Hosting a Freshers’ Getaway

If you’re part of a larger CU, you might consider hosting a freshers’ getaway – a unique pre-term retreat specially designed for new students, similar in flavour to a CU weekend away. Freshers’ getaways are normally held in September, just before freshers’ week.

The vision of a freshers’ getaway is to help new students build friendships with one another and with returning students, and to explore what it’s like living and speaking for Jesus at university. It’s also a great time to explain what the CU is all about, and how everyone can be involved. Here are some components to include:

• Time in Scripture and in corporate worship – with plenty of emphasis on why Jesus is worth following! You might want to include time in small groups too. Don’t assume that everyone at the freshers’ getaway is a Christian.
• Relationship building and fun – allow plenty of time for this! Include a mix of organised activities and space for unplanned ones. It’s the strength of the relationships that new students build (both with other new students and with returning CU members) which keeps many involved throughout their time at uni.
• Practical seminars – including advice and help for making the most of the first few days and weeks of uni. Some CUs have run workshops on Uncover seeker studies. Question panels made up of returning students and UCCF staff are also popular. At some point, pitch a vision for what CU involvement could look like.
• Time with church reps – you could invite student workers from your city to some or all of the getaway. This helps new students start thinking about where they might settle at church even before they arrive.

If you are thinking about hosting a freshers’ getaway, here are some things to think about:

• Recruitment. Making contact with new students is a challenge. Feature your freshers’ getaway clearly online, from results day onwards. It’s also helpful to think about how you can invite students coming to your uni at summer conferences and festivals. Why not encourage churches in your city who hear about new students to point them towards your freshers’ getaway too? Freshers’ getaways are often relatively small for the first year or two, but in time you may find it’s possible to recruit more than half of the Christian students coming to your uni.
• Venue. Think carefully about where to host your getaway. Given that new students will need to make their own way there, it’s sensible to make it accessible to a railway station and roughly central to where they might be travelling from. If your CU draws students from across the country, you’re probably better going for a central venue than one close to the city in which your uni is based.
• Budget. Chat with your Staff Worker about putting a budget together. You may want to use general CU funds to subsidise the event, especially as you may not want to charge returning students the full rate (given that they may have been at Forum just beforehand).
• Team. Think about who you’ll need to make the getaway work. You’ll probably want a couple of people heading up the organisation of the event (this could be two students on CU committee), as well as a couple of cooks. Think about who could lead worship, and go for a speaker who knows university life well and who can speak into the lives of Christian and non-believing new students. You may also want to set aside a couple of returning CU members as ‘fun coordinators’, whose sole job is to organise bonding activities and generally be a friendly presence among the new students.

Chat with your Staff Worker about whether your CU could host a freshers’ getaway.