Whyalla Student Rep

Report to Members

Hello everyone! I am the Whyalla Student Representative for USASA this year. My name is Lilly Henwood, I am a third-year primary education (honours) student, and this is my first term on the board. I’m super excited to be in this role and look forward to getting to know everyone.

For the returning students, welcome back, and to our new students, welcome to UniSA! You’ve chosen a great year to start studying as we celebrate the last year of UniSA before the new university rolls around next year!

One of my goals for this year is to establish a club presence here in Whyalla. You will have received multiple emails from our Regional Student Support and Project Officer, Simone Purdie, about a book and movie club. Please check your emails and respond — we would love to get as many people involved as possible in this initiative! Don’t worry if you're not a bookworm or regular moviegoer because we also plan to establish a Whyalla Social Club. This club would allow us to host more events and provide a stronger social community for local students.

As amazing as this sounds, we need support from all of you to make these clubs happen. The most important thing we need to get started is students volunteering to sit on the club committees. Each club needs at least three committee members: a Chair, a Secretary, and a Finance Officer. Don’t worry if you don’t have experience — support will be available to guide you, and you'll gain lifelong skills from participating!

We’ve also recently launched a study group that meets every Monday at 6 PM in the ICC building (except public holidays). To make this group successful, we’d love to see as many students as possible attend — the more members who participate, the more we can offer during these sessions!

If you have any questions or suggestions about what you'd like to see happening at Whyalla Campus, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Henla002@mymail.unisa.edu.au.

Summary of Activities

• January 7 – Catch up with board president
• January 29 – Board Retreat
• January 30 – Board Retreat
• January 30 – Board Meeting
• February 4 – Charter meeting with Benjamin Johnson, USASA Aboriginal Student Representative
• February 4 – Catch up with Regional Student Support and Project Officer (Simone Purdie)
• February 4 – Catch up with Education Coordinator Whyalla (Sharron Jones)
• February 5 – Meeting with Bridget, USASA Governance Staff Member
• February 12 – Board Symposium
• February 18 – Food Pantry Meeting with Rhiannon Mercurio, USASA and Simone Purdie
• February 18 – Board Meeting (Online)
• February 19 – Discussion with Rotary Club of Whyalla
• February 19 – Charter meeting with Benjamin Johnson and Yeshiah Varona
• February 24 – Charter meeting with Benjamin Johnson and Yeshiah Varona

Report to Members

Hello Students of UniSA! March has been one busy month out here in Whyalla! Right at the end of February we held our Orientation event which was very successful! It was fantastic to meet some of the students commencing their studies this year. Thank you to the fabulous staff of UniSA who made the event happen and to those who travelled from Adelaide to join us!

March saw the completion of our updated USASA space! The space looks fabulous and it's great to have students back in there. If you haven’t stopped by yet, the USASA space is on the second floor of the main building and is a perfect spot to grab a quick snack between classes or to catch up with friends and get some study done. Speaking of studying, our regular Monday study group—although small—is going strong. Stop by in the ICC sometime after 6 PM to build some motivation by studying with peers!

March also saw our first Whyalla Campus event: the Paint and Sip Night. It was fantastic to see so many people attend, and a huge thank you to Simone, Amanda, and the team for organising such an awesome event for Whyalla students. On behalf of the students, we are very grateful for the hard work you put into events like these.

Uni Vibe was another highlight event this month. A big thank you to Oliver and Prashant from USASA who joined us in Whyalla. Huge thanks as well to all UniSA staff and the stallholders who came out to campus to promote services in the region. It was thanks to each and every one of you that we were able to host such a magnificent event to celebrate the start of the year. I greatly enjoyed chatting with UniSA students at the event and look forward to seeing more of you at future events!

To finish, I’d like to update students on the Whyalla Social Club. We are making progress and hope to start getting members signed up over the next month. I’m also very pleased to share that a few people have expressed interest in helping with the committee. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, please reach out—we would love a few more volunteers! Being on the committee gives you valuable experience in event organising, and the skills you gain will look fantastic on a resume. If you're interested, get in touch and we can chat about what a role might look like. We’d also love your ideas for future events—feel free to email your suggestions!

Summary of Activities

• February 27 – Orientation Whyalla
• March 4 – Meet a Mentor Event
• March 5 – Meet a Mentor Event
• March 11 – Paint and Sip Evening
• March 19 – Uni Vibe Whyalla
• March 26 – Club Meeting (attended with Simone and Lauren)
• March 26 – Deputy Premier Whyalla Visit

Report to Members

Hello Students of UniSA! April saw the end of the first half of Study Period 2 for many students and welcomed in a much-needed break. I hope everyone has enjoyed their time off.

During this month, I have been working hard to get the Whyalla Social Club up and running — and now students can officially join! To join, just follow this link: https://usasa.sa.edu.au/clubs/join/7641/, log in with your UniSA account, add the membership to your cart, and check out. Membership is completely free, and being part of the club means more exciting events on campus throughout the year. Remember: the more members we have, the more we can do!

An exciting part of launching the club is designing its logo. We know we have many talented artists in our community, so I’d like to open a callout to students to create the logo. The design should represent our campus, our community, and the purpose of the club — providing a space for students to interact and connect with one another.

Lastly, I’d like to let everyone know that I’ll be away on placement for six weeks starting mid-May. While I’ll continue to attend meetings and respond to emails, I won’t be physically present on campus as my placement is out of town. Since the placement is in a school, I’ll be unavailable during school hours, so please reach out if you’d like to meet after hours. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and I remain committed to helping students during this time as best I can.

Summary of Activities

• April 1 – Board Meeting
• April 9 – Club Meeting about Whyalla Social Club
• April 14 – Cultural Awareness Training
• April 14 – Meeting with YOUX
• April 22 – Board Meeting
• April 29 – Board Meeting

Report to Members

Hello students of UniSA! With placement beginning to come to an end, I’ve been as busy as ever — but progress continues with the Whyalla Social Club. After our first club meeting last month, we now officially have our executive committee! 🎉

With the committee formed, we’ve begun the process of training and learning how to best manage the club. We’re excited to start hosting events soon, so keep an eye out around campus. If you have any ideas or suggestions for activities, feel free to send me an email!

As always, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out. Good luck with your studies, and you’ll hear from me again next month!

Summary of Activities

• June 24 – USASA Board Meeting