Events
Campus Connect adds vibe! We organise events that bring students together and focus on connection – with each other and with the local area. Which means you'll see aspects of Frisian culture in a lot of the events we hold. Because, to be honest, we love showing off our fabulous province to our students, wherever you're from.
Of course we organise events for you, our students, but we also want to have impact on everyone on and around our campus. Which means we regularly hold events that bring students, campus partners and visitors, and local residents together.
Our interns from the Leisure & Event Management programme organise a range of activities, from creative workshops to bootcamps, poetry readings to Halloween parties. And there are regular annual events such as for Mental Health Week, the Summer Festival in June and the Winter Week in December.
A selection of our recurring events
Pre-intro activities
Lots of international students get to campus before the StudyStartWeek, the introduction week for students, begins in August. In those summer weeks, when you move into your student room and explore the city with family or friends, you start to find your feet in your new home. But as classes haven't yet started, the campus feels pretty quiet... but not in Cafe Brûze!
We put on all kinds of pre-intro activities so that you can get to know the campus, the uni, the city and local culture that will be your home for the next few years. In the two weeks before StudyStartWeek, Campus Connect puts on tours of the campus buildings, bouldering workshops at the climbing hall next to campus, and meet-ups like our Dutch Drinks where we serve classic Dutch and Frisian appetisers and you get to find out a bit about Frisian culture during our Frisian quiz.
Winter Week
Each Winter Week event is different. Last year we fixed an ice-skating rink and a curling lane on the campus square and organised a Christmas market. What does remain constant though is that there's always a campfire for roasting marshmallows, and the focus is on connection, bringing students together and meeting local residents and campus partners. We work with others when and where we can so that we can create meaning for our students and our environment.
Summer Festival
Our Summer Festival is another example of how we encourage connection. You can be wonderfully creative in Cafe Brûze with a range of summer workshops, learn the coolest skate tricks or dance while the sun goes down. Our interns put on a great programme each year.
Games afternoon
We hold a board games afternoon every Wednesday afternoon in Café Brûze. Sometimes, we lay out different games on the tables for everyone to try out, other times the games afternoon has a particular them or game as focus, like a jigsaw or the Catan game.
Whatever is being played, it's an easy way of meeting others and switching down with an offline activity.
Monthly Crafting
Every first Monday of the month, we get creative in Café Brûze. Following the seasons, there's flower art in the spring, pumpkin carving in autumn and candle decorating in the winter that help turn cold, rainy days into warm, cosy evenings.
Mental Health Week
With Mental Health Week, we join forces with NHL Stenden departments to work on student welfare and bring people together. We host various events throughout the week focused on mental health, such as workshops, yoga sessions, sports activities and games afternoons.