Experience Sussex!

The Spirit of Sussex Award (SoSA) team is continuously working to engage and encourage students to get involved in co-curricular activities, log points and get recognised through the award scheme.  

You can benefit from the award scheme by feeling more involved in the Sussex and local community, creating meaningful connections and networks, and building a portfolio to showcase your achievements to future employers. Successful awardees are also invited to a celebration ceremony and receive a University-accredited certificate at Graduation! 

Don’t worry if you missed any of our recent events covered below. You can still get involved by following our Instagram and LinkedIn to see the latest news and events. Logging points is super easy – email our team at sosa@sussex.ac.uk if you would like to book a guided 1-2-1 to find out more. 

Here are some of our key highlights: 

Do your thing: balance your time, maximise your wellbeing 

The team collaborated with Wellbeing connectors to deliver a successful wellbeing event focused on providing tips and tricks on managing time effectively and balancing academic and co-curricular activities. 

Current undergraduate and postgraduate awardees came along to share their experiences and techniques on how they look after their wellbeing, get involved and earn points towards a Spirit of Sussex Award.   

Student Panel: Spirit of Sussex Award 

“The award is a major talking point and major CV boost where you can showcase all your achievements. It gave me the confidence to shoot my shot!” – Rachel Nielson, BA Graduate in Drama and Film Studies 

The Spirit of Sussex Award hosted a live panel with Graduate Rachel Nielson (BA Graduate in Drama and Film Studies, and Gold Awardee) and current Student Connectors, Souad Kadi (MSc Entrepreneurship & Innovation Strategy and Gold Awardee), Haajadri Srikaran(BSc Finance and Technology and Silver award participant) and Zachary Conlon (BSc Marketing and Management and Gold award participant).  

The session was peer-led with Spirit of Sussex Award Student and Graduate Connectors firing a series of questions at the panel on extracurricular experiences, challenges and the positive impact the award has had on their personal and professional development.  

Optimise your online profile with LinkedIn  

The Connector Programme and Spirit of Sussex Award hosted a collaborative LinkedIn Workshop helping students optimise their LinkedIn profiles. Students took part in training focused on creating a high-quality profile, profile features, mission statements, expertise, skills and certifications. 

The Connector Programme demonstrated how Student Connectors can add their project experience to their profile and the Spirit of Sussex Award demonstrated how to showcase bronze, silver or gold certificates on your profile. 

Current BA Anthropology and International Development student and guest speaker, Berta Jimenez Santos, shared the most useful functions LinkedIn has to offer for career advice and mentoring. 

SoSA Mixer 

Finally, the team hosted their exciting annual SoSA Mixer in Room 76 where students had the opportunity to meet the award team, ask questions and join a community by playing a series of interactive games. 

We were joined by current BA Law student Stephanie Papetti and alumni Rachel Neilson who shared how co-curricular activities and the award scheme helped them settle into the UK and Sussex.