While physical end-of-term events have been paused, colleges have been planning their own activities to help students stay connected.

County College planned a Summer Sofathon, open to all students, to raise money for the Albert Kennedy Trust.

It included game-show style games, quizzes, bingo, and Lancaster’s Got Talent, and followed online events and wellbeing posts on social media, organised by the college to help and support students during the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.

County College JCR President India Ellis said: “As soon as the University announced the early end to Lent Term, and that Summer Term would take place online, we decided as a JCR that it was now more important than ever to stay present on social media and keep students engaged in their community. When we received the news about the cancellation of Extravs, we felt passionately about still being able to provide students with an exciting end of term event to fill that gap in all our social calendars!”

The Sofathon took place over two evenings in June, live streamed for all students to join in.

India added: “The idea came about mainly from other events we had been running throughout lockdown. Since the Easter holidays, we had been running our Quarantine Quiz, which proved hugely successful throughout, bringing in up to 130 viewers at its most popular! The Summer Sofathon was essentially an extension of how successful the weekly quiz had been, using what we had learnt from running this event and turning it into a full weekend of events which students could get involved with in many ways. Some definite highlights from the Sofathon would be the Bingo which was hosted by Lydia and Liz from the comfort of a ball pit, and of course our special edition Quarantine Quiz which had rounds based on the County Extrav themes of the past 6 years.”

County College Principal Dr Karen Grant said: “The County College JCR demonstrated their innovation, resilience and adaptability in the way that they responded to lockdown – they quickly mobilised to arrange a range of online events and activities to help support County students during these uncertain and worrying times.

“They very quickly arranged a weekly quarantine quiz, which was enthusiastically adopted by students and became a weekly feature of lockdown. They supplemented the weekly quiz with wellbeing-orientated posts and other activities (JCR recommendations for books to read, films to watch, VTs about kindness, Netflix movie nights, using Netflix Party, a sponsored exercise challenge in honour of Pride month) all aimed at helping students cope with life under lockdown. Their efforts culminated in the Summer Sofathon with an evening of activities to engage and entertain students.

“On behalf of all students in the County College, I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude for all their hard work and ingenuity. Well done!”