We kicked things off with an enormous O-Week. With over 100,000 bright-eyed peeps visiting Kensington and Paddington campuses to immerse themselves in student life. Movie night, comedy gala, live music and our Deep Sea Party all sold out in a flash. The Yellow Shirts oriented 3500 freshers - setting the scene for an exciting year ahead. 

Our 292 Clubs & Societies continued to be the best way to try something completely new, go exploring, get a cheap sausage, make a some great mates, and then grab a few bevvies with them. We did the monster Clubs Mashup 4 times with marvellous success bringing your favourite Clubs & Societies together in funky fresh ways. Full credit to PokéSoc who have been catching them all since before virtual Charizards were being spotted on Quad Lawn. We also had 28 new Clubs join the ranks including (warning graphic content) Graphic Design Society and the ever-unfolding Origami Society.

Roundhouse was the home of pumping parties with 4 huge chances for you to hit the dance floor in Sem 1. The Last Round was a week-long-roller-disco-Hot-Dub-Time-Machine-End-Of-Session-Party-extravaganza that saluted a temporary close of Roundhouse for renovations. The old gal is getting a much-needed facelift and will be back in 2017 bigger, better than ever (but with the same amount of roundness, obviously). In the meantime, we’re still a-Round with Pop-Up Bar where cheap drinks and yummy eats are all the rage. Keep it on the down-low, but something new to turn your mates green with envy is coming next year too ;)

Arc Sport bolted into this Olympic year by standing atop the podium at both Eastern Unigames and Snow Unigames. We also sent swell teams to Indigenous Unigames and Australian Unigames where we opted to give the other universities a chance. Over 1000 students ran, jumped, kicked and colour-ran their way through Festival of Sport, and plenty more got their sweat on with Social Sport and Dance Courses. 

Volunteering saw the arrival of Arc Goes To… who adventured in Sydney and beyond; Blitz Radio spiced up your airwaves; e-Reuse repurposed your exploding Samsungs; and the Wellness Warriors kept you sane when uni got tough. We also partnered up with UNSW Innovations to launch the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Fund and FounderLab so our budding entrepreneurs can get cash and expert advice. 

Students made meaningful contributions through Global Village in Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. Walama Muru volunteers helped the community at Bwgcolman (Palm Island) with sports programs and painting their facilities. Both of these programs worked tirelessly to fundraise with bake sales, trivia nights and chocolate drives. #Mmm!

The festivities flowed with Welcome Back Day, , Artsweek, Springfest, and double doses of Stress Less Week. We had Flea Markets, International Night Markets and Pop-Up Pictures - a brand new outdoor cinema for UNSW. We launched How To Make in our shiny Clubs Space so you could learn a new skill in your lunch break. And our premier leadership course Leadership Labs enabled 80 students to stand out from the crowd.

Art & Design flourished with Arc securing sparkly new murals to enliven Paddington Campus. The Kudos Emerging Artist + Designer Award celebrated UNSW student work with the ultimate prizes to the sublime Sabella D’Souza. We had 7 finalists in the National Campus Art Prize, and Moon Hee Kim cleaned-up as 2D and Overall Winner. Arc also trail blazed more cross-campus collaboration with Brightside mentoring visiting Kensington for Artsweek, and the UNSWeetened Launch Party going off at Paddington.

Arc Legal & Advocacy teamed up with the SRC to deliver care packs and crisis accommodation to students who came across tough times. They produced even more online resources so that you have the knowledge to avoid tricky legal or academic situations.

We capped off the year with our inaugural Phil’ Fun-A-Thon where 120 students and staff moved continuously for 24 hours to fundraise for Child Life and Music Therapy at Sydney Children’s Hospital. With special guests Sunrise getting us grooving early and Sydney FC kicked off the good times. With their help, we raised over $33,000!

For those of you who are leaving UNSW this year we bid you a heartfelt farewell and hope that your future is bright. It’s been awesome having you around the last 3 (4? 5? 6?!) years. You can come to Arc Reception and get your Associate Membership which lasts a lifetime. Associate Members keep getting plenty of Arc perks even once they’ve flown the Arc nest!

For those of your back next year, get pumped! There is so much to look forward to. We’ve got big plans to make your student experience the time of your life. Roundhouse will be renovated and have a massive housewarming party. More Clubs & Societies supported by Arc will be keeping student life vibrant and rich. There will be more Social Sports on offer, and more opportunities to ramp up your resume with volunteering. Last but not least, in 2017 Arc @ UNSW will be celebrating our 10th birthday, so keep your eyes peeled for your invitation to our b’day bash.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook for updates about when you can come in and renew your membership and pick up your pack full of goodies.  

Thanks to everyone for an Arc-mazing year. Thanks for being a part of UNSW Student Life!