Lucy Cavendish students experience the essence of Autumn at botanical printing workshop
Students enjoyed using a technique called Eco-printing in the College gardens
Students arriving at Lucy Cavendish enjoy ‘wonderful opportunities’ and a packed programme of events
Lucy’s third and largest-ever Bridging Week took place just before the start of term when it welcomed its entire cohort of 139 first year undergraduate students to Lucy Cavendish for a programme of academic, academic-related and social activities designed to support transition to College and to the University of Cambridge.
Read more about the Bridging Week here
A key focus of this year’s Bridging Week was the welfare and well-being events. These were incredibly well attended by the students, who enjoyed a huge range of sports and other activities. The welfare and well-being sessions were led by Lucy’s new Student Welfare Advisor, Maria Dias. They explored the differences between welfare and well-being and the support available for both in College and at the University, and included an individual well-being exercise. One student described the session as “really lovely” and “particularly appreciated being given the time to focus on how we could reduce the stress in our lives”.
Read more about Lucy’s Welfare Advisor, Maria Dias, here.
For the first time, LCC then had a ‘Well-being Weekend’ at the end of Bridging Week. This was open to all students, so all our returners, new grads and postgrads could join the activities as one community.
One aim of the weekend was to help our students get involved in sports, using a two-pronged approach. First was a Friday pop-up event, brilliantly led by the University Sports Centre team, James Barclay and James Powley. They created a great atmosphere for the students to get moving and chatting about sports they might like to get involved with this year. They also raised awareness of the upcoming Sports Fair whilst students challenged themselves with spike ball, volleyball, foot-volleyball and incline badminton!
The second sports event was on Monday, when our Outreach Officer, Hayley Hilson, led a guided ‘Well-being Walk’ from LCC to the Sports Centre. The aim was to make it as easy as possible for our students to find…and it worked! Sports Club Coordinator, Callum O’Shea, says he “bumped into a number of Lucy Cavendish students at the Sports Fair (mostly young men!) who found out about the Fair through the pop up visit, and as a consequence have signed up to a number of clubs and activities. I think this shows it has had real value – thanks again for inviting us!”.
Sandwiched between the sports events, ‘Discover Cambridge’ Saturday challenged students to explore and experience different aspects of the City in their own time. In response to student requests for more cycling opportunities, ‘Cycle Sunday’ provided a chance for students to set themselves up with cycling and learn cycle safety tips before trying out some great local routes. We are grateful to the Richardsons Cycles team and Alan from Camcycle for supporting this event.
In addition to the weekend activities, students had the opportunity to try out Real Tennis in a special coaching session for Lucians. Head Professional Kees Ludeken enjoyed teaching our Freshers, describing them as “a very positive group who encouraged each other throughout the session…and wanted to stay at the end!” Great to hear and thank you for the invitation Kees!
Once again, Bridging Week has been brilliant for bringing the first year undergraduates together as a year and then as part of our wider College to help grow our strong sense of community at Lucy. Overall, this has been a busy, fun week filled with, as one student put it, “lots of wonderful opportunities” to explore, learn and prepare for the term ahead. Roll on Michaelmas term.