A recap by Jodie

We were so excited to hold our first national in person event in over a year and a half! Our pizza in the park event brought nearly 100 Jewish students to Hendon park to enjoy food, good tunes and (of course) great company. 

This was a great chance for students, who have been studying online for the past year, to meet other Jews from their campus and other universities across the UK. It was wonderful to see reunions of old friends, and new connections being forged. After a difficult and challenging year for sixth formers, it was really uplifting to see incoming freshers meet students from the universities they will be studying at.

Sponsored by Public Health England, the event featured an artist who created a mural for students to tap into their creative side and express their emotions about studying and living through a pandemic. As well as providing an opportunity for students to talk to a mental health professional about how the pandemic has affected them. 

This event was part of a wider series called 'London, You Good?', which aimed to bring young people together to chat about the pandemic. At our event, we started some great conversations about vaccination, and were delighted to see that all of our students had made an effort to get one, if not both of their vaccines. We will hopefully continue some of these conversations as we move further out of the pandemic and return to normal life. 

This is only the start of our plans for the upcoming year and we can't wait for you to see what we have in store! As we move into freshers and beyond, we are excited to meet all of you and start our programming for 2021-22!