Student Voice
Our UCS and MCR Presidents for 2019-20 give their perspectives on a very challenging year.
Dan Wright (2017)
UCS President
As the outgoing UCS president and a recent graduate, my final year at Clare was one of my best; for obvious reasons, it was also one of the worst. Allow me to take you through my year – both ‘at Clare’, and far away from it, too. We started the year in traditional style. For the UCS, Freshers’ Week was the usual blur of talks, events, car-park Tetris, and beautifully ordered chaos. The spirited UCS committee, Clare staff, and Natalie Chapman’s excellent planning in particular deserve credit for the week’s success.
Fresher's Week 2019
Fresher's Week 2019
That term, the UCS did a lot of cool things. We launched Cambridge’s first Gender Expression Fund to help transgender students. We supported students through strike action. And we hosted great social and welfare events, including a ‘Yellow Week’ for welfare (which, being entirely online, was ahead of its time).
Truthfully, I can think of too many highlights to include here. Whether we met in the grandeur of Old Court or the darkest depths of the Colony Computer Room, I have fond memories of the UCS and the great things my committee members achieved. We went into 2020 in good spirits. ‘Yellow Week’ made its triumphant real-world debut, and we held a ‘Green Week’ to promote environmentalism. We even hosted visitors from our sister college for a sports day. Unfortunately for us, we lost most of the events; unfortunately for them, they had to go back to Oxford.
In a memorably surreal moment, spurred on by promises of free pizza and a karaoke machine for Cellars, the whole College rallied together to win CUSU’s election turnout competition. Sadly, we never enjoyed the fruits of our labour.
I expected Brexit to be the defining event of Lent term, but we all know what happened next. The newly elected UCS suddenly had a lot on its plate. Clare shut up shop and students, myself included, went home for good.
Like many, I found studying during lockdown immensely difficult. I’m grateful for the support of my tutor and Director of Studies who together ensured I had a good workspace.
I was delighted I could advise Rosa [Martin, current UCS President] and the new committee on things as diverse as accommodation and a 24-hour charity livestream for the NHS. Our live-streamed rendering of Memorial Court in Minecraft won’t win any awards, but the stream showcased Clare’s creativity and community spirit. Later on, it was an honour to help the College with our virtual graduation ceremony.
I returned in June to move my things out of Clare. I was able to enjoy half an hour of summer sunshine with my dad on the balcony of my Colony room. Having missed out on my final term at Cambridge, and all it was meant to be, it was a bittersweet moment.
Even with the scaffolding and social distancing, I hope every current student makes the most of their time at Clare. It’s a special community that I will always treasure. Good luck everyone –staff, students, Fellows and alumni – for the year ahead.
Look after each other.
Jonty Townson (2016)
MCR President
After a successful Michaelmas term, graduates returned in the New Year to a newly renovated MCR for weekly Friday formals (including the always popular Burns night and ceilidh), bar nights and research talks, as well as to their labs and University libraries!
In early March it became apparent that the COVID-19 pandemic would affect the graduate community in Cambridge, although the extent of it was not yet known. Preparations were made with the College Nurse and Senior Tutor to combat the virus whilst continuing with College life as much as possible. However, the Clareity research symposium, held at the beginning of March, was to be the last major ‘in-person’ event of the academic year, as lockdown began a week later.
When lockdown began, most graduates were sent to live with
their families again, with the exception of those for whom Cambridge was their home or who could not travel because of restrictions in place.
The graduate community moved online, and we had virtual bar nights
to keep in touch with everyone around the world, the obligatory lockdown quiz and a very popular home bake off where baking skills honed in isolation (and in years previously) were put on display via Instagram. Those who remained in Cambridge made good use of the city’s outdoor spaces and were also fortunate to be able to use the Fellows’ Garden as restrictions eased, before the Old Court building works intervened.
Bakes by Lydia Higginson
Bakes by Lydia Higginson
I enjoyed running around a deserted Cambridge as my daily exercise and also spent some pleasant afternoons at Grantchester Meadows, Milton Country Park and Anglesey Abbey, once they began opening up.
As Easter term began, a new committee was elected to gradually take over MCR events, and preparations were made for remote teaching/examining. Graduates found themselves involved in both, as supervisors of undergraduates and students themselves!
The new committee were fully settled by the time summer came, and have been working really hard to welcome new students to Clare for the Michaelmas term.
During lockdown, graduate students were forbidden from accessing any University buildings, including labs and libraries. For some, they were able to continue with their work through analysing results already obtained, completing their reading online or changing to a “dry lab” type project that could be done from home. For others the lack of facilities has set their work back considerably, with important experiments being cut short before results could be obtained. Biological labs were the first to re-open in early June and other labs and libraries only re-opened much later. My project fell into the latter category, and to occupy my time I read for pleasure, did some gardening and endeavoured to perfect the optimal method for baking potatoes. Unsurprisingly, I was keen to return to the lab and was one of the first to do so at the start of June, along with restrictions and strict cleaning programmes!
The pandemic meant many Master's students had their year in Cambridge cut short in March and many PhD students completed their years of hard work without being able to gather all their friends to celebrate. Despite this, it has been heartening to see exams being completed, Master’s/PhD theses being (virtually) handed in, and vivas being completed through the wonders of online video calls. The coming year will present great challenges to College and the graduate community, with guidance changing frequently – to all those involved in steering the College ship through these choppy waters, I wish the best of luck!
Built with Shorthand