On Friday 17th October, Arc hosted the Arc Annual Dinner. Annual Dinner is the pinnacle Arc event celebrating all things student life. In attendance are student program officers and student-staff, Yellow Shirts Organising Team, Arc Board Directors, SRC, PGC, Arc staff and colleagues from across UNSW.
Over the evening guests enjoyed highlights from Arc Sport's recent UniSport Nationals triumphs, heard from international student Yashvi about her experience with Place 2 Be and Arc Wellness; and reconnected with Life Members and Alumni.
Deftly hosted by Stephanie Baris in her fourth year of MC duties, guests were treated to some quickfire trivia (including "How long is the Village Green measured in lengths of Professor Atilla Brungs?"). They were also serenaded by UNSW Vocallective and entertained by UNSW K-Pop Society.
The evening gives Arc the opportunity to formally acknowledge the contributions of students and staff. CEO of Arc, Shelley Valentine thanked outgoing Arc Board Directors Oscar Iredale, Oliver Pike, Ella Davidson, Mariam Reza, Tony Le, Michael Rahme.
Oscar Iredale handed the metaphorical Chairpersonship baton to Aania Cheema, a third year Psychological Science student. Aania's leadership will usher in the new Arc Strategic Plan (2026-2028) and she gave the audience a teaser of the focus areas including wellbeing, cost of living and belonging.
For the first time this year, Arc also recognised the contributions of student-staff and professional staff with the Arc Staff Excellence Awards. Nominated by peers and selected by staff panel, the recipients included Krishna Kemba Lalasa who has grown the Arc Food Hub significantly. Livingstone Auelua was also award Student-Staff Excellence Award for his ongoing leadership with Arc Sport.
Arc professional staff were recognised and celebrated equally with Michael Ta and Tiera Boogaard recognised for their exceptional work in Corporate Services and Marketing respectively.
The highest honour of the evening is the Heinz Harant Award which recognises an exceptional volunteer. Previous winners include such Arc legends as Leigh Dunlop, James Yau and Miles Portek. In 2025, the Heinz Harant was awarded to Matthew Ng who has made outstanding contributions to Yellow Shirts and UNSW Law Society.
