ASA News

Thanks to the committee for the previous grant, the Japanese Club had a successful Onigiri Making Event! We were able to create an event in which students could take part in making their own Onigiri. Onigiri is a traditional Japanese rice ball that has been consumed for generation. It was a great time as people could enjoy eating something they themselves had a part in creating. The grant was successfully used in buying the ingredients for the event.

The Japanese club still continues to grow and meets bi-weekly for an array of different activities organised by the executives. We wish to continue to create more fun activities that become great memories for the members.

We received a grant and have booked twice weekly pratice sessions at the nets in the recreation centre. There's been an received excellent response with keen interest and steadily growing attendance as we lead up to the cricket season. We intend to field a Massey University Cricket Team under the TDCC banner and most importantly have some fun!

At the AGM on 26th July, the executive announced a changed to the executive structure, honoraria payable and election timeframe. More info: 
https://asa.ac.nz/executive/elections 

Check out the Snow Club!!

Our latest newsletter is packed full with all you need to know for the first 6 weeks of semester.  Read it here.

We farewelled Jordan Anderson at the end of semester one and we wish him well in his new graduate position in the real world. We welcome Angela King and Michyla Nixon to our team from Monday 17th July. 

General executive members Mooskaa Khattak and Ryan Aston have resigned from the ASA executive team as at the end of semester one.  These positions will be filled as part of the 2018 executive election.

Massey University and ASA has supported Massey University Badminton Club (MUBC) through many ways. Grant application approval every semester greatly helps in running the club. MUBC was able to order the amount of shuttlecocks necessary to play for one whole semester. The members were excited and enthusiastic to join MUBC and attend regularly due to the constant availability of shuttles that meet their standard and expectation. We are looking forward for the upcoming semesters for new members, be it beginners or expert to join our badminton club. Many beginner players has picked up their skills and rhythm for every games played. Players with more experience are also happy to give guidance to the beginners and we all  improve social and badminton skills together.

The students in our outdoor football team have been having fun, with a little bit of success too. They are through to the quarter finals in their cup draw, and this week won 7-0 in their league game.

For football fix term 2, Massey got to 3rd place in the mixed league after being knocked out in the semi-finals. This is the first time in the last two years we haven’t finished 1st, so hopefully we can win the trophy back this term.

We have provided a delicious Pizza lunch for our members at a club meeting in May, with our guest, Gavin Busch, who is a Financial Planner. The food added to our meeting and created an environment for questions and answers with Gavin, after the meeting concluded. Gift vouchers have been purchased from the grant funds. They will be awarded to particularly successful students with special achievements in the OMF c-trader competition, such as “most consecutive profitable trades”. The Prize-Giving takes place at our first meeting in semester 2. The screen wipes have contributed to a cleaner and more comfortable environment in the Trading Room.Thank you for supporting us in our endeavours as a Club.

Through the continued support of CSCG, the Massey University Rock Climbing Club (MUARCC) has been extremely successful in providing a fun, social and energetic weekly climbing experience to the students of Massey University throughout semester one. Over this period we have seen many of our member’s progress in leaps and bounds, from noobies through to two of our members recently passing their lead licence exams. We owe this success to our tight knit group of passionate student climbs who are always more than eager to head to the gym or outdoors to teach their comrades the ropes.

Thanks to the grant given by the ASA, MUFF was able compete in the Kohi Autumn League. Joining the league gave the club members the well needed experience required to take their skills to the next level. The club enjoyed competing in this league and we are looking forward to participate in upcoming leagues/tournaments.

Thanks to the R4 grant, the Get-together Study Group ended up as a success.  As a club, we felt the need to interact with the club members and support each other in study, through sharing own particular study regimen. Apart from that, thanks to the grant we were able to provide savory snacks to ward off hunger pangs while studying and enticed people to join us. There were 10 club members who studying different courses attended this event. All the club members including a senior student who had graduated presented in time. We brought own lecture notes and notebook. In the first ½ hour, each of us had a chance to voice our confusion, issues or problems that we were having with the study materials. We took turn ‘presenting’ the problems and all the members had contributed own suggestions and ideas to address the issues/problems. The rest of the time we reviewed our own notes. Senior student had provided us unique insights and some techniques to attempt exam questions. All the club members were committed to help and encourage each other. As we were working together, it made learning much more fulfilling and enjoyable. Lastly, we are really grateful towards ASA for approving this grant application for round 4. It created the bridge to give and receive motivation and support from the group members.

Students studying the same subjects were able to exchange notes and study tips and 2nd/3rd year students were able to give advice to 1st year students. It was a very successful event with the members who attended feeling that it was very helpful and showing interest in MACS holding more study groups in the future. MACS also held an end of semester lunch at The Ferguson Bar with pizza and snacks provided so they could talk to the members who had attended events this semester and ask them what they enjoyed and wanted to see more of. The event was very successful with the majority of MACS members attending and contributing ideas for what they would like to see from MACS in the future. These were both successful events are helping MACS in creating an impacting and sustainable club. 

MUA Yoga lounge hold a weekly session every Wednesday from 12.30 to 1.30pm. They practice yoga, meditation or host a speaker who gives balanced healthy lifestyle advice. After the session, they share a nutritious homemade vegetarian lunch. This sharing of food not only nourishes the body, but gives students time to form friendships and community thus helping reduce stress and promote a healthy mind.  In March, the club held a lifestyle management seminar, “Success fever”. Over 30 students attended, many of them new to Yoga Lounge. They are planning to cater for 50 students next time. The club have more recently held popular events leading up to and including study week, these included yoga and stress less meditation sessions all followed by lunch.

The grant contributing to the cost of 9 of our members attending the weekend retreat AMPED with the wider Auckland campuses enabled the club to have a successful event. We had whole lot of fun and have seen greater weekly meetings attendees and participation. The general feedback from the members was they wish it was a longer time away. We are now looking forward to the conference coming up this mid-year break.

Club Meetings: We held two club meetings from the end of April to May, which were each attended by about 20 students and a few support staff. These meetings provided the opportunity to discuss local and world politics,  and to reflect on the speakers from previous events, Chloe Swarbrick, Green Party candidate and Amnesty International, and to get suggestions for potential speakers and future events, all over food of course!

Amnesty International: On the 4th of May Margaret Taylor from Amnesty International talked to us about human rights violations in New Zealand and abroad. She shared what Amnesty stands for/does, her journey into being a human rights activist and some issues that have struck her during her work. Twenty students engaged in discussion about human rights abuses around the world from Saudi Arabia to Russia to Rwanda. Issues in NZ such as the poverty line debate were also touched on. We thank Margaret again for her time. It was a very interesting and thought-provoking event. 

MUA Yoga Lounge had a table in the student hub area on Tuesday 9th May, during Spirituality Week and served free vegetarian healthy curry, rice and salad to over 100 students. They also handed out flyers to students when they got their meal promoting a free meditation seminar the following day and signed up many to their weekly e-mail list.

The cricket club is enjoying their new equipment purchased with the support of a club startup grant.  We now having playing equipment and protective equipment and  we invite all  members for a hit at the nets in the Recreation Centre from 4:30 – 5:30pm on any Friday (currently till the 3rd of June). 

With the continued support of CSCG grant committee, the Massey University Albany Rock Climbing Club is once again heading out on our weekly climbs to the Extreme Edge rock wall in Panmure. Securing the latest grants has allowed us to dramatically discount entry for our members. The jab to the wallet is now at the point where a night of fun and exertion is on par with a pint of Guinness in the pub. We hope to see even more happy new faces as the semester progresses!