Sociology student Steph Udale used the Silver Fund to to run a writing retreat for members of SociologyNORTH, in order to help with team building along with producing content for their blog. The retreat was 3 days at the Coach House Durhamhill in Dumfries and Galloway. Participants included current students, graduates and staff, along with Simon Smith, a teacher and accomplished blogger who ran a session on how to blog successfully.
Steph says: “It was not only an opportunity to learn new skills through developing my non-academic writing, and social skills, both one-on-one and in group as someone with anxiety who struggles in groups of people I do not know well, but it was also a chance for a lot of personal reflection and growth. I have a new sense of determination for my future that I would never have felt had I not had this time to bond with like-minded people and rediscover my passion for writing."
You can read Steph's dairy of her time at the writing retreat below.
Student Steph Udale writes about the support she received from Silver Fund and the SociologyNORTH Writing Retreat she organised.
I applied for the Silver Fund to run a writing retreat for members of SociologyNORTH, in order to help with team building along with producing content for our blog...
The retreat was 3 days/2 nights at Coach House Durhamhill in Dumfries and Galloway. The participants consisted of students of various levels, graduates, and staff, along with Simon Smith, a teacher and accomplished blogger who ran a session for us on how to blog successfully. This took place on our first night and was extremely beneficial. It allowed us to figure out what we wanted to say, how we were going to say it and the structure of the blog. It also meant that when it came to writing on day two, we all had a good sense of what we wanted to convey and how to do it, maximizing our writing efficiency.
In one day we produced enough content to post a minimum of one blog a month for a year, with many people having other ideas and continuing to write after the retreat which will further our catalog of content. As for team building, on the first night after our evening meal we played Cranium, which allowed us to get competitive and bond with new people as we split into smaller teams.
The writing experience itself also served as great team building as we read out what we had written each time we took a break.
This got really quite emotional as many people wrote about personal experiences, showing great vulnerability and leading to some extremely heartwarming and bonding conversations in the evening.
Overall, I think the retreat achieved my original goals and surpassed them. As the only undergraduate attending, I was around predominantly new people that I had either never met or had limited interactions with, but I came away from this with new friends and inspiration.
As a student who has spent most of my university experience online, I felt a real sense of belonging in SociologyNORTH that I have been unable to find thus far in my usual studies due to lack of contact, and this retreat solidified my feelings that I do in fact belong at this university, whereas before I wavered in this belief.
For me, it was not only an opportunity to learn new skills through developing my non-academic writing, and social skills, both one-on-one and in group, as someone with anxiety who struggles in groups of people I do not know well, but it was also a chance for a lot of personal reflection and growth.
I have a new sense of determination for my future that I would never have felt had I not had this time to bond with like-minded people and rediscover my passion for writing.
Reflections from other SociologyNORTH members.
Josh: I thought the retreat was very beneficial for me, in that it was an open space where I could focus on the group project, making blogs, in a space which felt warm and inviting. Having a retreat removed from the fogginess of everyday life was calming, meditative, and refreshing. The highlight of the retreat, bar the actual sharing of our blogs, was just the general atmosphere of all who took part. The only thing missing is that there is no guarantee this will happen every year, as the entire thing was just so heartfelt and would love to take part in something like this again!
Margaret: One of the benefits of going on this writing retreat was to be in new surroundings, away from the hustle and bustle of home and work life. Being with like-minded supportive people helped me to focus on my thinking and writing. Spending time with an incredible group of people made me feel a sense of belonging, all there to focus on our writing, about personal issues, environmental problems, and different cultures, both home and away.
One of the highlights while at the writing retreat happened when I finished my blog, the feeling of elation, hearing the positive reaction from the group when my work was read out. I discovered that spending time out to concentrate on writing helped me to appreciate who I am, why I think the way I do, and to be thankful for what I have achieved in my life so far.
Liz: The Pandemic has meant that whilst staff and students have been able to maintain appropriate learning environments, the opportunities for an enriched curriculum have been limited. The Sociology NORTH writing retreat has provided the group with a fantastic opportunity to explore the wider scope of sociology within our communities framed within personal experiences whilst also fostering working relationships within the group.
By spending time working together, the group was able to offer mutual support and foster better understanding of the writing process. All too often students and early career Sociologists see work presented as a completed polished product and can feel as though this is beyond their capabilities; the process that goes into getting to that finished product is hidden. By sharing the process with each other, the group were able to see how ideas are formed, developed, redrafted, shared, critiqued and polished, complete with frustrations, self-doubt and hard work.
The fact that the retreat was proposed and funded through the work of a student in the group has really helped reinforce the ethos that SociologyNORTH is a collaborative project that values the contributions of all. It was a timely reminder of the capabilities of the students that I interact with on a daily basis.
Simon: Whilst not a part of the group, as an experienced blogger I was glad to support the SociologyNORTH group. I found the writing sessions inspiring and the commitment and drive of the group were amazing. They helped me look at my writing anew and their passion and openness to make a difference and to open doors to people to truly understand Sociology was truly astounding.
This is an exceptional group and the support truly helped them find their voice.
Lisa: The retreat was beneficial to me as it allowed me to learn new skills and ways of writing that I was previously unfamiliar with. The collaborative working meant that we could all share our thoughts and ideas to see other perspectives which helped me to challenge my own thoughts. I was able to access support readily from the people on the retreat which would not have been an option working from home. It has helped me to understand the impact of social systems upon peoples’ realities and it reminded me why I first undertook Sociology and helped me to figure out my future pathway. Being on the retreat made working together easier as there were no distractions and it most certainly improved productivity.
The highlight of the retreat was the coming together of people from different areas, backgrounds and ages and learning from them; the collaborative working/learning in an uninterrupted space was my most beneficial part.
Tom: The Sociology North retreat was beneficial to me in several ways. On a self-development level, it proved to be a fantastic catalyst for developing my writing skills outside of the usual and particularly formal modes of writing in everyday academic life. Particularly useful was the way in which the writing sessions were broken up across the day into 45-minute blocks with time for reflection and discussion in the between-times – this is a writing method I have not attempted before, and I very clearly felt the benefits of this.
Choosing one highlight to focus on is particularly difficult, but I cannot help but think of the ways in which it cultivated a profound sense of both professional and personal collegiality between myself and all those who attended. Then again, playing the board game Cranium was also a major highlight! As was writing the sociology song.
If you have an idea for a project to enhance and enrich the student experience apply for the Silver Fund today. The Silver Fund is open to both students and staff.
Silver Fund Scholarship - University of Sunderland