Whether you’re coming into Cardiff Met fresh out of school or college, or you’re re-entering education as a mature student – get ready to fasten your seat belts because your time at university will fly by.
As much as your degree will be a priority, uni life is also all about soaking up every opportunity available to develop yourself as a person, but to also – have fun! As a first year student now going into my second year, trust me when I say joining student societies are a great way of doing this. Each society offers something unique in their own specialty, but joining the Islamic society (ISoc) is a place where I was able to experience a wide range of opportunities in a variety of fields.
Cardiff Met’s ISoc is one of the oldest and most diverse student societies at the university. Being part of this family will have you leaving uni with memories of banter, life-long relations and not to mention a bank full of accomplishments on your CV.
So, what makes them the most active society at Cardiff Met?
Here are five reasons that should give you good insight into what we stand for and the incredible work the team gets up to:
1) We are inclusive.
Diversity is our priority and it’s what unites us as a student society. Catering (non-exclusively) to Muslim students involves providing for and understanding students from all backgrounds and ages.
Our committee this year alone is made up of an array of home and international students from different study years.
“I joined Cardiff Met ISoc in my second year of university because I didn’t feel like I belonged in any of the other student societies. As an international student, I was alone in a new environment and sought a safe space where I could be myself, practice my faith, and meet new people – and I wanted to help create this safe space for other Muslim students.” Hajra, ISoc president 2013/14
This year, the ISoc have a range of plans in store from hosting an international food day to a collaborative art exhibition displaying Cardiff’s diversity. Collaboration and uniting people from various communities and universities is part of what we do, so if you feel that this is something you would like to be part of, then this is the society for you!
2) We are charitable.
Did you know that last year we raised almost £5,000 for charity in just one week?
One of the busiest times in the ISoc calendar is our popular charity week, which takes place near the end of October. Camping, bucketing, cake sales, auctions – you name it, we organise it. It’s a jam-packed line up, that also involves some competition against ISocs from other universities across Wales and West England in raising as much money as possible.
Raising money for charity doesn’t stop at charity week. We carry out activities throughout the year that go towards local and international projects, as well as taking part in the annual ‘Believe and Do Good Campaign’. This is our chance to give back to the community by carrying out litter pick ups, donating blood, carrying out random acts of kindness and more!
3) We are fun.
Sometimes, when deadlines may be getting quite stressful and you just want to kick back and have some fun, there is no limit to what we offer and the things we get up to as a society.
Whether you’re into adventuring, movie nights, dinners, tours, gaming, food crawls and much more – our goal is to offer memorable experiences that you can take away from your university experience without feeling left out.
“Personally, the ISoc exposed me to a range of personalities and cultures that I would not have come across had I stuck to simply attending lectures. These people went on to become good friends.” – Iman, ISoc President 2014/15
4) We are award-winning.
In the past, we have been awarded for our commitment and contributions. Through hard work, faith and determination we aim to empower and elevate our society members into being recognized for the time and efforts they invest. It’s also a great way to get something on your CV, walking away knowing that you have been part of something great.
5) We are educating and building communities.
As a society we aim to educate, inform and spark conversation. It may be through arranging informative workshops, hosting educational exhibitions or coming up with creative ways to engage with the wider public. In a testing time where Muslims are faced to deal with negative stereotypes, a large part of what we do is to make students feel confident within their identity and it is through education we do that.
This year once again, we will be taking part in two campaigns to strengthen our communities, Islamophobia Awareness Month and Discover Islam Week.
University will introduce you to people from all kinds of backgrounds and beliefs, our Discover Islam Week invites safe spaced discussions and people to ask questions about our faith and why we practice certain things the way we do.
Balancing faith and studies at times can be challenging and it is something we offer in helping Muslims students advice and help with. So, this year we are introducing weekly Islamic workshops, halaqas and tajweed classes on campus after lecture hours. We also regularly post motivating Islamic reminders and informative articles on our social media in efforts of finding ways to get closer to Allah.
For our new Muslim students coming to Cardiff Met for the first time in 2017 we are also excited to announce the launch of our ‘Cardiff Met Muslim Pocket Guide’ including everything you need to know from prayer rooms on campus to Halal places to eat included.
We provide a platform for students to develop spiritually, professionally and academically.
This is why we believe we are the most active society on campus.
So, what are you waiting for? – Join the family!