Happy Chinese New Year! Wish the year of goat will be a fruitful and happy year for all of you!

If you are a student at University of Surrey, you will automatically become a member of University of Surrey Students’ Union (USSU). USSU offers over 100 clubs and sports societies that you can join and involve with. As Hong Kong students, apart from joining societies that interests you; it’s also a good idea to involve in societies that are run by and for Hong Kong students.

Apart from student ambassador, I am also the president of Hong Kong Public Affairs and Social Services Society (HKPASS). Unlike HK society, we mainly focus on the academic side such as debates and discussion forums regarding Hong Kong current issues, as well as some volunteering works and fund raising events.

(Surrey HKPASS committee 2014-2015)

Surrey HKPASS was established in May, 2014. However, the first PASS society was started in LSE 14 years ago and there are currently more than 15 PASS societies across the country. In this year, we involved and took part in lots of event, both externally and internally.

During the summer holiday, we helped in the pre-departure receptions for new students and participated in education fairs to answer applicants’ questions. Also, we hosted a freshers’ dinner to give out more information to freshers, also to provide a platform for them to socialise and meet their first friend from Surrey!

(Freshers’ Dinner)

After we went back to the UK, our role of raising awareness of Hong Kong current affairs and serving the public did not stop. In freshers’ fayre, apart from asking people to sign up as members, we also gathered signatures regarding the use of disproportionate violence against unarmed protectors during umbrella revolution in Hong Kong. We also managed to recruit sub-committee members to join our big family.

(Freshers’ Fayre and petition)

Besides, we also raised funds for our beneficiary, World Vision, through charity sale and Second Hand Book selling. At the same time, we promoted Chinese culture through selling Chinese food and provided a platform for students to trade their unwanted old books to people who can make use of it.

And of course, our flagship event, “Surrey Hunt: Stag in da house”.

(Surrey Hunt: Stag in da house! Poster)

In this event, there were different checkpoints and task with fun yet educational games regarding Hong Kong housing problems. Participants were made to face different real-life problems and make decisions which simulate the real situations in Hong Kong. We are also honoured to have participants coming from other universities to join our flagship event.

(Participants from Surrey and other Universities)

We also joined various external events host by other PASS societies such as the Cambridge Quiz, Bristol Inter-University debate competitions, etc. These events did not only widen our horizons of different subjects, it also provided us a chance to visit other cities and universities.

(Cambridge Quiz and Surrey’s Team)

While it is not possible to list everything we did throughout the year, it was indeed a memorable and enjoyable year working with my other 5 committee members as well as our lovely sub-committees. Despite all the frustrating moment we had, our experiences gained from running Surrey HKPASS are definitely fulfilling and worthy.