Hey there again! I’m Elena, a second year Business Management student at Surrey. Today I’m going to talk about my experience in StagTV, Surrey’s award-winning, student-led TV station. We do videos and livestreams, and cover everything from presenting to producing.

I already knew of StagTV since researching the different unis I was interested in because I’d seen some of their Freshers’ videos – you can see the Freshers’ 2019 videos here and the 2020 ones here.

When Surrey accepted me, I was really excited and eager to start my uni life, so I started looking at all the different clubs and societies available to get an idea of what I’d be interested in. StagTV was still at the top of my list. I’ve always liked making videos as a hobby, so pursuing this at uni made sense.

When I arrived at my accommodation’s reception in the moving-in weekend of my First Year, I actually recognised someone from StagTV because I’d seen quite a few of their videos (Freshers’ and some others) before coming to uni. It’s funny how I was nervous back then (part of being a Fresher I guess) and thought it’d be weird to say hi (I didn’t) and now I’m good friends with them.

I approached StagTV at Freshers’ Fair. I knew I wanted to sign up, but it took me going through literally all of the other stalls to find them! My bad for not checking their Instagram (@stagtvsurrey) where they’d posted where they were.

My first StagTV social was a barbecue. Oh, those times without Covid. Hopefully we’ll get to that again soon. It was really nice and got to meet quite a lot of the members. Shortly after, they had a meeting where they explained everything StagTV did and showed other Freshers’ and I the office and some of the equipment they used. They also did a pub crawl with the other media societies (Stag Radio, The Stag) and Stage Crew. That was really fun and we ended the night dancing at Rubix. I really miss Rubix now!

Then, I joined StagTV for a Game Face video. Game Face is a series where people do different fun challenges. This was a halloween blindfolded makeup challenge. I did some filming for that one, so they showed me how to set everything up. I really enjoyed meeting new people that liked doing the same things as me.

Time flies, and it’s December 2019. We had Live From Studio X then. It’s an event that happens normally once or twice a year. Lots of bands and individual artists perform live at uni. You can either go watch it live or watch the livestream we produce. It is still incredible to me how it was fully student-made. I only saw part of the organisation, and I can tell you it takes a lot of time, hard work and passion to do something like that. I’ve got so much admiration for everyone that was involved. I can also tell you it’s an amazing feeling to be even just a small part of something so big like that. It’s wonderful how so many students from so many different degrees and societies come together to make something that good.

I also got to start a new video series in my first year! I had an idea and they helped me bring it to life! It was very exciting for me as I had never produced before. It’s called Culture Swap and it’s all about Surrey students from all over the world talking to each other about their culture and trying out new things.

I enjoyed my first year at StagTV so much I knew I wanted to be in committee this year. Some of the members and committee from last year encouraged me to run for Head of Marketing, which I did and now am. I enjoy what I do a lot, and it is also really helpful as it gives me useful experience. I am very proud of this society. Even with Covid, we’ve continued running weekly online meetings as a way for everyone to stay connected and in touch in such hard (and lonely) times. When restrictions allowed it, we also created some videos (always with the covid-safety measures in place) and we look forward to working on more projects (covid-allowing) as restrictions ease and vaccines roll out.

This is my second year in StagTV and everyone continues to blow my mind every day with their passion, knowledge and perseverance. A big thank you to everyone in the society for everything you do.

You can do so many things and learn so much at StagTV! Plus, you can also meet a whole bunch of lovely people. If you think you’d like to join us, send us a message on our Facebook or Instagram! We’ll be more than happy to help!