Freshers Newsletter

_collections/_news/2026-10-04-freshers-and-semester-1.md

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+layout: post
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+title: Fresher's & Semester 1 2026 - Welcome and What to Expect!
+thumbnail: /assets/images/2026/2026-freshers-lunch.jpg
+header-image: /assets/images/2026/2026-soc-night-1.jpg
+---
+Hello and welcome to everyone! CSS sincerely hopes you've had a great Fresher's at the university, 
+getting involved with lots of societies, events, and opportunities! We on committee have worked extremely 
+hard to make Fresher's a fantastic, unforgettable week for you, and from the pure engagement you'we've seen, 
+we think it's paid off! Of course, Fresher's is just the start of the plethora of things we have lined up 
+for this year, so read on and keep an eye out on our socials!
+
+## A Look Back at Fresher's Week
+
+Fresher's Week (and week 1) were jam-packed and we're so grateful it went so smoothly! 
+And of course, as is tradition, it started off with the beloved Board Games Night! As usual, we saw the 
+CS building fill up with people of all years come together to enjoy playing board games, meet new people, 
+and enjoy some free pizza (a common theme at our events, you'll soon come to notice). Whether you came out on 
+top as a chess champion, bankrupted all your friends in Monopoly, or successfully got enough laughs to be 
+the funniest in Cards Against Humanity, we loved seeing so many of you having fun and getting involved on the 
+first day! Even if I did lose every game I played :/ it was a lot of fun! And a big thank you to Tabletop Gaming 
+who ran some Blood on the Clocktower games, that proved very popular! If you enjoyed the event, keep an eye out 
+as in semester 2, we'll be running it again! And quickly, thinking of pizza, our own Secretary Henry has set up 
+the [CSS Pizza Statistics](https://cssbham.com/pizza) page so you can keep track of just how much pizza we end 
+up buying this year. Thanks Henry!
+
+Next up, we had lunch in the city centre at the wonderful Alfred Works food hall. After many years of declining 
+popularity, this year's new location brought in nearly double the attendees from last year! With my delicious 
+tacos still on my mind all this time later, I know I'm not the only one who had some thoroughly good food! 
+Whether you had Asian, Italian, American, or another great choice of food, we're glad the event was such a success!
+
+A new event for this year, the Fresher's Quiz proved extremely popular! With rounds themed around Computer Science, 
+the University, operating systems, and even famous Joes (I was honoured to be included), there really was something 
+for everyone to have a go at. And the scores were incredibly high! We were extremely impressed and proud of the 
+knowledge we saw! Although, to whoever thought that I, the Scrum Master, was Donald Duck... I'm not upset, 
+just disappointed. I joke, of course; I was actually surprised how many of you remembered me! It's been a pleasure 
+so far to have so many people recognise me and wave, say hi, or come for a chat; if you do see me around the CS 
+buidling, where I'm always working on my Ph.D., feel free to say hi and have a chat! The more excuses to not do work, 
+the better! Anyway, a final congratulations again to Team 0, who won the quiz, getting them CSS branded rubber ducks!
+
+Going into week 1, we ran our annual CS Societies Night, which was your chance to meet many Computer-related 
+societies and learn about what they do. A massive thank you to the fantatsic societies who attended:
+
+- [oSTEM](https://www.guildofstudents.com/organisation/ostem/)
+- [WiSE](https://linktr.ee/wise_uob)
+- [GDS](https://www.guildofstudents.com/organisation/gamesdevelopment/)
+- [VGS](https://linktr.ee/uobvideogames)
+- [UBRobotics](https://linktr.ee/UBRobotics)
+- [AFNOM](https://afnom.net)
+- [UBVR](https://www.guildofstudents.com/organisation/ubvr/)
+- [IBM Z](https://www.guildofstudents.com/organisation/ibmzsociety/)
+- [AlgoSoc](https://www.algosoc.uk/)
+- [CyberWomen](https://uk.linkedin.com/company/cyberwomen-birmingham)
+
+![UBVR at Societies Night](/assets/images/2026/2026-soc-night-2.jpg)
+
+And, of course, I go to finally wear the famous TeX costume, which looked much more enjoyable than AFNOM's monkey suit!
+
+![CSS TeX and AFNOM Monkey](/assets/images/2026/2026-soc-night-3.jpg)
+
+Finally, our last big event was Pub Night on Friday of Week 1, which saw us pile into The Soak Bar & Grill in Selly and 
+enjoy some delicious curries, and have a couple drinks to celebrate finishing the first week of lectures. So many people, 
+new and existing students, came along and made it a fantastic night - a great way to end out an incredible Fresher's! If 
+you enjoyed the pub night, we will be making them a regular event, with them happening every other week (the next 
+happening Friday week 3), so come along and chat, relax, and enjoy a couple drinks, whether alcoholic or not! 
+
+![Pub Night Start](/assets/images/2026/2026-fresher-pub-1.jpg)
+
+![Pub Night Later](/assets/images/2026/2026-fresher-pub-2.jpg)
+
+Throughout the week, we also had other smaller, but equally as important, events happening! Throughout the week, we had 
+our stall up in the CS atrium, at the Guild Societies Fair, the School of CS Fair, and the EPS Fair. We had such good 
+interest from you all, coming to chat, ask questions, start your TeX sticker collection, and join our socials! If you 
+haven't already, check out our website's [links page](https://cssbham.com/links) to join our Discord, WhatsApp, and 
+Instagram pages to get all the latest updates about upcoming events! We also ran the annual Scavenger Hunt around campus 
+for you to learn some fun facts about the place you'll study at for the next 3 (or more!) years, as well as earn a 
+special edition Old Joe TeX sticker to become the ultimate collector of our stickers. This year, we again saw more 
+interest than we've had for years, so thank you to everyone who participated! 
+
+Amongst everything that's happened, you may have noticed that we have a modded Java Minecraft server running! All 
+the details you need (server address, mod list, rules, etc.) are available on the Discord Minecraft channel. Whether 
+you play Minecraft all the time, or you've not played for years, this is a great chance to get stuck in, master magic, 
+build the most efficient Create machinery, or like me, just build pretty things! We hope to see some of you in the server!
+
+If you've enjoyed your time in CSS so far, and want to support us - along with getting many benefits - why not get 
+yourself a £5 membership at [cssbham.com/join](https://cssbham.com/join). The membership lasts for the whole year, 
+and gets you discounts on ticketed events, saving you money! It also gives you a pretty colour on our Discord 
+server, a free t-shirt (soon), and the ability to vote at our upcoming EGM. Still unsure? Well, your membership 
+goes straight to supporting the society, so we can pay for all the pizza, get you cool merch, and run incredible 
+events for you and your friends to enjoy whilst at uni! 
+
+## What's Coming Up in Semester 1?
+
+As usual, we have tonnes of events planned for you this semester on the run-up to Christmas, so let's tease some!
+
+Firstly, we have our Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in a couple weeks. The EGM is a meeting for people to run 
+for roles on committee, vote on the candidates, and propose constitutional amendments. This event requires attendees 
+to be members of the society, but it's a great chance for you to have a chance to say how CSS should be run, as well 
+as see some early access sneak peaks at events and, wait, tickets for events?! I wonder what event that will be! 
+The EGM will be in the Winifred Hackett Building on Wednesday 21st October from 1pm. If you're interested in 
+running or attending, keep an eye out on our socials for more information soon!
+
+Then, on Thursday 29th October at 7pm, we're running our Halloween Quiz; get dressed up in your halloween costume, 
+form a team, and enjoy more free pizza! Much like the Fresher's Quiz, we'll be running the quiz in the atrium in teams 
+of up to 6, and we'll have free pizza and alcohol on offer like Board Games Night. Perhaps most importantly, there 
+will be prizes! The winning team, and the best dressed, will all get prizes; however, we will have Halloween TeX 
+stickers available for all who participate in the quiz! Oh, and did I mention? We have guest rounds! A beloved 
+member of staff, and a beloved ex-secretary; what more could you want?
+
+Finally, our last big event of semester 1 is my personal favourite: the CSS Christmas Meal! Join us at the Green 
+Man in Harborne for delicious food, good vibes, and a celebration of semester 1. This event is ticketed, so keep 
+an eye out for when tickets release, to get yourself in on the fun! Of course, we highly recommend getting dressed 
+up in your best and ugliest Christmas jumpers (I'll be there in mine, and my Santa hat)! And it'll be your chance 
+to get your hands on the Christmas TeX sticker for your collection. The date and time will be revealed soon, so 
+keep your eyes peeled! 
+
+Besides our big events, we have plenty more on offer! Maybe you're an arcade bar fan, and are looking for a 
+reason to go to NQ64? Perhaps you're looking for a new society, and a collaboration would be the perfect chance 
+for you to find one? Or maybe, you're looking to learn a new skill? Well, we've got it all! NQ64 evening, 
+workshops, collabs, sponsor events, (did someone say mini hackathon?!), and a whole lot more! We'll announce 
+these events as we go through the year, but if you have more event suggestions, don't hesitate to reach out and 
+tell us! 
+
+Oh, and t-shirts! As you may have heard us say - and you've likely seen people wearing them - if you get the 
+membership for the society, you will get a free t-shirt. Now, we haven't forgotten, I promise! Issues at the start 
+of the year pertaining to funds (I don't know how Idris has managed the finances so well!) meant they were delayed, 
+however, they have been ordered and are on their way! The moment they arrive, we will be running a big collection 
+event in the CS building so you can come and collect the shirt, or buy a membership there and then to get one! 
+It even has our sponsors on the back.
+
+We are looking forward to seeing many of you continue to get involved in the society as we go through the year, 
+and we can't wait to run these events for you! 
+
+## WhatsApp
+
+This year, we decided to revive the WhatsApp community to make it the proper social it deserves to be! We now announce all 
+publicity from Discord on the WhatsApp too, and we have added plenty of new channels for you to find coursemates, chat 
+about work, and learn about our events! It's still brand new, but if you're not a Discord fan, then the WhatsApp might 
+be the place for you!
+
+## Memberships
+
+Finally, how are we doing with memberships?
+
+Well, with t-shirts being delayed, we understandably haven't broken any records yet, however, we reached over 200 
+members by the end of Fresher's, and we've been climbing every day! Below is the graph of Fresher's Week:
+
+![2026-Freshers-Graph](/assets/images/2026/2026-freshers-graph.png)
+
+We started off really strong with early renewals and early joiners, which was incredible to see! And yet, even without 
+t-shirts, we have been able to maintain a solid growth of memberships throughout the two weeks, which we're very happy 
+to see! 
+
+Want a membership? Looking to make your time at university better than ever? Then [cssbham.com/join](https://cssbham.com/join) 
+is the place to go! 
+
+## Sponsorships
+
+I would like to welcome our sponsors for this year! As always, we're excited to work with our sponsors throughout the year, so let's introduce them!
+
+- Capital One - Gold Sponsor
+- TPP - Silver Sponsor
+- Interrupt Labs - Bronze Sponsor
+
+We're very grateful for the support they're giving the society! If you're interested, keep an eye out for events, messages, and exciting opportunities from our sponsors!
+
+## Going Forward
+
+I just wanted to say one final thank you to you all for making 2026 Fresher's Week something I will never forget, and I 
+hope you all feel the same! Despite being my 3rd year on CSS committee, I've never been on committee during Fresher's, 
+and for my first Fresher's on committee to be as ~~President~~ Scrum Master is an honour! I've met so many incredible 
+people, been to all our fantastic events, and had an absolute blast. Maybe I'm exhausted, and maybe I've not done much 
+work on my Ph.D., but wow, it was worth it.
+
+So, if you're a Fresher, a student who's getting into CSS for the first time this year, or a long time supporter of the 
+society, I can't thank you enough for being here, participating in CSS, and having fun! 
+
+Also, I want to extend my thanks massively to my brilliant committee; without them, Fresher's simply would not be possible, 
+and the future events would be pretty lackluster! So, committee, whether you've done admin work, ran events, planned events, 
+worked behind the scenes, chatted to students on stands and at events, liased with the school, the uni, or the sponsors, or 
+something else, thank you so much! I see that this committee are extremely dedicated, hard-working people who just want the 
+best for CSS and our members, and that fills me with lots of hope for the coming academic year!
+
+Many thanks,
+
+Joe (He/Him), your CSS Scrum Master
+
+And the rest of committee <3