University Centre Shrewsbury’s (UCS) newest undergraduates have been greeted with a warm welcome, inspiring words and a range of activities to help them get to know the area.

The students, who are embarking on a range of courses, were introduced to the town from Sunday 24 September 2017, and are settling in well.

Established by the University of Chester and Shropshire Council, with the community, UCS aims to bring new and varied prospects for students, the town and Shropshire.

The Hunter Games, a search for clues and tasks to complete around Shrewsbury; a Civic Reception; Macmillan charity coffee morning; programme induction; Personal Academic Tutor meetings; sports and societies fair; Team Shrewsbury talk; comedy night and ‘bandeoke’ evening, were among the activities organised for Welcome Week.

At the Civic Reception on Monday 25 September, held for students to meet people from both the town and the wider Shropshire community, the Mayor of Shrewsbury, Councillor Jane Mackenzie, said:

“An especially big welcome to all those students embarking on their University life here in Shrewsbury.

“As the Mayor of this beautiful and historic town I must say congratulations to you all because you have chosen Shrewsbury as your home for the next few years, where you will live, learn, socialise and enjoy our unique medieval county town.

“We have a rich, vibrant and friendly community here and you will find a warm welcome wherever you go.

“We are proud to say that Charles Darwin was born less than half a mile from Guildhall in 1809 and his legacy is as current today as ever before. Perhaps here we will have another Charles Darwin amongst us?

“I am certain that you will grow to love this town, as I do. I hope you will also find it hard to leave at the end of your studies and that you will choose to stay, work, prosper and make it your home.”

Second-year Genetics students, Charlotte Utting and Hayley Townsend, worked with Students Union Shrewsbury to help organise some of the Welcome Week events, including the charity coffee morning.

Charlotte said:

“We got involved as it’s important for the new students to experience the social side of university life, as well as get the guidance they need from people who have already been through it themselves. The events were really fun to organise and it was even better that we got to take part in our own.”

Hayley added:

“It’s important to include charity events and raise awareness, as well as giving something back to the local community. We enjoy organising the events too, and we can get to do things that are out-of-the-ordinary.”

New undergraduate Adam Joyce, who is studying Biochemistry at UCS, was part of the winning Hunter Games team during Welcome Week.

He said:

“I looked at a lot of other universities and they were all quite large but when I came to Shrewsbury it had a big emphasis on being a closer knit community, which I preferred.

“The first week has been a great way to get to know everyone before classes start.”

For more information on UCS go to ucshrewsbury.ac.uk, facebook.com/ucshrewsbury or twitter.com/ucshrewsbury.

ENDS

Further information

Team Shrewsbury brings together a range of organisations to make Shrewsbury a better place to live, work and play. For more details go to shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk/team-shrewsbury.