Student voice

SHU Fest introduces James Barnett – a classical piano performance

Leave a comment

Article written by journalism student Emily Fitzgibbons:

jamesbarnettePianist James Barnett is set to perform live at SHU Fest, Friday 4 March.

He said: “I’m a little bit nervous but no more than I would be playing anywhere else.”

James, who started playing aged six, said the piano has always been important to him. “I forget about everything else when I’m playing the piano. I remember the first time I heard my teacher playing. It gave me goose pimples and I just thought it was the best thing ever.”

He was classically trained at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and is part of a choir and plays at church services.

James, who admits to not performing solo as much as he used to, is now a professional piano teacher. “Everybody has got music ability. It helps if you start when you’re a kid but I do teach a lot of adults who haven’t had lessons before.

Debussy, a French composer, is James’ inspiration.

Watch his performance at 1pm in Heartspace, Level 2 of the Owen Building.

Student voice

Baking demonstration by Paul Benson

Leave a comment

Article written by journalism student Chloe Botham:

Baker, Paul Benson will be showing off his talented baking skills in a demonstration at SHU Fest on Tuesday 1 March.

SHU staff member Paul, has been a keen baker ever since he was a small boy after watching his mum on baking days, encouraging him to try it out for himself.

With the rise in popularity in baking ever since The Great British Bake Off aired, Paul explained that people are getting a real sense of achievement from baking themselves. He said: “The pleasure is in the doing, seeing the end result and filling your home with a beautiful aroma.”

Paul took his love of baking even further last year, when he started making wedding cakes for loved up couples. He said: “It was a real test of what I had learned and practised over the years. It was a challenging project, but very rewarding when I handed over the finished cake. It was a great feeling.”

With years of experience under his belt, Paul still has the occasional disaster occur in the kitchen, ones which he hopes don’t happen on demonstration day! He said: “It’s all part of the learning experience. Many bakers who have been baking for many years still drop the occasional clanger; it’s what keeps you sharp. Never give up, just keep on baking.”

Paul will be sharing his special recipes for shortbread and ginger biscuits, for all those attending the baking demonstration, which may even include a taster of the sweet treats.

The event will be held at: Kitchen, level 12, Owen Building at 12-1.30pm.

Social activities

SHU Fest 2016 – We’re going to Newcastle!

Leave a comment

All the votes have been counted for the SHU Fest 2016 Trip Vote and the winning destination is Newcastle!
Newcastle 2016

Newcastle is a major city in the North East of England,  with lots to see and explore. Key sites include the ‘Angel of the North’ one of UK’s largest sculptures, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the Metrocentre, Europe’s largest indoor shopping centre.
The trip details are as follows:

Date: Saturday 5 March

Time: 8am start, leave Newcastle back to Sheffield at 5pm

Tickets only cost £11 and can be brought from the Student Services Centre, Level 5 Owen Building

Further information about Newcastle can be found here

Remember to take your SHU Fest selfie and enter our competition! Post your SHU Fest selfie and post it on our Facebook page, SHU GoGlobal or Twitter and don’t forget to #SHUFest!

Scam Alert, Support

Scam Alert – targeting International students

Leave a comment

Some of our international students are being called by scammers who claim to be from the ‘Home Office’.

The caller says they are from the Home Office and has the students full name, postcode in the UK and passport number, and asks the student to verify those details are correct.  The caller tells the student to go to the www.gov.uk website, and search for Home Office, and then scroll down to the bottom of the screen, so that the student can see that they are calling from the genuine Home Office number.  The caller ID on the student’s mobile, does show this number.

The caller then proceeds to tell the student they have not paid for an immigration service, and as a result have to pay a fine (usually £1200 – £1520), or else they will be reported to the Police/or the Home Office who will detain them or deport them.

The caller becomes increasingly insistent and verbally aggressive, and as they have so much personal information about the student, the student often feels so pressured and terrified, that they pay up.

The calls seem to particularly target students from India and Sri Lanka.

BEWARE – This is a very sophisticated scam! If they were to call you and you challenge their authenticity they may tell you to Google their phone number and verify their identity. Even the caller ID they use is the same as Home Office switch board number. They will have manipulated the electronics, webpages and links to deceive you. They can be very forceful and authoritative in their tone, even more so if they sense that you are scared.

British Police or Home Office never contact students in this manner, and they never ask for money over the phone.

If you receive a call of this nature, please do not give out any personal details (passport number, address, family details). Please do not download any software they ask you to on your phone or computer. Cut the phone and inform the police immediately. If you are unsure, please feel free to contact International Experience Team on internationalexperience@shu.ac.uk or call us on 0114 225 3813.

Social activities

Chinese New Year

Leave a comment

Chinese New Year is the biggest Chinese festival of the year, and we at GoGlobal love to celebrate it with our students!

New Year event 2
Students sampling some traditional Chinese food!

As it’s based on the lunar calendar, the date changes each year, falling in either January or February to correspond to the black or new moon. As we move into the year of the monkey, we thought it’d be a great idea to highlight the fantastic event that our students put on to mark the start of the new year!

A celebration event was set up and organised by event management students from the Sheffield Business School and our own International Experience Team; the event included delicious traditional food, craft and cultural demonstrations, as well as a chance to learn about how Chinese New Year is celebrated. It was a fantastic success and meant that all students could join in and see in the new year.

For more images, check out this album from Sheffield Hallam on Facebook.

Happy new year to all of our Chinese students 🙂
Social activities

SHU Fest is coming!

Leave a comment

SHU Fest, our massive week-long festival packed with fun and exciting events showcasing the talent and diversity of our students and staff, is almost upon us.

We now have a schedule of events, which can be found here so make sure you know where you need to be and when! We will be posting our highlights of this year’s festival as well as ones to look out for in upcoming newsletter, so until then, have a look at what you fancy and check last year’s videos out:

 

Employability, Social activities

Student Volunteering Week

Leave a comment

Student Volunteering Week takes place between the 22nd and 28th February 2016. Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union Volunteering have organised a range of opportunities to get our students out in the community as well as some exciting activities to celebrate the great year they’ve had so far!

They’re aiming to get our students putting in 300 hours of volunteering across the week – can you help them reach their target?

Check out their full schedule of events for the week: here.

Social activities

Outlines Festival – Discounted Student Tickets

Leave a comment

Outlines is a brand new, one-day festival dreamed up by the brains behind Tramlines to add a dose of winter festival fun to some of Sheffield’s best venues.

Expect a genre-spanning mix of established names and breaking talent, as artists take to the stage at venues including The Harley, Queens Social Club, Plug, O2 Academy and Skate Central’s roller rink, where the shows come complete with skates. 2016’s lineup will feature UK hip-hop pioneer Roots Manuva, post-punk icons Gang of Four, electronic pop upstart Shura and BBC Sound of 2016 longlister Loyle Carner.

Sheffield Hallam students can get tickets for £14 (normally £25). Just enter your University email address when buying your ticket.

Get your ticket

Employability

Work While You Study Fair

Leave a comment

Coming up is the fantastic Work While You Study Fair from the Careers team!

If you fancy earning some extra cash while you study, getting some vital experience to get you ahead of the pack and meeting some top employers then this is the event for you.

Every year the fair helps students get in contact with employers looking for motivated and enthusiastic  people like you: what opportunities will you find? Only one way to find out!

The fair will be held in the Careers and Employability Centre (just outside the main entrance to the Owen building) on February 24. Check out the Careers Central site on shuspace for more details.

 

Social activities

Trip to Cambridge, Newcastle or Nottingham – you choose!

Leave a comment

The power in in your hands for this SHU Fest event!

To wrap up SHU Fest we invite you to vote for a day trip to one of the above cities, all of which are known for culture and diversity in the UK.  All three of the cities offer lots of fun and interesting things to do, and help to give you a sense of England’s history.

Please vote for your favourite place by 5pm on Wednesday 24 February. To vote, visit go.shu.ac.uk/shufestvote

The winning location and price will be confirmed after voting closes on the SHU GoGlobal Facebook page. Tickets will be available from the Student Services Centre, level 5 Owen Building.

Check out the rest of the SHU Fest schedule here.