Covid Marshalls and free food help students to feel safe at Preston's city university

Health-conscious students have turned Covid-marshals to help keep their campus coronavirus free.
Psychology student Kira Cauldwell  is acting as a UCLan Campus Safety Champion.Psychology student Kira Cauldwell  is acting as a UCLan Campus Safety Champion.
Psychology student Kira Cauldwell is acting as a UCLan Campus Safety Champion.

A 30 plus strong squad from the University of Central Lancashire have signed up to an initiative being rolled out across the Preston Campus.

The raft of Safety Champions have been enlisted to help fellow students and staff to follow university guidelines around social distancing - from reminding people about one-way systems, when to wear face masks, pointing out hand sanitisation points and offering directions when needed.

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The project is being run by staff from UCLan's Centre for Volunteering and Community Leadership along with colleagues from across the university in a bid to help the student volunteers to build confidence and leadership skills and help everyone feel safer.

Kathryn Huskisson, volunteer support assistant within the Centre said: "It’s heartening to see students so willing to support their peers during this difficult time.

"As well as raising awareness of the new guidance to help keep everyone as safe as possible, the skills they are developing through this work will be valuable in any job role."

Second year psychology student Kira Cauldwell has already spent more than 50 hours over the last five weeks working as a Campus Safety Champion.

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She said: "It has been nothing but rewarding and I’ve enjoyed helping out in any way I can.

"Despite the current predicament we are all in, volunteering has given me a positive start to the new academic year because I feel like I’m making a difference by supporting other students."

The university is also offering free food and drink in the Preston campus refectories on weekday evenings and weekend mornings for both staff and students who are working odd hours due to the Covid-19 situation.

Michael Ahern the chief information and infrastructure officer said: " We have extended timetables to allow for some socially distanced face-to-face teaching and appreciate that people are going the extra mile to make things run smoothly.

"This is our way of supporting colleagues and students during this challenging time, as well as thanking them for continuing to follow government restrictions."

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