Having completed all their deadlines and exams, the students have now said goodbye for summer. For the five graduating Magpie, Holly, Holly, Emily, Radina and Tiffany, we wish you the best of luck and thanks for all you’ve contributed to Magpie.
We wanted to take a chance now to give you a few highlights from the last week of insight.
Firstly, we held our first ever Field Day where we gathered Magpie Insight Leaders and friends in a field for a day of insight, drinking and summer fun. It was a great day; the sun was shining, students from different unis mixed really well and we recorded some valuable insight. Keep your eyes peeled for a video report of that at our conference! Here are a few photos:
Next, we wanted to share Tiffany’s thoughts on her last three years at university:
My three years at Leeds University have been utterly transformative. I literally feel as though I came in one end three years ago a completely different person to the one who has been chewed up and spat out again. Leeds has moulded me in so many ways.
Firstly, in the most literal, visceral and unfortunate of ways, there’s that uni weight. I survive on takeaways, and eating out, and trips to burger joints. So many burger joints. Once illicit treats, now readily available and delivered straight to your door. Secondly, and most importantly, Leeds has changed the way I view the entire world. Before, I was the poster child for the apathetic, millennial youth that have come to define a generation. Now I have the strongest belief system, I believe in pluralism, I believe in democracy, and I believe in feminism. Before uni, these were almost dirty words. Words to which I found no association. Now, they, among many others, shape who I am, and I am so so grateful.
Other than changing who I am as a person: both corporeally and intellectually, Leeds has also given me my best friends. I’ve spent three years living with the same people, and they are the best people. We’ve been burgled together. Stumbling home at 3am to discover no laptops, no TV and three police officers, whilst smelling faintly of cheap perfume, Marlborough lights and tequila, is one hell of a bonding experience. We have done so much together: help shut down a burglary ring, downed so many tequila shots and then some more tequila shots. But ultimately, what we spent most of our time doing was nothing. The difficulty arises with trying to articulate or even to define the friendships that develop from hours and hours of doing nothing together. Of just wanting to be together, but not necessarily having to say anything. The ease of friendship that develops between housemates is incomparable and that’s what I will miss most about university. I love Leeds: irrevocably, irreversibly, irretrievably. Which is essentially just my obnoxious way of saying that it’s a part of who I am now, and there’s no chance of that ever changing.
University is such a formative time for students and it shapes who they become in the future, what they believe in, what they stand for, where their loyalties lie. What an amazing group of people to work with and have influence on our work!
Lastly, a few of the Insight Leaders wanted to share a photo that represents their time at uni:
Radina: Here is a picture that sums up uni for me: our beautiful campus which holds so many beautiful memories. The time of the year when we have flowers around is my favorite.
Holly: I’ve taken a picture of my computer, because my entire university life revolved around it. I find it difficult to work in the library so my computer is where I wrote my dissertation and over 20 pieces of coursework. It’s where I revised for 6 exams. I used it to Skype my mum when I was homesick. I used it to apply for my job at Magpie, and 13 jobs since finishing university. It’s also where I took breaks from uni work, for playing games, socialising on Facebook and writing my blog. I used it to watch TV shows and procrastinate from doing any work. I used it to book holidays and concert tickets to give myself a break or a treat. It’s been a pretty important part of my university life, and while it’s still here and serving me well, it really does sum up uni for me.
Tiffany: This is me, in the micro film store, in my favourite library in the university. The microfilm store is basically a huge collection of archived historical sources that have been painstakingly transferred onto film for ease of access. This was one of my favourite places in the whole of university, as a history student to be surrounded by that amount of primary source material was insane. It was also in a tiny corner of the library, the room was always empty and even though I know other people used it, it almost felt like my own personal area. On top of all this, I spent a significant portion of time in here when I was writing my dissertation, it almost came to define that period for me, and writing my dissertation almost came to define my entire university experience. But, most of all, I always just felt that the microfilm store was so incredibly cool!
It’s been quite emotional writing that! Whilst 5 of the Insight Leaders are graduating, Magpie has not grown out of insight. We will be recruiting 5 more Insight Leaders in September to join Tommy, who will be going into her final year. Until then, have a lovely summer.
