Semester One almost done…
04 December, 2015
Hey Guys,
As we write our final address of the semester, we can’t quite believe that the first semester is almost over and what a semester it has been. It continues to be an honour and privilege to be your student representatives this year and we look extremely forward to Semester 2.
Graduation Ceremonies
A huge congratulations to all who graduated during the Graduation Ceremonies 2015. The Students’ Union wish you all well in your future studies, endeavours and new work opportunities. We hope your time here in CIT serves you well in the next exciting chapters of your lives. On behalf of the Students’ Union team, we would like to extend a huge thank you to all who were involved in the excellent organisation, and the smooth running of the conferring ceremonies. No easy feat!
USI National Council @ CIT
On Friday 6th November CIT Students’ Union hosted the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) National Council here in CIT. Students’ Union Executive officers from across the country were in attendance. All were immensely impressed with the Institute and several commented on the facilities, high quality catering services with excellent customer service, as well as the visible good interaction and friendly engagement between SU Officers, students and Institute staff.
During the National Council CIT SU President, Shane Falvey was asked by the USI VP Academic Affairs and Quality Assurance to speak on our involvement this semester on building student-staff engagement through forums – and in particular Sparqs (Students-Staff Partnership model, an initiative we are currently leaders on nationally). The work of CIT and CIT SU on this project was viewed unanimously as best practice, and we were asked to pass on further details to all officers nationally. It was also unanimously agreed that USI was to assist with rolling out similar initiatives in other third level institutes through engagement with Sparqs, HEA (Higher Education Authority) & QQI (Quality & Qualifications Ireland). We couldn’t be prouder to be the Students’ Union Executive who were part of the initiation of this long-term project and look forward to continued involvement over the course of our terms in office.
Positive Mind & Body Week
We hope you all enjoyed Positive Mind & Body Week at the start of November. It was a very successful campaign with huge student involvement. Thank you to all who got involved and helped out especially, the ‘Welfairies’, The Breaking the Silence Society, The Red cross society and The Mental Health Society. The aim of this week was to promote positive mental health and a healthy body and the links between the two. We also held a three hour Spinathon in aid of Pieta House and I am pleased to tell you that from this we made €286 for this fantastic organisation. One of the huge talking points of the week was the Mental Health talk given by Alan Quinlan. Alan shared his own personal experiences of his own mental health and gave students tips on how to improve their own mental Health. We can’t emphasise how important Mental Health is so we urge you all to look after your own Mental Health and always remember that Talking is a sign of strength.
Exam De-stress Week
Exam De-stress Week will run from December 8th-10th. During these days there will be free Tea & Coffee, Puppies, Free Massages and lots more. Exam time can be extremely stressful for all involved. The aim of this week is to try and reduce your stress and also give you a chance to do something different during your study breaks from the library. Make sure to check out the timetable for this week.
ALDI Bus
The last ALDI Bus of the semester will run on December 7th…We look forward to welcoming you aboard the Aldi Bus again in the New Year. Make Sure to sign up by emailing fiona.leddy@cit.ie and you will be in with a chance of winning a €20 ALDI voucher.
RAG Week 2016
Raise and Give (RAG) Week is one of our biggest campaigns of the year. This year the week will be held from Monday 8th – Friday 12th February 2016. As voted on by the students and staff of CIT the main beneficiary of the RAG Fund this year will be Marymount (The main beneficiary will receive 50% of all funds raised throughout the course of the week). Planning is well under-way here in the Students’ Union Office and we look extremely forward to presenting high-quality entertainment to the students of CIT, while raising much-needed funds for outstanding charities. Do you want to sign-up to our RAG Crew for 2016? Just call up to us in the SU Office. We promise it’s a decision you’ll never regret. There’s no better feeling than raising money for worthy causes while having a great time too.
Student Conduct
The Students’ Union wish to convey to students the importance of good conduct both on campus and off-campus.
A positive perception of the student body of CIT is vital. We would ask that you would assist us in ensuring the students of CIT are viewed in nothing short of a positive light by:
• Showing respect for local residents at all times.
• Behaving in a good manner in student accommodation.
• Conducting yourself in a suitable manner when using Public Transport (Please find a letter to students from Bus Éireann on page 2).
We wish to draw your attention to the fact that ANY interaction with An Garda Síochána resulting in a record would have serious ramifications for students who may subsequently apply for a J1 Visa and when entering the working world. A number of organisations now Garda Vett all prospective
employees.
As clearly stated in the Institute’s Student Regulations:
‘Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with responsible behaviour towards other persons and property within and outside the Institute campuses at all times.’
‘Students must not engage in any behaviour which may constitute inconvenience of nuisance to any person(s) within or outside the Institute’.
Should a student be deemed to be in breach of the Student regulations, this would result in an investigation by CIT’s Student Disciplinary Committee. Don’t let it be you!
West Atrium Study Space
Need somewhere to study on Sundays coming up to exams? We here in the Students’ Union have managed to get the West Atrium opened on the following dates; 29th of November, 6th of December, 13th of December and the 20th of December. This will be open from 10:00am until 4:00pm. Hopefully this will help you all with the final push to get through your exams! We would like to thank the Registrar’s, Caretakers and Building and Estates Offices for their support in implementing the smooth running of this facility.
Exams
We’d like to take this opportunity to wish all students the very best of luck with their end of semester exams. The hard work will be all worth it in the end Guys…It will be Christmas before you know it.
Have a Great Christmas One and All, and wishing you all the very best for the New Year,
Shane, John, Ruth, Dave, Kate, Rebekah
Proudly YOUR Students Union Team
