The End of An Era: 2018 Election

Today we hold our AGM for the 2018 ClasSoc committee. As the only remaining club founder, I wanted to reflect on what the committees of this club have achieved over 3 years, before I too bow out as the 2017 President.

When I helped found the UWA Classics Society with Susan Laidlaw, Milo Rengel and Chloe Gifford in 2015, I'm not sure what I expected out of running this club. At the time, I simply wanted to help Susan and Milo with their visions for the club and everything that they wanted it to be, in my role as Secretary. With the help of Chloe, we managed to get our new club up and running, with Susan as the first President, Milo as VP, myself as Secretary, and we welcomed Lavinia O'Belhans as our Treasurer at our very first AGM.

Our very first committee! Lavinia O'Belhans (Treasurer), Maddie Hutchison (Secretary), Milo Rengel (Vice-President), Susan Laidlaw (President)

At the end of that semester, we held our very first major event, a Toga Party! Over 3 years, we have also held two Quiz Nights, movie nights, bake sales, meet & greets, BBQ sundowners and ran tutoring sessions for all CLAN students. This semester, we also implemented our first student seminar series, which will hopefully continue next year, and plans are already in place for our new big event for 2018!

I was so incredibly lucky on being elected as 2017 President this year to be following in the footsteps of the incredible Susan (2015 President) and Milo (2016 President), and with the help of all of the committees, past and present. I truly hope that everything we have achieved so far has lived up to the expectations we started this club with. But at the end of the day, all that we truly wanted was to create a great social and academic space for those interested in Classics and Ancient History at UWA, and to hopefully help foster a vibrant community for students.

If we have achieved this in any small amount, and I think we have, then I'm happy to be leaving with this as our legacy. This afternoon at our AGM, the 2018 committee will be elected and announced, and I want to wish them good luck in furthering this club to reach its highest potential in the future. I will of course still act in the advisory role of Immediate Past President next semester, but after 3 years on committee and with life after university to look forward to, it is time to move on.

Not only is today our AGM, it is also the relaunch of our club website, and with it, this new blog for both the committee and club members to post original content. We've actually been planning to launch something similar since the club was first founded, and it is great to be a part of that. Club members wanting to contribute in the form of essays, reviews, travel articles, interviews etc are welcome to contact the committee. This website also contains information on our past and upcoming events, including a photo gallery to explore.

Before I sign off, I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed in making this club a success, particularly those on the committee from 2015-2017. I'd also like to personally thank my sisters, Nikki and Amy, for being my sounding boards for so many different event ideas and organisational details over the years. Thanks must also go to all of our past and present members for attending our events. We hope that you had a great time and continue to come along!

Finally, on behalf of every committee, I'd like to thank the Classics Department, in particular Lara O'Sullivan and Sandra Ottley for their continued support of the club every year.

Goodbye, and good luck UWAClasSoc!

Sincerely,

Maddie Hutchison (2017 President)