Megan’s Buddy blog!

Megan’s Buddy blog!

28th February 2018

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During my time at Sussex, I have been both someone with a buddy, and a buddy to several other people. Therefore, I feel I have truly experienced a lot of what the Buddy Scheme offers. As someone who had a Buddy, I felt it helped me settle in and get to grips with campus. Plus, initially my Buddy and I didn’t bond too well so I switched Buddies and my new Buddy was so much more helpful to my needs personally.

My enrollment in the Buddy scheme provided me access to the Get Involved conference which offered training sessions. I feel this is worth including as it shows how the Scheme listens to the needs of those involved so they have the best experience possible.

In addition to this, the Scheme has been hugely helpful for largely selfish reasons – I want to be a teacher and this provides some amazing experience of working and supporting others. Moreover, the Buddy Scheme has run training programmes that help you be the best support you can be to your Buddies. This includes teaching you about the different facilities that your Buddy may not know about but may need and also welfare training so you can support them to the best of your ability. It also exposes you to others you may not have been exposed to otherwise. This includes individuals from different cultures and having different experiences.

On top of this, the Scheme has hosted some amazing events that encourage you and your Buddy to bond. Just a few of the ones I have been on included a trip to go see Aladdin live in London with a return coach, free Zumba, and one of the afternoon tea parties! This doesn’t even include half of the ones I’ve been to. The prices are extremely subsidized making it more affordable for everyone involved so you can focus on having fun and engaging with your Buddy.

To conclude, I love the Buddy Scheme! I feel it has truly enriched my experience on campus through giving me more experience for my CV, for meeting new people and for having new experiences! My success on the Buddy Scheme means I recommend to it to everyone these days, as it is such a good way of giving back whilst you’re at university.