At the start of November, colleagues from The Hub and our Students’ Union joined together to host the BGU Carnival.
The event is a direct response to valuable student feedback – which highlighted a dip in happiness around the midpoint of the first semester.
The goal of this event is to bring some joy to the student community and help alleviate feelings of assessment anxiety and homesickness, which may begin to surface around this point in the academic year.
On the day, the event officially opened at noon with an array of games, wellbeing activities, music and food stalls set up for students to enjoy. Carnival activities included a ball toss, pin the tail on the lion, tin can alley, hook-a-duck, balloon darts, four-in-a-row, and mindful colouring.
Attendees were also presented with a number of support resources including a leaflet promoting the services of The Hub, The Wellbeing Toolkit and quiet spaces available around the campus.
There was also the opportunity to win a teddy bear, via a ‘Name the bear’ competition. The lucky winner of this prize was Olivia Grow, an International Student attending BGU as part of the Study Abroad programme, who correctly guessed the bear’s name as Koda.
This year, we welcomed the return of therapy ponies from Rainbow Dreaming CIC, who aim to enrich the lives of people through their therapy pony visits.
Ponies Jo and Buggles, who visited BGU, were great with our students, and even welcomed a cuddle!
Interested students gathered by the pony enclosure to learn about pony care and their role in aiding wellbeing in sectors such as education and health care.
Stephanie Terry, The Hub Centre Co-Ordinator, said: “The carnival was a resounding success, and generated a vibrant and positive atmosphere for all who attended.
“There was an impressive turnout of over 100 students at the carnival and even more at the pony enclosure.
“Given the popularity of the event and the positive impact it continues to have on students’ wellbeing, we hope to see the return of the BGU Carnival in 2025!”