Pre-Term Notices and Info

Dear Downing,

Just a few quick bits of info before Week 1 kicks fully into gear:

1. Team First Launch Night @ Downing Bar - Sunday 18th, 8pm

We're partnering ourselves with Team First (as lots of JCR's are starting to do) so that students can get discounts and we can raise more funds. All you need to do is come to the bar, download the app and scan a QR code. That will make £1 for the JCR, for every person who does that. The more people who sign up and use the app, the more money the JCR can raise, which can be used on stuff that matters to students.

Members of the JCR committee will also be around the bar, so if you want to ask us anything, suggest stuff we can do, tell us what we're not doing enough of etc, please do!

2. Dissertation Binding 

Unfortunately college is not providing facilities for dissertation binding this year. The best place to get binding done is now probably CUSU, so if you go to 17 Mill Lane the CUSU Print Shop can help you out. See the following link for more info:

http://www.cusu.co.uk/services/the-cusu-print-shop
 

3. Downing College Photographic Competition

Just a reminder: there is a photographic competition open to all Downing students. The theme this year is "Within three miles of the Master's Lodge", so if you're a keen photographer get out in the sun (or maybe rain) and look for great photographic opportunities in Cambridge. The aim is to show the local area (town or gown) in a different light, perhaps hidden or rarely seen details, unusual views, something abstract, impressionistic or memorable. Each entrant is allowed to submit a maximum of 5 photos.

The prizes: 1st - £25, 2nd - £15, 3rd - £10, certificates for commended and highly commended.

Closing date: June 5th

See attached document for full details.

4. Big Poll and Constitutional Reform

Later this term I will be sending out the yearly Downing Big Poll, a survey put together by the JCR Committee to assess what Downing students thing about a range of issues in college. We have decided to make it somewhat larger than last year because we feel if we're only going to do this once a year, we might as well try and get a lot of data. We will use the Big Poll to check that we're doing what you want us to do and to find out what other things we could be doing. We can also use the data in our discussions with college, to give them a clearer idea what the student opinion is on various matters, so they can make decisions that take our views into account. 

Later this term there will also be an opportunity for members of the JCR and MCR to vote on changes to the constitution that governs both organisations. Given that we can only do this once every 5 years, we might as well make a big thing of it. More details will follow about the proposed changes and how the process will work.

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That's it from me. I hope that you all have a productive term. Remember that exams don't define you and that you can seek advice from our Welfare Team :)

Best,
Tom

This article was posted by Andrew Ying (JCR Internet Officer) on behalf of Tom Meadows (JCR President)