sturents.com.

News in brief: International business status for the University The University of Hertfordshire’s Business School has been awarded the prestigious Association of MBAs (AMBA) accreditation giving it international credibility and status. The Business School’s flagship programme has been delivering innovative management education for the last 25 years and has set itself apart from other management programmes.

8 News •

Student creates free mobile app: “Shell Island” Kealie Mardell Print Editor

Taranjit Matharu, a final year automotive student, has created the app “Shell Island”, a free game available on Apple and Android platforms.

While Taranjit came up with the original conception of the game and is responsible for marketing, he is joined by friend Nicolass Mayroleon and brother Gurminder Matharu, who are responsible for the graphics and programming. The team have formed the company Ovam Entertainment, and hope to create more apps and video games in the future.

“The app is actually part of a long term plan for our futures,” Taranjit said. “We’ve all worked and understand the difficulties of full time employment, and we decided to form a company.”

Taranjit and Nicolass are both “enthusiastic gamers” and Shell Island was their fifth game idea, but the simplest one to make.

“The ideas came from games of our childhood like Sonic the

News in brief:

Hedgehog and Mario,” he said. “We tried to add the current trends of the app market with things like bright catchy graphics, addictive gameplay and simple controls.”

Once they had formed the concept of the game, they asked Taranjit’s brother to join them for the development. Taranjit said: “It’s been all development work since then, and even now that the game is released we’re still busy developing updates.”

Since the launch in midJanuary, the game has had just under 1,000 downloads, says Taranjit.

So why should you play Shell Island?

“Because it’s fun!” Taranjit said. “It’s a really simple, free game that anyone can play. Great for when you’re travelling or even bored at home. After you try it once, it becomes rather addictive.”

Shell Island is a simple side-scroller game, with bright colours and whimsical animations, reminiscent of childhood arcade memories. There are also

leaderboards to compete with friends and worldwide, (I paled in comparison to the current record of over 500m!), and many new updates coming soon, such as character customisation.

If you think you’ve got an idea for an app, Taranjit advises two options.

- Break down the app into separate sections and decide what the graphics and programming needs are, and then find someone to fulfil those needs, such as freelancer or friends and family.

- Find a developer and put together a solid proposal about your idea.

“There are many companies, but there are also many, many ideas, so don’t be disheartened if you find it difficult,” he said. “At Ovam Entertainment we’re open to developing others ideas, but you’ll need to prove to us you have a good idea and the drive to see it through.”

You can download Shell Island now from the Play Store or iTunes App Store. Have a go and let us know what you think @TridentMediaUK!

Computer Science student wins national

Daniel Barry, a second year Master of Engineering student at the University and former Corporal in the Air Training Corps, has been awarded the 2015 ‘Outstanding Information Technology Student Prize’ by the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT). He was nominated by the University for his academic excellence, mature professional conduct and generous community spirit.

Student fundraising supports struggling charities Kealie Mardell | Print Editor

One in seven UK charities are struggling to survive, says a recent report released by the Charities Aid Foundation and the Association of Chief Executives for Voluntary Organisations.

Their survey of 572 charities showed that a third had dipped into their reserves to cover an income shortfall in the last year.

“Charities are resilient and do adapt to a changing world,” said John Low, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation. “But it is very worrying if a significant proportion of charities, especially smaller organisations, feel they are reaching breaking point.”

Charity chief executives cite their most pressing issues as generating income and achieving financial sustainability. One of the ways in which charities are tackling

this is to team up with other voluntary groups or private companies, in order to cut costs and work more effectively, with 55% collaborating with other charities in the last year.

One source of collaboration comes from the student community.

Carly Benton, Assistant Student Activities Manager at Hertfordshire Students’ Union, said that student volunteering and fundraising gets “bigger and better” at Herts each year. This includes student led projects and the student fundraising team, Raise and Give (RAG).

“We’ve increased the number of challenges and international volunteering trips we support, meaning that more students get involved, and more money is raised through Raise and Give,” she said. In the last academic year, RAG raised just under £100,000.

Benton feels that there are “barriers” to student fundraising, as

opposed to the struggles suggested by the report. She said: “There are so many charities out there so I could see how financial issues are a concern, but I think communities and high levels of support for charities will always remain, either from a close connection or a positive belief in what they do.”

The barriers faced by students who wish to support charities include time commitments, creativity in events and getting others to engage.

Some of the most successful events organised at the university are the RAG Zombie Chase and Jailbreak, where groups of students try to get as far from the university as possible, without spending any money.

“I think it’s important for the students who are fundraising and volunteering to continually get the message out there about what the charities do and how the money they raise supports them,” said Benton.

With many charities concerned about the British public understanding the importance of charities, Benton said: “I feel awareness is a big part of fundraising and charity work. If you can tell someone more about a charity so they go away knowing more than they did before, even if they haven’t donated, that’s a great step to keep charities afloat.”

For those who aren’t actively fundraising themselves, Benton suggests that they can support by donating, volunteering their time to help spread a charity message, or suggesting events and ideas for student fundraising groups such a RAG.

A full copy of the report, “Social Landscape: the state of charities and social enterprises in 2015,” is available on request from the Charity Aid Foundation.

• News 9

Top 10 Volunteering Projects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 News in brief:

Student Volunteering Week – Students organised 30 different activities for SVW 2015 and 486 students took part Trash Mobs – five 30 minute sessions organised to clear university campus and local community of litter Tree Planting at Heartwood Forest – Two project days helping to plant a total of 2550 trees My Guide Training with Guide Dogs– Four free sessions training students in safely guiding a person with sight loss and matching them with a person on campus or in the community to support.

KitAid Boxing Up Sessions – Four sessions helping box unwanted sports kit that KitAid send to communities in Africa Student-led Project ‘THINK’ Comedy Nights ‘Laughter is the best medicine’ – Four events in the EleHouse to raise awareness of Mental Health & Wellbeing Bayfordbury Conversation – Four afternoons spent working towards improving the habitats and wildlife at the University’s Bayfordbury campus.

St Albans Abbey Charity Sleepout – Raising money and awareness for charities helping homeless people Penniwells Riding School for Disabled Centre – Students helped paint and redecorate areas of the riding school and met the horses Haven House Children’s Hospice Halloween Pumpkin Plod – Students helped marshal the charity race and run fundraising stalls

Students raise record-breaking £13,000

A group of second year event management students have raised over £13,000 for the charity Sarcoma UK by organising a glamorous fundraiser gala on a zero budget. Emma Broadbent, Bethany Commins, Aimee Lucas, Marianne Smith and Courtney Sellers, working under the name ‘Inspire Events,’ organised the event as part of one of their modules and have smashed the current module record for the amount of money raised.

10 News •

Summer Ball at the Forum Hertfordshire Brad Johnson | Deputy Editor

The Union’s flagship event of the year has been brought back to its home at the Forum. This year’s Las Vegas themed Summer Ball will also feature an outside stage in the Piazza next to the EleHouse.

Headlining this year’s Ball will be the fabulous Jess Glynne. Jess Glynne has featured on two number one tracks with Clean Bandit and a top 10 track of her own track 'Right Here'. Jess burst onto the music scene in 2014 and since then has featured on tracks thats have gone Silver, Gold, Platinum and all the way up to Triple Platinum in Australia. Glynne is truly one of the UK’s biggests acts of 2014/15.

Supporting Jess Glynne will be Saint Raymond, The Guardian's 'New Band of the Week' in 2014.

Saint Raymond, Callum Burrows as he is also known, has not yet broken into the charts but is set to take the music scene by storm in 2015.

Saint Raymond received

early support from BBC Introducing and after a successful slot on the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading and Leeds Festival in August 2013, it was announced that he had signed a major record deal with Asylum Records. In January 2014, Saint Raymond (Callum Burrows) released his second EP Young Blood, which peaked at number four on the itunes album chart and the title track was named as Zane Lowe’s "Hottest Record in The World".

Burrows was also invited to perform a live session in Maida Vale Studios for BBC Radio 1 and Zane Lowe in January 2014. On 23 April 2014, Burrows announced that he would be the opening act for Ed Sheeran's Multiply Tour in the UK and Europe.

Alongside Saint Raymond will be The Compozers. The Compozers are making a return to the Forum Hertfordshire following their performance in the last academic year. The Compozers are a young band whose music and live

shows have been described as vibrant and energetic. The Compozers were formed in 2008 by Charles Mensah, Nana Ntorinkansah, Steven Gaman and Joshua Jones with Theophania Obeng and David Akrazz joining in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

The whole night will be one big party with Capital FM DJ, Ryan Arnold keeping the music flowing till the early hours. Tickets are available from hertforshire.su/ summerball for £29! Get them now before they all sell out!

UPCOMING Bonk: Official end of Exams party Date: Wednesday 20 May 2015 Time 10pm - 3am Venue: Forum Price: £3 Student advanced tickets (£4 public). £5 on the door. £6 after midnight

If your exams mean that you can’t go to Summer Ball, this is another chance to celebrate! Buy student tickets at the Students’ Union website: hertfordshire.su

Also weekly Quiz and Pongathon Nights happen on Elehouse, de Havilland and The Forum, College Lane continuing through May to June. For more information and other events check out ‘What’s On’ on: hertfordshire.su

• News 11

Quintin McKellar

Herts.ac.uk

Kealie Mardell | Print Editor

In March, the University of Hertfordshire announced the launch of a new strategic plan which “aims to enhance its international reputation as the UK’s leading business-facing university.”

UniVerse met with Vice Chancellor Quintin McKellar to discuss the five-year vision for achieving these goals over seven key areas; education, research, business, international reach, sustainability, people, and community and partners.

The vision includes strengthening global relationships and business partners, and providing expert teaching to ensure students can be successful in international businesses and professions.

Why is an international reputation so important?

Quintin McKellar explained that the international reputation is important for attracting future students and a higher quality of staff.

The aim is to: “Improve reputation, deliver something which our students will value and will be of value to them, but also live up to our heritage as a university.”

“It’s very much designed to improve our reputation, but it’s also designed to play on the historic

Key points of the Vice Chancellor’s strategic plan

“In arts as well as sciences and humanities, we think that embracing those business facing agendas is really important” Chancellor Quintin McKellar.

strengths of the university as a business facing university,” McKellar said. “The business facing aspects of the university are in its DNA.” How does a business-facing plan embrace other subject areas?

“When we were assessed for, an indeed won, the Entrepreneurial University of the Year [2010] it was in subjects that you wouldn’t consider to be very business-facing,” McKellar said, citing examples such as the humanities and education departments. “It’s across the whole university that we want to have that business facing agenda.”

The aim is to provide education in an environment “which prepares students well for business” and to do this in such a way that “students are likely to have enhanced chances of getting a job.”

This can exist within any subject area, such as the local business links for film and media.

Looking at the university’s Flare competition, which “rewards individuals for their business ideas”, areas such as fashion and design are often the most successful.

The University as a global network

The university currently has over 3,000 international students

University strategic plan: Interview with the Vice-Chancellor from over 120 countries, and franchises across the globe, including Malaysia, Trinidad, and even Moscow.

“We’ve got a very diverse population on campus and I think that’s hugely beneficial for lots of reasons,” said McKellar. Those reasons are not just financial, but also cultural, and “allow us to experience educational provisions in other countries and hopefully contribute to that and learn from it.”

McKellar said: “We believe that being global citizens, with increased globalisation and cross border travel, increased multinationals, individuals that are being educated today at the University of Hertfordshire, we hope will have the opportunity to work anywhere in the world in any kind of business. We want to ensure that they are culturally ready for that, and have an appetite for it. While our heart is still very much in Hertfordshire…we also want to make sure they get great jobs worldwide.”

The potential of a global university network reaches beyond the borders of education, making it “inherently beneficial”. McKellar added: “Having had lots of overseas students come to the UK, and hopefully experience a friendly and embracing culture and environment, I’m sure that must have a positive impact on reducing the likelihood of conflict between different cultures.”

Encouraging international alumni to support students and graduates

With over 175,000 alumni the strategy includes further plans to encourage international alumni to support students and graduates.

“Historically I don’t think we’ve been very good at keeping in touch with our alumni,” said McKellar.

“Over the last few years we’ve tried to get a sound database which has contacts for our alumni.”

The hope is that by improving alumni connections overseas there will be increased opportunities for students to do international placements.

“I think there are really positive potentials for current students, and we don’t use it nearly enough,” McKellar said. “I don’t think many of our current students know about it, and I don’t think we encourage them or tell them about it sufficiently to take up those offers.”

McKellar advises students that the Careers and Placement office should be the first point of contact, and that they should persist in getting access to international alumni links.

You can download the 2015-2020 strategic plan from Herts.ac.uk.

Education: To provide education in an environment “which prepares students well for business” and to do this in such a way that “students are likely to have enhanced chances of getting a job.”

Research: “New thinking and new ideas are inherently valuable. We also want new research to benefit the education of our students, and we want all our students to have the critical thinking and capacity for research projects.”

Businesses: “Ensuring that we support businesses in our community, and really anywhere, and the ways we can enhance how businesses do things.”

International reach: “We want to ensure that our UK based students have a global perspective when they graduate, and a cultural flexibility to fit into any society.”

People: “We want to ensure that the staff at the university, both academic and professional, deliver for our students the highest possible quality of education. That means attracting and supporting the very best staff in any way we can.”

Sustainable: “It’s not just about switching the lights off and trying to conserve energy, but sustainable financially,” and ensuring that the new construction on campus is energy efficient, fit for purpose, student friendly and staff friendly.

Community and Partners: “We want to be much more effectively engaged with the community in Hatfield, and in Hertfordshire in general,” including supporting the regeneration of Hatfield town centre to make it a “more vibrant and attractive place” for students.

12 Comment • 3 most common ‘smart drugs’ Modafinil Treats: Narcolepsy Legality: Not illegal to buy, but against the law to supply or sell it on to others Effects: Prevents excessive sleepiness during waking hours Side effects: Headache, dizziness, nausea, nervousness, trouble sleeping, toilet problems

Ritalin Treats: ADHD Legality: If not prescribed, it is a class B drug - possession can lead to 5 years in prison Effects: Central nervous system stimulant - affects the nerves that contribute to hyperactivity and impulse control Side Effects: Nervousness, irritability, insomnia, loss of appetite, weight loss, headaches dizziness, nausea, erectile problems, aggression, delusion, hallucinations

Adderall Treats: ADHD Legality: If not prescribed, it is a class B drug - possession can lead to 5 years in prison Effects: Combo of Amphetamine and dextroamphetamine to control the nerves that contribute to hyperactivity Side Effects: Nausea, loss of appetite, dry mouth, anxiety, agitation, nervousness, insomnia, weakness, numbness, hallucinations, high blood pressure

Getting high for higher grades Shelby Loasby | News Sub Editor

Being at university is undoubtedly one of the most stressful times of your life; trying to juggle your coursework, exam revision, and extra-curricular activities, with your job, social life and sex life.

Some students can brush the stress off, others find ways to wind-down, and worryingly, some students feel the need to turn to stimulants to get them through.

Last year a study revealed that one fifth of Ivy League students in the USA had taken study pills to smart-up, and according to a recent Independent article, this is also the case in the Oxbridge colleges in the UK. But if you were offered a small white pill with the power to enhance productivity, increase your focus, result in more hours in the library, and ultimately give you the potential to gain a better degree, wouldn’t you do it too?

Whilst some students have popped the odd Pro-Plus to work through the night, others are dwindling in the harder, ‘smart drugs’ to cope with the increasing pressures at university. The most common ‘smart drugs’ are Modafinil, Ritalin and Adderall.

Professor Matt Varga, who specialises in counselor education and college student affairs in a university in America, explained that

the “drugs contain chemical cousins of cocaine and will speed you up,” and also mean “people can stay up for hours on end.”

Surprisingly, these drugs have been easier to get hold of than marijuana and often have more severe consequences and effects.

Some students just buy them online or can just send a text to a friend who is prescribed with the medication.

Studies have also shown that the amount of concentration you have can backfire. One student said in an interview with the Guardian: “It gives you amazing concentration but you have to make sure you’re actually in front of your books. I spent five hours in my room rearranging my iTunes library on it once.”

Founder and editor of the Tab, Jack Rivlin, 24, told Newsbeat in a recent interview that he had bought some tablets on a foreign website during the exam period, which helped him to focus and get through the revision.

“It’s kind of like putting the rest of your life on hold for the purpose of work,” he said. “You might snap at someone and I remember my girlfriend at the time thinking ‘I don’t want to be around you when you’re on it.’

Rivlin also explained that the Tab questioned over 1,800 students in an online survey about the various smart drugs and discovered that

Student hacks uni system for better grades Chloe Burrowes Contributing Writer

It’s an age old saying that has been drummed into our minds – cheaters never win. From playing games with friends, to mental maths tests; we were always told that cheaters were only ever cheating themselves. However, a university student has completely contradicted this and decided to change his grades.

The ingenious student plugged a device which recorded keyboard strokes in the back of university staff computers to find out passwords and access the university systems. In one case changing a 57 grade to a 73. Imran Uddin, 25, is now facing a four month jail sentence to act as a ‘deterrent to other students’, in the judges words.

What do I think on this? I think he wholeheartedly deserves a jail sentence, achieving a grade that he doesn’t deserve is completely wrong. It’s annoying enough when you see a person not turn up to any lectures and achieve a better grade than you, let alone someone who has purposefully changed it.

If people know that this is possible, it completely disregards degrees. If it is that easy to change your marks, how can we trust the integrity of any degree? Uddin paves the way for question marks to be held above our heads by employers, peers and ourselves over whether we actually achieved the grade we deserved.

Aside from this, it’s lazy! He saw the easy route and took it. So many students, myself included, have

to juggle part time work, hobbies, social life, volunteering and so much more with their degree and still aim for good grades. It’s completely unfair and arrogant that he ranked himself as more important than any other student.

I understand desperation, but he was still going to achieve a 2:2.

The world is not black and white, but frankly cheating is unfair. Ultimately, he would have been deceiving his employers, family and friends but more importantly himself. He will have to live with himself, knowing his momentary lapse of judgement has cost him his degree and gained him a jail sentence.

Now, I’ll go back to revising knowing that I will have worked hard towards the grade I deserve.

around one in five of the respondents revealed they had taken smart drugs, including Modafinil.

And why the sudden increase in taking performance enhancing drugs? Student life has changed.

They are now searching for more stories online about CVs, jobs, and fees and have become much more career-conscious. The competitive, fast-paced and challenging world of today has had damaging effects on people’s expectations and abilities.

In the last 10 years we’ve seen a generation of students doping themselves up on various medications as they believe it will give them that confidence, concentration and focus needed to succeed.

The questions we need to start asking ourselves is how young will smart drug users get? Why the sudden increase in the need to take the drugs? Have the pressures of today’s world become too hard and heavy?

At the rate in which smart drug intake is increasing, we could see the next 50 years of generations as junkies, hooked on behavior altering drugs and living lives of constant depression and anxiety, all so they can just gain better grades and have a fighting chance in the working world.

It is obvious that more help, support and advice needs to be offered to young adults, especially around the most stressful times of year.

Cheaters Never Win!

• Comment 13

bilder.t-online.de

Will Spirindonov be the first successful head transplant patient?

Robert Wheatley Contributing Writer

Despite Dr. Hunt Batjer’s statement that “I would not wish this on anyone” and “there are a lot of things worse than death”, Italian physician Dr. Sergio Canavero nonetheless appears confident to go through with Spirindov’s head transplant procedure.

A successful head transplant operation once took place by Dr. Robert White, who managed to transfer the head of one monkey’s body to another, and while the monkey survived for eight days the body eventually rejected the new head. It also could not breathe without assistance, and nor could it move for its spinal cord was not connected. Canavero has cited the operation within his 2013 paper HEAVEN which has been published on the free, online, medical journal Surgical Neurology International.

Batjer is chairman of neurological surgery at UT

Southwestern, and has claimed that Canavero’s research is significantly outdated, being over 45 years old.

He notes that it is the spinal cord that is the issue, and that while the physician has claimed he will use a special sealant to fuse the head and body back together Batjer is still not convinced.

Arthur Caplan Ph.D., director of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center claims this is simply a PR stunt. In regards to post-operation, Caplan said: “Their bodies would end up being overwhelmed with different pathways and chemistry than they are used to and they’d go crazy.”

Valery Spiridonov, a 30-yearold Russian man suffering from Werdnig-Hoffman disease, a rare genetic disorder, has volunteered for the operation. He has not been the first to do so, with Canavero claiming there have been “stacks” of emails and letters sent to him by people wanting the procedure.

Spiridonov, speaking to the Daily Mail, said he wanted a chance

for a new body before he died. While he has said he is afraid, he finds the procedure very interesting, and said: “You have to understand that I don’t have many choices… If I don’t try this my fate will be very sad.”

Caplan compared the operation to face transplants, which are successful but put patients at risk for cancer and kidney problems, essentially poisoning the body with immunosuppressant medications to make the body accept the new face.

If we compare them both, we can see just how complex this operation truly is. The first successful full face transplant was in 2010 in Barcelona at Vall d’Hebron hospital, but there has still been controversy surrounding such procedures as rejection must be overcome with immunosuppressive drugs which greatly increases the risk of developing kidney disease and cancer.

It’s quite a philosophical debate: even if the operation is successful, how will Spiridonov react to his new body? Patients receiving

face transplants may require therapy to cope with their new face, as it is understandable that one may find the idea of seeing someone else in the mirror distressing at first. But a new head means a new body entirely: every limb will be different. Caplan notes that even face transplant patients don’t get the full function of their new organ, so what if sections of the body are rejected? The amount of stress psychologically and physically is going to be extreme.

However, Spiridonov is still volunteering, and I must say I commend him for this, and Canavero too for continuing with the procedure despite warnings from other physicians. If it fails, at least Spiridonov had another chance at life. If it succeeds and he does face immense pain, as long as it passes, perhaps it will be worth it.

Whatever way the operation goes, it will nonetheless be a marvel of science experimentation, and both parties are immensely brave for taking part.

Opinions are writers’ own and are not endorsed by Trident Media or Hertfordshire Students’ Union

14 Features •

Kealie Mardell | Print Editor

Many of us have seen the Humans of New York page, and the pages which cropped up in other cities around the world, but how many of you are familiar with the Students of Hertfordshire?

Students of Hertfordshire is part of a wide ‘Students Of’ network, which began with Students of Cambridge, founded in November 2014. What started as interviews and blogs has become a wider network of 12 universities across Europe.

Zeeshan Hasan Khan founded the Hertfordshire page in January, after Cambridge founder Joe posted about Students Of on the Hertfordshire Freshers’ Facebook group. Eager to make new friends, meet people, and explore the diversity at Herts, Khan contacted Hanah Marzouk, and the close friends started the journey running Students of Hertfordshire together.

“I am the kind of person who loves to meet new people and engage with them in any form of conversation, mostly because I like to listen and talk,” said Khan. “Getting to know someone and listening to their stories is a form of education because you learn about people and their experiences directly instead of reading them from a textbook.”

Students of Hertfordshire features images of students on campus, accompanied with a short story or quote. Those featured are people who look willing to talk and like they might have a story to tell.

“We walk around both

News in brief:

campuses once every week, searching for the most interesting people we find,” said Khan. “Interesting can be anything, depending on the surroundings, the subject, and most importantly, our mood.”

Once they have decided on who to approach, the duo have to make the first step in gaining the confidence to approach the stranger, which they can find nerve-wracking.

“There have been many times when people have said no,” said Khan.

“But usually, people are nice and are always up for a conversation. So we go up to them, ask them if they are okay to be photographed and then engage them in a conversation.”

As both Khan and Marzouk are students with many other responsibilities, they’ve found it difficult to find the time to focus on marketing the page, which currently has almost 400 likes, but there are high hopes of the page expanding.

“Slowly and steadily, the word is getting out,” said Khan.

“The feedback from the student community is absolutely amazing!”

When asked to choose their favourite story from the page, Khan and Marzouk said: “We do not wish to pinpoint which story is our favourite because all of them are amazing in their own ways.”

Head to Facebook.com/ SOherts for a chance to read some of the interesting stories of your fellow students, and be a part of the Students Of community. You never know, one day they could be featuring you!

“We just came back from a balloon fight which we did right outside the Galleria”

“What happens at the Forum stays at the Forum”

Students design new identity for Hatfield

An exhibition of work by Graphic Design students at the University of Hertfordshire recently went on display. The second year students were set a design brief by the Hatfield Arts and Culture Steering Group with the aim of creating a new visual identity for Hatfield as the inspiration for their project. The event was attended by Welwyn Hatfield Mayor and Deputy Mayor and representative from the University, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, Hatfield Town Council, and local community and business groups.

• Features 15

Meet a lecturer: Christina Schelletter - English Language and Communications Taveena Atsu | Features Sub Editor

Meet Christina Schelletter, the head of English Language and Communication (ELC).

Schelletter tells us about her role as the head of a subject.

“It is to ensure a of modules requirements teaching by

my responsibility balanced selection in line with the and high quality module tutors.”

Schelletter enjoys her role and finds it gratifying, especially “when the team works together and students appreciate the opportunities that are offered.”

There are always exciting new schemes being introduced, Schelletter gives the work placement module as an example, which lets

students “show how we can improve the student experience and support students in their journey from University to a suitable career”. As the head of the subject, it feels like it is possible to make a difference, she says.

However, she hasn't always wanted to be a lecturer: “My career aspirations were initially to become a teacher in special needs schools,” Schelletter said. But as her interest in ELC grew, Schelletter decided to train to become a secondary school teacher, so she could share what she loves.

After becoming immersed in linguistics at university, Schelletter decided to enrol for a Masters in the subject, which then led to her being offered a role on a funded research project.

“Being involved in research in turn inspired me to study for a Ph.D. and to then teach at University level,” Schelletter said. “The research I have been involved in is empirical, that is, you carry out studies in order to gain insights into specific questions that are theoretically motivated.”

This involves the rigorous analysis of data to try and prove or disprove a hypothesis. When trying to figure out the most important steps for successful research topics, the research question is very important, but also the methodology as this will enable you to answer the question, she says. The methodology differs depending on the topic, which is a crucial process, especially when it comes to dissertations.

Driven by personal experience, the processing and learning of two different languages

is the topic Schelletter is most passionate about. She said: “This is partly inspired by the fact that I have become bilingual myself but also as I have brought up two daughters bilingually and was able to observe their acquisition first hand.”

It's no wonder she finds the subject so interesting! Schelletter’s final tips for doing research are to: • Discuss every step with your supervisor • Follow their guidance as they are more experience in undertaking research • Choose a topic that you feel passionate about and a question that you want to shed some light on

Undertaking a research project is a lengthy and consuming process, so it's important that you enjoy it too!

Laura Noakes | Deputy Editor Revision is the worst isn't it? You just spend your time frantically trying to stuff in your head everything you've learnt that year, not going out anywhere and with your nose in a heavy, boring textbook. But revision is something every uni student has to do if they want to pass their exams, and there are some ways to make your revision period more bearable.

Here are my revision tips to help you get through this exam period.

1) Drink plenty of water and lay off the Cokes This seems like pretty simple advice, but drinking water is SO important, especially when you’re spending most of your day on a computer reading notes! A hydrated person is going to feel better, much more alert and therefore, they’ll revise better.

And although it is SO tempting to pull an all nighter in the LRC with just a couple of Cokes or Red Bulls to keep you going, don’t do it! The sugar rush might give you some energy for a couple of minutes, but the sugar low after will make you want to pack revision in! Stay away from the fizzy and sugar high drinks when revising.

2. Get some sleep Again, this is pretty standard advice, but one that many students ignore, to their detriment. Sleep is so important, not only for our stress-levels, health and happiness, but also because a sleep-deprived brain isn't going to do well with revision! So, get an early night, hit that snooze button and do whatever it takes to get the amount of sleep your body needs (8 - 10 hours a night should do it!)

5 revision tips to help get you through your exams

3. Have a break I am AWFUL for not taking revision breaks, but it is so important because it gives you a chance to relax and have all that revision sink in! Why not get some exercise, run yourself a hot bath, or watch an episode of your favourite TV show? - Anything that will give you a chance to unwind!

4. Cheat sheets This is a little trick I discovered last year, and it was SO helpful when it came to remembering need to know information. I wrote everything that I absolutely HAD to know about that particular topic, and tried to get it on one to two A4 sheets. That became my cheat sheet, and I memorised everything on it, so that I knew even if I got into the exam and everything else went out of my head, I’d still have the basics down!

5. Past papers My final tip is to look at past papers.

Not only will these give you a clue on what kind of questions you can expect to find on your past papers, but if you are clever you can see what topics come up regularly and which topics are rarer. Past papers are also great for doing practice runs of tests!

You can find past papers by searching Voyager on Studynet.

So those are my top revision tips for exams. Do you have any special tricks to make the revision period less stressful? If you are taking exams in the next few weeks, I feel your pain, I hope these revision tips help and good luck!

Image by Charlotte Mullin

16 Features •

Society Showcase Alternative Music Society Rajan Bhasin | Co-President 2012-15

The Alternative Music Society, which I have been co-president along with Matas Mazas for the past two and a half years, is one of our proudest achievements.

We took it from being a deeply misunderstood society to a highly successful one and, in recognition of our efforts, in 2014 earned the SU’s highest honour for a society: Gold S.T.A.M.P.S accreditation.

May 2014: We elected a new committee for this academic year to carry the torch and stoke the fire we started. We all strove to represent the entire spectrum of “alternative music” with our own club night (Alt Invasion), as well as a couple of curveball events to prove that we are far more than “the Metal Society”.

The past year has been a bumpy ride for the Alternative Music Society, although by no means a bad year.

Semester A 2014: The new committee ran a successful Fresher’s Fair (well over 100 sign ups!) and was followed by ‘Unplugged’ and a Jazz

Themed Remembrance night, both of which were surprise hits.

‘Unplugged’, our first live music gig was intended to be our last hurrah before we handed the reins over. The Twirling Canes and Robbie Cavanagh captivated the Ele House with their haunting, yet melodic electro-acoustic performances. They left the stage followed by applause and cries for “one more song!”

The ‘Remembrance Day Dance’ was similarly successful and raised a fair amount of money for the Royal British Legion.

It was another unexpected, though truly “alternative,” event.

Semester B 2015: After such a successful semester, the newly elected committee all had to step down for various reasons, unfortunately, so Matas and I stepped up; the last thing we wanted was to see the society get dissolved. It was a shame our friends quit the committee and it was a huge bump in the society’s road to success, but it felt great to be in the driver’s seat again.

As the emergency committee, we had two goals for the semester:

University of Hertfordshire

Gliding Society

Have you ever wanted to learn to fly? Well, now University of Hertfordshire students have the chance! The University of Hertfordshire Gliding Society (UHGS) has been founded to allow students to fly at a reduced price and under full instruction and teaching from London Gliding Club’s staff and volunteers.

Prospective pilots will be given the chance to fly over the beautiful Dunstable Downs whilst working towards their solos, with the opportunity to meet experienced pilots and gain useful advice. No prior experience is required - total beginners are welcome, after all, everyone has to start from somewhere!

But don’t worry, even on days when the weather is bad or gliding is unsuitable, there’ll still be things to do. The society will be running socials as with any other society, and we hope to be able to run a whole range of nonflying projects. For example, we want to build a flight simulator for training and use when the airfield is off-limits.

If this has piqued your interest and you would like to learn more, please send an email to the Vice-Chair, Guy Hale at uhgc@outlook.com where you can ask questions and find out about upcoming meetings before committing to join.

1) Keep the society alive – which we did with a few Alt Invasions.

2) Find a new committee whom we could trust to put back on course the sharply derailed train that was our society AND who could bring fresh new ideas to the table.

These were our true final acts as Co-Presidents, and it’s safe to say

that we achieved them.

I hope that, if you’re reading this, you’re able to get involved with, or at least support the Alternative Music Society in some way. It’s got a lot to offer and they’re the defenders of a scene that barely gets the time in the sun it deserves.

Redeemed Christian Fellowship Ayodele Oluwaropo | President

I was introduced to the Fellowship by my sister, and joined in my first year. I have never regretted joining RCFUH. It has been amazing working with students, and I have definitely learnt so many things through my three years of leadership in the Fellowship. I was chosen as the Secretary of the fellowship in my first year then I was appointed as the Vice-president in second year and in my third year I became the President.

It has been really amazing working with a different set of people from different cultural background both old and young. I give God the glory for His Favour all through the years.

By the grace of God we have been able to organize a different range of events throughout the years. Our latest event was the YOLO concert which took place on the first of April at the Prince Edward Hall.

We had loads of students turn up for the event. The Christian Union Worship Team performed, someone from the Salem campus Fellowship, The Gods Gospel Choir, and other guest performance. It was a great honour to have Pastor Bajo Akisanya, the national Youth Coordinator for the Redeemed Christian Church of God in England, in attendance. He is also the youth pastor for Jesus House for all Nations in London.

The redeemed Christian Fellowship is 11 years old this year. It is one of the first and oldest running Christian groups in the University of Hertfordshire. It has been the grace of God who has kept us thus far.

And I pray that the coming years shall be greater in the mighty name of Jesus. We meet every Wednesday from 7pm to 8:30pm at the Lindop Building, Room A166, College lane Campus.

•

The Pub Society

When you think of societies, you often think of a way of improving your CV or maybe learning a new skill.

However, the Pub Society completely turns this on its head as it allows you to be part of a society for people who just enjoy going to the pub!

Drinking is obviously a bonus in a pub, but this society also encompasses people who simply like the atmosphere of a pub. St Albans is used as their headquarters with the wide array of drinking establishments – over 50 pubs to explore!

The society meet in a pub on a fortnightly basis and rate the pub they’re visiting and also arrange events like pub quizzes, gigs, and most recently a beer festival on College Lane Campus where they sold over 200 pints!

Matthew Young, a 20 year old Business Studies student joined this year and loves being part of the society. He said: “Pub Society provides several socials throughout the week with pub meals and quizzes. However, the big event is once every two weeks, the whole club gets together to go to one pub to play classic pub games, socialise and get smashed. We also have pub crawls in places such as Oxford and Hitchin. We always rate the pubs at the end of the night.” (the more drunk people get, usually the higher the score).

Like most societies, this one definitely provides plenty of memories.

Young said: “The pub crawl in Hitchin was one of my favourite memories. I had just done shots with the barmen and we realised we only had 15 minutes to get back to the station to catch the last train. So, we all had to sprint out carrying out pints, beer was going everywhere and we are trying to drink them at the same time. We’re physically forcing the doors open to get the last person and the police are behind us and ask ‘What are we doing all going home so early? Because the night has only just begun!”

Michael Watkis is also a member of the society and describes it as “a place for people who enjoy beers, ales or ciders and encourages new friendships.” It seems like a healthy alternative to the classic Herts night out of pre drinks and the Forum – a chance to actually talk to people whilst enjoying a drink.

Watkis added: “It’s for anyone who wants to have a drink with friendly students and enjoy a pub atmosphere instead of a club one or alongside like I do. I’ve made around 20 great new friends which I wouldn’t have met without this society.”

So, why not give the pub society a go? It’s a party society with a family feel, with events always encouraged to keep up enthusiasm and get everyone involved. Drinking and making new friends and memories – sounds like the society for me!

One year later: Marrow Kat Clements | Contributing Writer

Marrow, the student division of Anthony Nolan Cancer Charity, is present in universities up and down the country.

This year, they came to Hertfordshire.

We’ve never had a Marrow chapter here before, and Marrow Group Coordinator Zoe Wilkes decided to change that. She arrived at the Fresher’s Fair and promptly recruited a committee – President Christopher Donaldson, who has steered the society through a wildly successful year, was one of the first to join.

The group quickly began to exceed their targets, signing up well over their year target of 150 lifesavers before the end of November.

Despite being a new chapter, Herts contributed the greatest proportion (24%) of the total number of new recruits from the #tacklinginequalities campaign.

The #tacklinginequalities campaign was a nationwide campaign to recruit more black and ethnic minority donors to the register. These groups are chronically underrepresented and this means patients from non-white backgrounds have a much lower chance of finding the lifesaving match they need. Hertfordshire’s recruits were 70% BAME, way above the 50% target.

Herts Marrow have also run a fundraising event, raising over £100, and have sent volunteers to the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. This group is small, but growing, and have had a truly impressive first year – and they’re set to keep going next year, recruiting more volunteers and running even more events.

If you want to volunteer with Marrow, you can find us on the SU website. To join the bone marrow donor register, go to anthonynolan.org.

Drama Society

Matt Yeoman | Contributing Writer

If there is a society that deserves recognition for its outstanding achievement, it is the Drama Society. As one of the more popular societies, its ‘family-like’ feel attracts many new members year on year.

For those that make it through the first couple of sessions and decide that drama really is a place for them, a world of theatre and performance awaits. The first show of the year is always a pantomime and this year was no different.

‘Robin Hood: A Game of Crowns’ saw the actors and tech take the audience into Nottinghamshire, following the story of Robin Hood with a Game of Thrones type twist. The darker Semester B play took the audience to the court of Hades, in ‘Court of the Damned’. This performance saw many icons from Greek mythology being condemned to Tartarus, with no mercy from the God of the Underworld. ‘Court of the Damned’ also boasted new tech with the introduction of sound and human interaction to provide terrifying atmospherics.

It’s not just the main performances that drama excels at. There are many opportunities throughout the year to get involved with acting in one way or another. This year, the society took part in a murder mystery event which was attended by other students and members of the university.

Another popular event was the 32 hour challenge, which really is as challenging as it sounds, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less enjoyable.

For anyone who has an interest in any part of performance, whether it’s acting, tech, music or anything else for that matter, this is the society for you. Next year is full of opportunity and the drama family welcomes all to join.

18 Features •

Trident Media’s Summer Festival Charlotte Mullin Contributing Writer Sun. Music. Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. These are the hallmarks of a festival, the last massive blow-out for a student to drain the remnants of their loan and carry on riding the wave of celebration over the end of the university year, before summer ends and they must face the horrors of the world once more. With so many line-ups to choose from, and with such a limited budget, it can be a real brain-melter to figure out your ideal festival. As a gesture of good-will, I’ve composed a compact list of festivals to save you sobbing and endlessly trawling through the internet. We’ve got a selection for you here and you can find more online at TridentMedia.org!

Slam Dunk Festival WHEN: Saturday 23rd – Monday 25th May WHERE: Leeds City Centre, The Forum (wheyyy!) and Wolverhampton City Centre.

WHO: You Me At Six, Taking Back Sunday, Architects, Don Broco, Gallows.

WTF ACT: Reel Big Fish. As much as I love them, they’re a bit of a random choice compared to the other acts.

HOW MUCH: £42.90 a day.

PERSONAL RATING: I’ve started this list with Slam Dunk because it’s both the cheapest and is happening slapbang in the middle of our campus, so if none of the other festivals appeal to you, you can just roll out of bed and there’ll be music out your front door.

Download Festival WHEN: Friday 12th – Sunday 14th June.

WHERE: Donington Park, Leicestershire.

WHO: Slipknot, Muse, KISS, A Day To Remember, Enter Shikari. Guaranteed to deafen you for up to a week after.

WTF ACT: Dragonforce. My absolute failure at ‘Through the Fire and the Flames’ on Guitar Hero 3 still fills me with rage and self-loathing to this day.

HOW MUCH: £82.50 for a day, £215 for a weekend.

PERSONAL RATING: In terms of monetary value (day price vs weekend price) this one is possibly the best, but there’s little disparity among the line-up which means it’s only for those with a specific music taste.

Glastonbury Festival WHEN: Wednesday 24th – Sunday 28th June.

WHERE: Pilton, Somerset.

WHO: Kanye West, Foo Fighters, Florence and the Machine, Deadmau5, The Maccabees, and…a lot more.

WTF ACT: Lionel Richie. Bit of a verge from the others, really.

HOW MUCH: £220 for a weekend.

PERSONAL RATING: Granted, this line-up in its entirety is hugely impressive. But it’s also the most expensive festival on this list, and considering that there’s no option for day tickets, I’d recommend a serious amount of thought before you dedicate yourself to it.

T in the Park WHEN: Friday 10th – Sunday 12th July.

WHERE: Perthshire, Scotland.

WHO: Kasabian, David Guetta, The Libertines, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Stereophonics. Wow, Kasabian and David Guetta are pretty busy this year.

WTF ACT: Fatboy Slim. I forgot he still did things.

HOW MUCH: £82.50 for a day, £194 for a weekend.

PERSONAL RATING: A weekend ticket saves you an insane amount, but the line-up is a bit meh and it’s all the way up in Scotland.

Isle of Wight Festival WHEN: Thursday 11th – Sunday 14th June.

WHERE: Really?

WHO: Blur, Fleetwood Mac, The Black Keys, The Prodigy, You Me At Six. Quite a lovely little blend.

WTF ACT: Counting Crows. All I know is one of their songs was in the Shrek 2 soundtrack.

HOW MUCH: £195 for a weekend.

PERSONAL RATING: Pretty fairly priced for a weekend-only festival, with an enjoyable and mixed line-up, but then again it’s on an island so it’s a pain in the arse to get to. Weigh up your desire against how much you’re willing to get there via boat.

Barclaycard British Summer Time WHEN: Thursday 18th – Sunday 21st June.

WHERE: Hyde Park, London.

WHO: The Strokes, Blur, Kylie, The Who, Taylor Swift. Appealing to all generations.

WTF ACT: If I’m honest, it’s Kylie because I had no idea she still made music. I’m really out of the loop.

HOW MUCH: £69 for general admission, or £99 for a combination ticket.

PERSONAL RATING: This one is relatively small compared to other festivals, but it’s a nice little dayouting with a rich variation of artists so it’s got something for everyone.

Plus, TAYLOR SWIFT!

Wireless Festival WHEN: Sunday 28th June (Wireless 10) and Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th July (Wireless Weekend) WHERE: Finsbury Park, London. Ten minutes on the train from Hatfield!

WHO: Drake, Avicii, Nicki Minaj, David Guetta, Clean Bandit. Good for those who love to dance.

WTF ACT: Jaden and Willow Smith.

This is the best kind of WTF, because even if Jaden tweets some weird things I am not ashamed of how much I love these two.

HOW MUCH: £76.45 for a day, £209.50 for a weekend.

PERSONAL RATING: Excellent in terms of price and location, but as with Download there isn’t much variation in the line-up.

V Festival WHEN: Saturday 22nd – Sunday 23rd August.

WHERE: Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire and Chelmsford, Essex.

WHO: Kasabian, Sam Smith, Hozier, George Ezra, Calvin Harris. It’s like the organiser just listened to Radio 1 for an entire day and then thought ‘great, get all of those guys.’

WTF ACT: The Proclaimers. Does anyone know anything aside from 500 Miles?

HOW MUCH: £97 for a day, £200 for a weekend.

PERSONAL RATING: This hurts my bank balance just looking at it, but I’d say the artists justify the price.

• Features 19

Summer Festivals: Are they worth it?

“Against” - Save yourself the debasement Charlotte Mullin Contributing Writer For some reason, the general reaction I get when I admit that I don’t like festivals is of the utmost shock and horror, as if I just committed a human sacrifice. Be honest, festivals are one of the biggest wastes of time and money around. Admittedly, I have only been to one in my entire life, but that was enough experience to know I’d rather melt my face off with a belt-sander than go to another.

What is there actually to like? Alright, a line-up may include some of your favourite artists in the whole world, but there is no way that’s worth forking out hundreds of pounds to stand in a disgusting field full of garbage engulfed by people who haven’t showered in three days. Chances are, if a band is playing a festival, it’s part of a leg in their tour, so you might as well buy a ticket to one of their own gigs.

Surely it’s better to see several bands during the course of a year - in clean, warm venues - than to blow all of your money on one festival. The cost of a weekend ticket is extortionate

enough, but remember you’d also have to pay for camping supplies, food, weather-appropriate clothes, travel...do you really want the remnants of your loan to be wasted like that? On vending stalls which might as well chop off one of your hands for the prices they charge?

In no universe should a burger and fries cost £15.

Don’t even get me started on the camping itself. I shudder just thinking about it. A wave of tents smushed together, full to the brim with noisy teenagers off their tits fingering each other and screaming long into the early hours of the morning. And to make it worse, it’s impossible to have a decent shower or use a toilet that hasn’t got every type of bodily secretion smeared all over it. If a festival field was the first human contact an alien spaceship encountered, they would immediately destroy our planet, because those campsites are genuinely the most uncivilised hellholes on earth. It’d be a better use of your money just to shred it.

Save yourself the debasement to your body and don’t bother going to a festival.

“For” - Splash out for a summer to remember Jacob Beckingham-Wells Contributing Writer

I am going to start by saying that festivals are in no way perfect -the toilets smell and the food is greasy, and it should be illegal to charge nearly £5 for a pint of beer.

However, in my honest opinion, festivals are the perfect escape.

Spending time with friends, drinking, and sleeping in tents, all whilst making new friends is something that everyone should enjoy. It’s at a festival that you can forget your responsibilities and the real world, and focus on trying to decide who to watch; Kings of Leon or Calvin Harris?

In addition, what other experience offers the chance to see all your favourite artists in one place, and for one lump sum? For example; you could see an artist at their own concert for £30, or see 15 in a weekend for around £200.

Which means that, technically, you are making a £250 saving going to a festival. Saving money is at the forefront of every students mind, and could you not sacrifice a year’s worth of gigs for one blowout in

the summer? I know I would. And besides, what else are you going to be doing with that student loan you have left over?

Seeing your favourite band at a festival should only further your love for them, almost all music is better live, especially when everyone is in high spirits. Still one of my favourite memories is being in the front row for Rudimental, the sun was shining, the drinks were flowing and, truthfully, it was paradise.

To sum it up, basking in music and drink for a weekend isn’t a bad offer, save yourself some money and enjoy it.

Opinions are writers’ own and are not endorsed by Trident Media or Hertfordshire Students’ Union

20 Features •

A guide to student housing Charlotte Mullin Contributing Writer

To be honest, if you’re a returning student and you haven’t sorted out housing arrangements for next year by now, you are pretty screwed. In which case, I won’t bother advising you on who to live with or where to go and the like, because by this point you should probably just take what you can get.

Regardless of your current situation, though, whether you’re a fresher about to embark on the adventure that is off-campus accommodation, or coming back to the same old house after summer, we’ve all experienced the infinite joys and horrors of shared living. Some of these are down to the types of housemates you get lumped in with, while others are exclusive to Hatfield; either way, there are certain unavoidable tropes when it comes to student living, which I have compiled into a nifty guide for you to empathise with.

“This is so you,” you will say to a particular housemate, pointing to a specific section and having a good laugh. As a final year student close to waving goodbye to Herts, I am full of wisdom after two years living off-campus, and have many gems of knowledge to bestow upon you. Enjoy it while it lasts, you sweet summer children.

Types of Housemate

In an ideal world, we would be able to simply live with people we get on with all the time and have a totally amazing experience with no hardships whatsoever. Unfortunately, life is cruel, and even if you live with your bestest friends in the whole wide world, that doesn’t guarantee that everything will go smoothly.

Most people tend to fall into one of the following categories, and even if you love them with all of your heart, that won’t prevent you from wanting to strangle them to death.

The Slob: While we’re all a little bit lazy sometimes, there’s always that one housemate who takes it to the extreme. Unable to confine their mess squarely to their bedroom, where it can’t bother anyone else, the slob will leave a trail of debris in their wake whatever they do and will avoid cleaning it up until it seems like a genuine possibility that you will force them to do it at gunpoint.

Dirty dishes, mouldy food in the fridge, hair in the bath-tub, nothing seems to bother them, a level of zen which would almost be impressive if it wasn’t so gross.

The Clean-Freak: On the other side of the spectrum, there is the obsessive cleaner, whose reactions to the slob’s clutter potentially warrant an ambulance being phoned for them.

Once the initial heart attack subsides, they will become propelled into a tidying frenzy fuelled by disgust and hatred. They’re not usually quiet about it either, and tend go on passiveaggressive rants about how much of a martyr they are for dealing with such squalid conditions. Admittedly, I am the clean-freak of my house, but I am firmly convinced that if I didn’t tidy up after my housemates they would’ve drowned in their own garbage months ago.

The Party Animal: This is probably the best kind of person to live with as a fresher, because first year is just one long celebration over leaving the nest and being able to do whatever the hell you want.

After that, though, you actually need to do more than just pass the year, and so in theory off-campus accommodation should be your own space to crack on and get some work done, away from the constant

pounding music in halls. But whether it’s due to a ridiculously easy course, or out of a sheer unwillingness to do assignments, the party animal is not phased by their new habitat, and will carry on blaring their playlists and inviting friends over to get absolutely smashed while you are resorted to either trudging to the LRC or investing in some noise cancelling headphones to get some much needed sleep.

• Features 21 The Enigma: Shrouded in a veil of mystery, you never seem to get a proper glimpse of this housemate.

Are they holed up in their room?

Are they out? Who knows. This isn’t the worst type of person, but it can be frustrating; if you have to chase them for bills or rent money, you’d probably have better luck making contact with alien life.

It’s less like living with a person and more like having a stray cat occasionally materialising into the kitchen to eat and then leaving again immediately afterwards.

Shame, really. You could’ve had a special connection, but you’ll never know.

The Thief: Whether they’ve depleted their loan faster than humanly possible, or they’re just an arsehole, the thief has no qualms with ‘borrowing’ anything that isn’t theirs. Sometimes, they may even leave a note or offer to pay you back as soon as possible, but that doesn’t make up for the heartbreak of being excited to come home and finish off your leftover Chinese food only to find it gone.

Even a talk about The Etiquette Of Being A Decent Human Being usually isn’t enough to discourage them from stealing either, forcing you to either lick all of your food to ensure no one else will touch it, or hoarding all of your possessions up in your room like a magpie.

Living in Hatfield While it’s not exactly the most glamorous place to live, being stuck anywhere for three years means you can come to appreciate some things about it. Actually, that sounds a little bit like Stockholm Syndrome.

Well, being able to find the upside is a great skill, and I’ve certainly had to use that as a coping method during my time here.

Pro: Everything is within walking distance. Student houses have been strategically placed to compensate for our laziness; both campuses, Asda, the Galleria and the train station (the essentials) are not unreachable destinations. Whoever designed Hatfield must’ve gotten bored after about a day’s work, because it’s not a massive area and everything is pretty much in a straight line, so that no matter where you live you’re never far from anywhere you’d need to be.

Con: There is absolutely nothing to do. Compared to the hustle and bustle of campus, the rest of Hatfield is a depressing waste land.

If you want to go shopping, your choices are limited to the poundstore haven that is the town centre, or the Galleria, where the only stores of note are TK Maxx and the Nike Factory. Thank God London is only a twenty minute train ride away.

Pro: Cheap accommodation.

Considering the cost of living in London, especially, off-campus homes in Hatfield are affordable even to those who don’t get the maximum loan. Considering their prices, too, most of the places I looked at during house-hunting were really quite nice. If you start searching as soon as the housing list is released, or even if you go with an estate agents, as long as you do it promptly you’re pretty much guaranteed a good house.

Cons: Every house looks the same.

When you’re trying to shepherd your future housemates on a massive stretch of house viewings, it’s annoying to realise that the last three places you’ve been shown have been mirror images of each other. You begin to wonder if you’re stuck in a particularly boring episode of The Twilight Zone. Also, what is it about Hatfield that makes it a breeding ground for mould?

Everyone I know complains about a mould-affliction in some part of their house. Even the landlords were like ‘yep, this happens everywhere.’

General Advice

electronic devices as possible without having to worry about the financial consequences. Living in a house is a whole different world.

You will have to master the art of two-minute showers, and develop a thick winter coat to avoid turning on the radiator.

Don’t annoy the neighbours.

According to Herts’ guide for off-campus accommodation, the university ‘reserves the right to discipline any student who it believes has breached the University’s regulations or has brought the University into disrepute for their behaviour.’ Just be considerate. It isn’t worth being unable to complete your degree because your partying kept up Gertude the cat lady next door too many times.

Have fun! Yes, I am aware how cheesy this sounds, but the unfortunate reality is that graduates are plagued by increasingly expensive housing prices and a great difficulty in entering the world of employment, made worse by the ‘just get a job’ attitude of the previous generation.

Make the most of your independence here, because you never know how long it’ll be before you have that freedom again.

This one is mainly for the first years, and so right now I’m going to come across like a tearful parent giving their children last minute advice before sending them off. If I had to boil down my time in offcampus accommodation to provide three golden rules about it, it would be the following:

Grumpy Corner

Minimise your utilities. In first year you could crank on the heating to the maximum setting, have hourlong showers and use as many

“So what are doing after you graduate?”

The dreaded question of any final year student. Often asked by a distant relative or well-meaning stranger, it results in panic, an increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and a bad case of the fight-or-flight urge. Do I punch the offending questioner in the face or stare at them blankly before running away?

What people don’t realise is that most soon-tobe graduates don’t have the slightest clue what they’re

doing next. At the moment, we’re just trying to get to the end of our dissertation word count, or cram everything we’ve ever learnt into revision notes for our final exams.

We’re trying to find the balance between getting enough sleep and not missing out on those 3am LRC sessions (which is the only time you can actually get a good spot that isn’t surrounded by other stressed out final year students pulling their hair out).

So when you ask us what we’re

doing after we graduate, we have no idea. We can’t think that far in advance, actually, we can’t even think past our next deadline. We’re under enough pressure as it is without your invasive questioning.

Next time you spot a final year student, don’t ask what they’re doing after they graduate. Instead, perhaps offer some revision tips, a caffeine infused beverage, or a shoulder to cry on..

22 Health and Science •

UniVerse meets Juddy Otti from HertsAid

Mohammed Afkhami Contributing Writer

Since the discovery of the causal agent of a mysterious syndrome that seemed to predominantly affect gay men in the thriving LGBT scene of 80’s Los Angeles, the world has been on an emotional rollercoaster in regards to the exact threat posed by HIV to humans.

As it spread across the world due to mainly sexual interactions that didn’t make use of a physical barrier to fluid transfer, research on drug therapies made headway. A cocktail of drugs have now been developed that allow those infected to live to have a life expectancy similar to that of the rest of the population. An early positive diagnosis is no longer the death sentence that it used to be.

As long as you get tested if you are sexually active, then there is much than can be done for you with use of the highly active anti-retroviral therapy system, HAART.

In spite of all these preventative and containment strategies occasional outbreaks are still common and as I was soon to find out; there has been an increase in the incidences of infection in Hertfordshire, with Watford followed

by Welwyn/Hatfield, having some of the highest cases by percentage of the population. Those stats, in addition to the presence of a likely

promiscuous student body, may be part of the reason to why HertsAid have been carrying out HIV-testing drop in sessions on campus.

I caught up with Juddy Otti, the BME communities worker, who runs the drop-in sessions on campus.

Juddy has also been nominated for a National Diversity Award under the Positive Role Model category. As she carried out the 20 minute HIV testing and advice sessions, I probed her on her job and its importance.

UV: What’s the formal name of your role?

Juddy: The full name is BME community worker, next week I’ll be taking on the public health lead which oversees other public health strategies, not just BME. The role right now is to create awareness about HIV in Hertfordshire and mainly to help you live longer and a more productive life and to help reduce the stigma around having HIV. UV: Did you have any personal experiences that led you to your interest in this issue?

Juddy: Well, I’m originally from Uganda and it has been highly affected by HIV. I lost many relatives to it and it was in nearly every single household and is associated with death and suffering.

UV: Is the West more optimistic?

Juddy: Well there are statistics that show it pays to be optimistic. There are people living fine on medication,

with new anti-retrovirals. But still, the ethnic and BME community choose to suffer in silence.

UV: There are two HIV viruses, what’s prevalent where?

Juddy: HIV1 is prevalent here. HIV2 is more prevalent in the sub Saharan.

UV: Have you heard of any of the conspiracy stories about the virus?

Juddy: Yes, but I don’t think it matters how it came into Africa. The bottom line is it affects a large portion of the African population. I’m interested in helping to manage it.

UV: Would you call yourself solution focused?

Juddy: Yes. UV: What do you do? What problems exist for the BME community in relation to HIV in UH? Juddy: Our aim here is to foster an environment were majority of students can access a free test, thereby reducing new cases of HIV infection.

UV: So are we seeing a rise in new cases?

Juddy: Hertfordshire, yes, has had a rise of people with HIV. From 2013 we’ve had 1036 cases. And those are only known cases. We believe around 200 don’t even know they’re carrying the virus. Which means that they are also probably spreading it unknowingly. So it’s a public health concern. It’s why we encourage lots of people to test.

Speaking about HIV itself, it’s one of the very few viruses that doesn’t have any physical symptoms.

You may have a cold and a cough after a while. Depending on the immune system some people don’t get any signs or symptoms at all. People don’t show any symptoms for years. The HIV virus attacks your white blood cells and then uses that as a hub to attack your body. Your white blood cell count begins to free fall and the body is then unable to fight any infection. When it gets to this latter stage we call that AIDS, which is too late for you to get a full recovery.

Doctors will do all other possible tests and if they’re all negative they test for HIV. The majority of people die in 2 years after a positive diagnosis at this stage. Those that live will go on to live with life changing side effects. i.e strokes and deformities. So the earlier you test the more likely you are to live a healthier life.

UV: How is this relevant for UH students?

Juddy: Watford has the highest cases, followed by Welwyn Hatfield.

UV: Are you seeing any change in the number of people prepared to get themselves tested?

Juddy: Yes we have seen a great increase. I specialise in BME and men who have sex with men. A lot of people who came from abroad used us as an opportunity to get this done. But now we’re seeing a massive increase in all

• Health and Science 23 groups of people getting tested. More people are aware of the benefits of testing. A good sign of a behaviour change, I think.

UV: And lastly what are your long term goals. Any strategies you’re pursuing to resolve current issues?

Juddy: We’d like to emphasis five things to people and improve three things. The five points we like to highlight to people about HIV today are: • We’d like to emphasise that you can live a normal life span • With medication you can have better health outcomes which allows you to be more productive with your life

• With medication, you can conceive naturally and have a child who is HIV free • Once you supress the infection with medication so low that its not detectable, you’re not a threat. That allows you to have no barriers to any profession. You can still be a doctor and a dentist.

• Despite all this advancement 1 in 3 are still affected by stigma, and yet the stigma is more damaging than the disease itself.

And to answer the second half of the question; I’m looking for an effective way to prevent HIV spread in Hertfordshire. Then we look for an increase in ways for an

early diagnosis. We want people to know that the student advice centre is accessible for people who require confidentiality. I also want equal access to treatment and care and those needing help for HIV. I’m looking to enhance understanding of the facts about HIV and living with HIV in UK. And to simultaneously eradicate HIV and the stigma attached.

UV: What is a HIV test like?

Juddy: The test takes 20 minutes. We discuss it with you prior to the test.

The test itself takes 10 minutes to get results. If its negative we explain how to remain negative. If positive we deal with how to support you throughout and what charities are there to serve

you. The actual test, involves the prick of a needle, involving very little blood, and then you will know your status.

For more information and to find out when Juddy is next on campus, visit

hertsaid.co.uk.

Mental health services at UH: Is there enough Outreach?

Mohammed Afkhami Contributing Writer

This year’s mental health awareness week is taking place from 11th to 17th of May, but an increasing openness to talk about a previously hidden away part of the human condition is becoming obvious. You will be even more aware of this if you’ve liked Mind, the Stephen Fry-led NGO that exists to help those with mental health problems and hopefully destigmatise the experience in the process.

The argument put forward by these movements is that for too long, we’ve sequestered from society and ourselves the existence of mental illness, stigmatised it or straight up denied it, and now is the time to stop.

As part of my research into the University’s performance in this area, I had been collecting views from sufferers and those campaigners who are part of the University’s counselling and wellbeing outreach programme.

First I caught up with Robert, a student who had experienced mental health issues as a young adult and now helps promote and improve the NHS’ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

As a currently proactive campaigner for mental health issues and someone who well and truly has overcome their past problems, Robert delved into his experiences with me.

Speaking on the phone I asked him a little bit in regards to his background:

“When my problems started I didn’t initially realise that such a thing as anxiety disorders existed.

It all started in secondary school, and it wasn’t until halfway through secondary school that I fully recognised I had problems,” Robert said. “It all made me avoid school

as much as possible. Sometimes I would get ill just due to anxiety.

Some classes like history were out of bounds all together. I had to leave secondary school and had to be home-schooled for a year. Once I did my GCSE’s I got better and then went to sixth form and eventually went to Uni.”

Robert revealed that he was at his worst in 2010, but received therapy from CAMHS, which is a free NHS service for people between the ages of 5 to 18 who experience issues during their school years. You can access a doctor, get a referral and then receive various kinds of treatments, he said.

I then brought up mindfulness meditation which is an NHS provided therapy that has been making headway in pain management and controlling anxiety. The counselling and wellbeing centre also offers sessions in it.

“I’ve heard of it in the NHS but haven’t used it,” said Robert. “I’m only mildly aware of the existence of mental health services at the uni, let alone individual services like mindfulness.”

How would you rate the visibility of mental health services in the University and how could it be improved?

“They should put more leaflets into the Students’ Union, in private areas so that it looks less conspicuous, so that someone reading such material feels less selfconscious,” said Robert. “It could be advertised more on StudyNet and possibly brought up in lectures.”

Robert also feels that there should be mental health awareness events, allowing students who are struggling to collect the contact details. This would help to destigmatise mental health and allow

people to reach out afterwards.

I then caught up with Carly Benton, Assistant student activities manager at Hertfordshire Students’ Union, who was involved in events for Time to Talk Day which exposed students to external charities like Mind.

Carly said: “This academic year we had a brand new studentled project called ‘THINK’. The project works alongside mental health charities and organisations to promote good mental health and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. The group have run various campaigns and events throughout the year including comedy nights to promote ‘Laughter is the best medicine,’ quiz nights to raise money for Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, awareness events about eating disorders and PTSD months where they invited speakers from local organisations in to talk about PTSD and mental health. They had a big photo board which they used at every event.”

Why do you see this as important?

“The feedback the project has received has been great,” said Carly.

“Students have said that they have learnt a lot more about mental health and related topics, which they didn’t before, and the proactive approach the group has taken to increase awareness of mental health on campus. They also said it has made them feel more comfortable talking about mental health and it’s very positive to have a group of students on campus leading such an important project. This feedback demonstrates the need to continue to increase awareness and spread the message about mental health in a creative way to engage as many students as possible.”

While there is an importance of increasing awareness, some students still question the counselling and wellbeing services offered by the university, as opposed to those provided through the NHS.

Another student, Kealie Mardell, whose blog was featured during the Time to Talk campaign, also shared her views on the university wellbeing services.

“One of the big differences between the university services and those offered by the NHS is the level of understanding,” she said. “When you meet with students every day and you’re familiar with the demands of university life and how this can affect someone’s mental health, you’re in a much better position to support that person.”

Kealie added: “I believe that it’s important for students to be made aware of the services that are available here on campus. For many people they can be invaluable and can make a big difference in them successfully reaching the end of their degree. It’s important that there is constant promotion of the services, and that students know where to turn if they need it.”

If you are experiencing difficulties with mental health, you can contact your GP or visit the Counselling Centre located within the Hutton Hub on College Lane.

24 Health and Science •

A healthy dose of science Kat Clements Contributing Writer Working out what science stories matter and which ones are just a flash in the pan can be tricky, especially if you don’t have a science background.

UniVerse is here to help with our regular roundup of the biggest news in science, environment and health.

Space: The Final Frontier

Hubble, the world’s favourite space telescope, recently celebrated its 25th birthday. It was launched in 1990, older than some of us, and it’s still working (which is more than can be said for most students).

Because Hubble is outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, it can capture images far clearer than ground-based telescopes, and has taken some of the most stunning and iconic images of space ever seen. Although Hubble is old for a scientific instrument – most telescopes and satellites need constant updates and often become obsolete inside a decade – Hubble is still going strong, expected to keep working until 2020, when it can be replaced by the newer Webb Telescope.

To commemorate its 25th anniversary, NASA have released some breath-taking images of the Westerlund 2 cluster, in the Gum 29 stellar nursery in the constellation Carina. The Westerlund 2 cluster is approximately 20,000 light years away from Earth – which is 180,000 trillion kilometres. Which is a lot. A light-year, by the way, is a unit of distance – the distance which light can travel in a vacuum in one year, and it’s 9 trillion kilometres, or 9x10^12 – that’s 9000000000000km, or 6 trillion miles. Just in case you were feeling significant today. In astronomy, we usually use parsecs, which are more complicated – it’s the distance from the sun to an astronomical object which has a

parallax angle of 1 arcsecond, and you need diagrams to explain it.

Gum 29 is a stellar nursery, which means that it is an area of space especially rich in young stars.

Stars are formed when clouds of dust and gas coalesce in space, gradually making a more compact ball, until the core temp reaches 2000 Kelvin and hydrogen and helium atoms are ionised. Deuterium fusion will start at this point, followed by hydrogen fusion, at which point the star enters the main phase of its life.

Shake the Earth

Westerland 2 Cluster | NASA

This week, news has broken of a devastating earthquake in Nepal.

Measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the quake has claimed more than 2000 lives and levelled sections of the capital, Kathmandu.

This isn’t the first time that Nepal has been hit by a quake of this magnitude. In 1934, a quake destroyed a quarter of Kathmandu and killed nearly 17000 people. Nepal lies on a fault line – a place where two tectonic plates meet. Tectonic plates are the giant slabs of Earth’s crust that form the ground and the seabeds, and they move around a lot. In places where they meet, the friction of the two plates shifting in different directions is great enough to make the ground around it shake.

Scientists who were working in the area barely a month before the latest tragedy say that the pattern of quakes in the area might have been predictable.

According to Laurent Bollinger, from

the CEA research agency, the way that the plates move in this area means that stress tends to build along the fault and result in double quakes, in what the BBC describes as a “domino effect”. A quake in 1255 was followed 89 years later by another, in 1344, in a westwards section of the same fault – in exactly the same way as the 1934 quake preceded the one on Saturday.

The tremor caused avalanches on Mt Everest, killing at least 17 people and trapping many more on the mountain. Most of the citizens of Kathmandu have fled to refugee camps and search-and-rescue missions are continuing, but it might not be over yet; there have been aftershocks, and further damage was done in Nepal and in neighbouring India and Bangladesh.

The UK has promised £5m in aid. You can donate via various organisations including CAFOD, The Red Cross and Unicef.

Upcoming Health Awareness Action on Stroke Month Arthritis Awareness Month Lupus Awareness Month 4th-10th May: Deaf Awareness Week 5th May: World Asthma Day 7th May: Ovarian Cancer Day 11-17th May: Mental Health Awareness Week 11-15th May: Walk to Work Week 12-16th May: Neuropathy Awareness Week 12th May: ME/CFS & FM Awareness Day 17th-23rd May: Epilepsy Awareness Week 31st May: World No Tabaco Day

Top 5 films to look out for this

summer

When exams are finally done and Uni is over for the summer, why not use all that well earned free time to check out the summer blockbusters?

Whatever your taste, there’s a film for you!

Here are my top five picks for films to look out for this summer!

5 12 3 4

Far from the Madding Crowd

Release date: May 1st This is one for the literary buffs out there. Far from the Madding Crowd is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel, starring Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene, an independent young lady being courted by three very different men. This film looks beautifully shot, and is definitely a film to see if you like sumptuous romance and a historical setting.

Paper Towns

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Release date: June 12th Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is adapted from the bestselling book of the same name (which by the way is fantastic - GO READ IT!) It follows the story of Greg, a teenage filmmaker, who befriends Rachel, a leukaemia sufferer.

Greg and his friend Earl decide to make a film for Rachel and involve their whole school. This story is charming and heartbreaking, and if the trailer is anything to go by, this film should be fantastic.

Rcecip utout e

The Fantastic Four

Barely Lethal

Release date: May 29th Barely Lethal is that classic ‘extraordinary girl trying to be ordinary film’. It stars Hayley Steinfeld as teenage assassin who fakes her own death in order to have an ordinary life and finds out that being a normal teenager is harder than she thought it would be. Barely Lethal is a film to catch if you like action, comedy and a lot of fun!

Release date: August 7th Another reboot? Yep! Superhero movies are all the rage at the moment so it should come as no surprise that The Fantastic Four is being rebooted with a brand new cast. Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell as the Fantastic Four, this film looks a lot grittier than its predecessors and follows our heroes as they discover how to use their new-found powers!

This film is great for anybody suffering from Marvel withdrawal!

Release date: August 21st With the success of last years’ The Fault in our Stars, it’s no surprise that another John Green novel has been adapted for the big screen.

Paper Towns stars ‘it girl’ Cara Delevingne as Margo and Nat Wolff as Q and follows Q’s attempts to reconnect with his childhood crush, when suddenly she disappeared. If you cried during The Fault in our Stars, this one is definitely for you.

Article by Laura Noakes Deputy Editor

BlueMoon’s Chocolate Mug Cake 5 steps, 5 minutes, and a tasty treat for the perfect revision break!

Ingredients · · · · · · ·

1 4 4 2 1 3 3

mug tbsp. tbsp. tbsp. egg tbsp. tbsp.

self-rising flour caster sugar cocoa powder milk oil

Why not add chocolate chips, a splash of vanilla or a dollop of peanut butter?

Kealie Mardell

Method 1) Grab your mug and mix together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar and cocoa) 2) Add the milk and egg, mix well to form a big chocolatey glob 3) Finish with the milk and oil before a final stir 4) Pop the mug in the microwave (approx. 3 minutes, 900watts) 5) Leave to cool for 1 minute then grab a spoon and enjoy!

COMIC STRIP

26 Coffee Break •

• Coffee Break 27 Charlotte Mullin Not a psychic, just a side-splitting sense of humour!

You will find good fortune on the fifth floor of de Hav LRC. Yes, there are actually five floors. You just have to want to get there.

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) Avoid the temptation to do something reckless by confining yourself to your room for two solid days.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) The planets are warning you, but they won’t specify why. Be on your guard. Something terrible may or may not happen.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23) You will be confronted with a difficult challenge, but you will overcome it. By uprooting your life and moving to Panama.

LEO (July 24 - Aug. 23) There are skeletons in your closet that you must get rid of. Seriously, they’re making your clothes all dusty and gross.

VIRGO (Aug. 24 - Sept. 23) Your true love will be behind the bar in the Style Bar on Thursday. They will be in your mouth that very night. It’s a long island iced tea.

LIBRA (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23) Even if you’re running late, do not get on the 8:52 shuttle bus. It is destined to leave this plane of existence and travel through dimensions. You won’t make your nine o’clock.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) The sun will strengthen your energy levels, and you will become more powerful than ever before.

Oh, God. You’ll be unstoppable. Please spare us.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 - Dec. 21) This is a good month for money, and it will push you out of your overdraft...for five minutes?

Then you must...pay rent. Wait, I’m thinking of student loans. Sorry.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 - Jan. 20) Do something nice for someone, and you will be rewarded. I don’t know what with. Could be infinite riches, could be finding a pound in the washing machine.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) Listen to your gut, even when it’s telling you to get McDonalds twice in one day.

PISCES (Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) Don’t let assignments get you down. Soon you will be free. Free, free, free, roaming through the cosmos. Transcending your pitiful human form.

Horoscopes

ARIES (March 21 - April 20)

• Sport 29

Mouthampton vs. Midlothian The masters of Campus Football collide Matt Creasey & Kieran Burman

Anticipation filled the air. Excitement surrounded us. The day had come. The final had arrived. The one everybody had been waiting for; Mouthampton vs Herts of Midlothian.

Both teams lined up before that game and shook hands, it was the calm before the storm. Alfie ‘invisible’ Jackson led his team out for the final time - but his team missed out at the final hurdle!

Herts’ usual three of Coleman, Rix and Jackson stood out, with Jackson arguably a contender for Man of the Match. Centre-back Rob Trotter did very well to keep Luke Durrant reasonably quiet - one of Mouthampton’s most consistent players over the two semesters. Aaron Nelson was lively all game long, down the wing or through the middle having arguably his game of the semester. Midlothian didn’t always step up when necessary however, George Thomas was caught off-side umpteen times - without contention as there were linesman, unlike the rest of the semester.The whole team did however prove as to why they had made it into the final and then securing a penalty shootout after the 90 minutes had been played.

From a Mouthampton perspective the game was fought very strongly

throughout the first half and the penalty shootout, however they were put severely under the cosh in the second half with Midlothian skipper striking the crossbar twice. Aaron Bowers, a latecomer in the Mouthampton side, played a starring role in this match and made a number of influential tackles in the middle of midfield to help keep Rix and Coleman quiet. Darryl “JT” Smith provided some very well targeted long-range free kicks for Mouthampton.

Mouthampton’s goalkeeper was solid all game long and proved his value to the team by stepping up to score Mouthampton’s second penalty in the shootout. Durrant remained a significant pest for the Midlothian back four and linked-up well with fellow attackers Benny “The German” Eisenbaß and Jon Choi, and it was this combination that conjured up the goal that put Mouthampton in the lead.

All in all it was a mouthwatering fixture that went right down to the wire, with Midlothian captain Alfie Jackson being the only person to be unsuccessful from the spot of the 9 penalties taken in the shootout. What with this being the final chance for a number of the players in the Midlothian side to win the championship, there were some disheartened faces in the squad that romped league B this semester. However, the match certainly proved as exciting as it was built-up to be, despite lacking in goals.

Sport in brief:

Robot football team gears up for the Championship season The Bold Hearts, the RoboCup humanoid robot team from the University of Hertfordshire, will be competing at the German Open Robot Football Competition this month. The team were last year’s runners up in the World Championships in Brazil and are currently the top-ranked robot football team in the UK.

30 Sport •

University wins Guardian Award for Student Experience Mercedes Brazier | Sports Sub Editor

This year the University won the Guardian Award for Student Experience for Active Students, which falls into the category of “innovative project or initiative that has positively enhanced the university experience for students – in their academic lives or personal wellbeing.”

Active Students has been a part of the University for over three years, running a number of sports and programmes to increase the number of students actively partaking in sports. This programme has helped a number of students not only with something to do in the evenings (Bootcamps is a good’n!) but has also enabled them to meet new people and build friendships.

The Netball and Football tournaments have enabled people from all walks of life to get together

Sport in brief:

for a small amount of time, and play something they love, or something that is completely new to them. They have also helped students cope with the physical and mental stresses of university life, and it has been a huge success with near enough 900 students participating each week in a range of sports from burlesque dance to basketball.

The project is run by a project manager and up to 12 students, known as activators, who organise the activities and encourage student to participate. They have recently promoted their programmes and healthy living by giving out bananas outside of the de Hav LRC with quotes and jokes written on them for a bit of fun! The activators are students, just like ourselves, who have a passion for sports. Some have been involved from a young age, and their passion has grown from that,

others have joined the Athletic Union Teams at the university, and their dedication to those teams has made them want to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with us!

Active Students have recently gone that one step further in their attempts to get students involved in new and exciting things, by giving students the opportunity to participate in a number of activities outside of the Campuses such as Skiing, Boxing in Welwyn Garden City and many more! Visit activestudents. co.uk for their full range of activites, timetables and plenty of information.

Contributing writers from UniVerse have been going to a number of Active Student Sessions and reporting on how they were, and why you should participate, to read the reviews from students such as yourselves visit the Sports page of Tridentmedia.org.

Local student to compete for Great Britain

Harriet Brown, 22, studying PGCE Primary at the University, has been chosen to represent Great Britain this summer at Tom’s Tourney, a three day international Ultimate Frisbee competition. The competition will take place in Belgium in early May. Following Tom’s Tourney, Brown will be competing in the GB Under 23 team at the World Championships, held at Watford Football Club training grounds, against countries like Japan and USA.

• Sport 31

All about those abs Mercedes Brazier | Sports Editor

If you are looking for a workout to burn those abs and get the definition that we all like, this Active Students Session is for you!

Absolution normally consists of 12-20 people, lined up with their mats in the Sports Village Hall, ready to burn away the huge lunch they just consumed. I went along to this session thinking that the abdominal workouts that I do in the gym would have set some ground work for the session I was about to do. I was mistaken.

It hurt; but in a good way, the way that you are proud of yourself for sticking to it and getting through the full 30 minutes.

We started with a whole body warm up in order to get our heart rate up, so our bodies were in the fat burning zone, the general star-jumps, high-knees, squats you know the drill! After the squat jumps I think we were all ready to get started on our abs, which meant laying nice and flat on the floor!

We performed a circuit of exercises that worked our abdominals and obliques using just a mat, a weight (which varied depending on how much you wanted to push yourself), and a bar.

“I’ve never thought of using a bar with no weights to control my upper torso when completing standing twists,” said Imogen Wallis, a final year Marketing and Advertising student. “I come to a lot of Active Student Sessions, but I have really felt the burn in this class!”

The exercises we completed can easily be incorporated into your daily routine, when you wake up in the morning, or just before bed, you have more than enough time to fit a circuit or two in. However, I would suggest participating in the class, to correct your technique, before going at it alone!

This instructor teaches you what exercise is best to work certain areas of your abs, and is there to correct your technique and help you fix those problem areas. It was pointed out to us that worked your abs, your core, isn’t only about weight management but has a range of benefits for your overall health.

Sara Malone for HealthyLiving.com states that: “These muscles are important to your body's health, as they assist with everything from breathing and walking to supporting proper posture and alignment of your spine. Without healthy abdominal muscles supporting your posture, your body cannot function properly.”

For more information on Active Student Activities visit their website: activestudents.co.uk, and if you do participate in any classes tweet us and tell us how you found them @TridentMediaUK!

Herts Halls League Hall Bellingham Court Fern Spalding Hadham Coales Redbourn Telford Court Butler Chapman

Points 18 13 12 12 6 6 5 4

Participation 45 66 54 54 87 32 89 53

What is it like to be a football referee?

What is it like to be a football referee?

Kieran Burman Contributing Writer

I have refereed at various levels – including Luton Town U21’s, youth football U11-U18 and University of Hertfordshire’s very own Campus Football. But no matter who is playing, it is never easy being a referee. Oh, and you’re never right.

Before the game even starts you can feel the glares from the players, managers and supporters.

Everyone is watching you, waiting for the whistle to go and the game to start. Then it begins. Every player appeals for everything. Never in a game of football will every player agree with your decision. “What was that for ref?!” After his team mate kicked (on purpose and with the ball nowhere in sight) someone in the ribs is one of my personal favourite acts of disagreement.

As the game goes on, and the end gets near players become desperate – whether they need to hold onto their lead or score that vital winning goal. Tempers flare, passion soars and it feels as

Hall Welwyn Broad Ashwelll Lemsford Shenley Watton Sandridge Sarratt Kimpton Aldenham

Points 4 3 3 2 1 1 0 0

though whoever swears the most at the referee gets a prize at the end of the game.

The biggest problem that referee’s face is the incredible lack of respect received from a large majority of players. Even at the top, in the best leagues and competitions in the world referees are not treated with respect. Players can be seen on television swearing, arguing and acting aggressively.

This is picked up in grassroots football, players as young as 11 argue, spit and swear. It’s what they see as normal. They see it as ‘a part of football’.

It is enjoyable (most of the time) - don’t get me wrong – a lot of referees partake in entertaining and fun games where the players are just playing to have a good time, but as soon as the competition heats up people change and “Sorry ref, I was just caught in the moment” is not a valid excuse.

Players, supporters and coaches alike should realise that matches could not go on without the referee and officials. Treat us with respect – we do remember!

Participation 34 78 31 21 33 21 27 15

Correct at time of printing 3rd May

Throughout the year, Halls received points for their success in competitions (such as Quiz Night or sport competitions) and for their participation in events. The Halls League Champions win an exclusive Hall Party in the Forum!

For the all the latest from the league visit hertfordshire.su/halls.

UniVerse

SPORT

What is it like to be a football referee? | pg 31

University wins Guardian Award | pg 30

Campus Football Final. | pg 29

Team of the Year | Kat Clements

Hertfordshire Sports superstars break university’s record Shelby Loasby | News Sub Editor The University of Hertfordshire have set a new University record by winning nine Southern Eastern (SE) leagues this season, as well as bringing home the Varsity trophy beating local rivals, the University of Bedfordshire, by 31 points to 16.

Amongst the winning streak were the American Football team, who won their league and Cup trophy and were National Cup finalists narrowly losing out to the University of Stirling at Allianz Park.

The University’s Men’s Badminton 1st team are also going

into the Premier play-offs, after winning the Southern Eastern 1A league. The 2nd team also won the SE 3A league by beating Reading University 7-1.

Stefano Sacco, Men’s Badminton 1st team captain said, “Being elected as captain and having the pleasure of playing with some fantastic players has made this year at Hertfordshire one of my best. The fact we won varsity, the league and are now in competition for promotion to the premiership is such a huge achievement.”

Hertfordshire’s Men’s Football 2nd team won the SE 3B league 2-1 against worthy components, the

University of Westminster’s 1st team.

The 3rd team also won the SE 4D league by beating UCL’s 2nd team 4-1.

To add to the success, the women’s teams had their fair share of wins. Women’s Basketball 1st team celebrated by winning the SE 2B league, beating Kent’s 1st team 37-8.

The Tennis team won the SE 2B league, beating Canterbury Christ Church, and the Netball team are going into the Premier play-offs, after winning the SE 1A league.

Emily Fensome, Women’s Netball 1st team captain said, “Winning the league means a lot to us because it means that all our hard

work and early morning sessions have paid off! It also means we are one step closer to our main goal of promotion into the premier league.”

Varsity captain, Lee RoweElliott, also added, “Winning Varsity and lifting the trophy was an amazing way to end the season and my playing career at Hertfordshire. We have kept this winning streak going for one year longer, no pressure next year!”

Want to find out more about Hertfordshire’s sporting success?

Visit uhsport.co.uk, and if you have any photos from the various successful games, send them in to @ TridentMediaUK