FRESHERS ISSUE 2023 SCAN Lancaster University

4
SCANLU SCANLancaster scan.lancastersu.co.uk
N e w s
NEWS EDITORS:
Adrian Collis
& Emily Holtom
What Do Students
Want From Extravs?
Caitlyn Taft
Editor-In-Chief
For Freshers who don’t know,
Extrav(aganza)s are basically massive
parties thrown by every college to
celebrate the end of the academic year.
Back in August, we asked questions about this
year’s Extravs. Many students had a lot to say
about what they loved and hated about the end
of year celebrations; from questions ranging to
favourite Extrav theme to why students opted
out of joining in with the fun.
The story highlights were
accumulated from around
140 students who attended
Extrav.
The first question: How
many Extravs did you
attend this year?
60% of the 140 students only attended
one Extrav. 23% ended up going
to two Extravs, whilst only a small
percentage (7%) attended three
Extravs. The remaining percent, 9%,
attended more than four.
However, the students who attended
more than four where those who were
working. For example, future FTOs, students
working on media, and friends of bands who
were tasked for taking photos and videos for the
bands’ social media accounts.
The second question: To
those who went to none,
why didn’t you attend?
I know many students who didn’t attend any
Extravs, but I wanted to find the main reasons
why students weren’t appealed by the end of year
events. I’ve identified four reasons why students
didn’t want to attend Extravs.
45% of students expressed concerns over the
pricing of the events. A few students stated that
the events were
“Not worth the money.”
Lancaster student who revealed why they
didn’t attend any Extravs.
This year, a ticket to attend one Extrav costed
£14.37. Last year, a ticket cost £13.31. Whilst a
£1.05 increase doesn’t seem like a lot for some
students, others struggle to justify the expenses
of attending an event which they’ll spend more
money at, if they intend on drinking.
28% of the students said they were at home when
the Extrav week begun. A lot of students had
exams late into the term and were exhausted.
One student commented about how they
understand why the Extravs are so late, in order
to accommodate to the majority of students, but
it was held way too late for them.
18% of students who didn’t attend said the events
didn’t appeal to them. 9% of which said the
events are mostly targeted towards students who
drink, which doesn’t appeal to sober students.
Even the Extrav has events that aren’t all about
drinking, like bungee runs and Just Dance,
weren’t enough to persuade some sober students
into going.
The third question: Which
Extravs did you attend?
To recap, there were 8 Extravs. Bowland held a
70s Disco, Cartmel held Toystrav, County held
Shrekstrav, Furness held Super Sneakystrav,
Fylde held Fylde Gone Wild, Grizadale held
Grizjail, Lonsdale held Mariostrav, and Pendle
held Stranger Things.
Grizedale scored the
highest percentage
of voters with 17%.
Then, following up
with 15%, is Pendle.
In joint third is
Furness and County,
both achieving 13% of
the votes.
In joint fourth is Bowland
and Fylde with 12%. Lonsdale
came in fifth with 10%. Finally, Cartmel had the
remaining 8% of votes.
It’s important to take into
account that not every
student who went to these
Extravs voted. These votes
were from only a small
portion who attended
these events.
The people who set up these Extravs should be
proud of the amount of fun they were able to give
to each of their attendees.
The fourth question:
What was your favourite
theme?
Students choose which Extrav to go to based
on the theme of the night. Having an exciting
and interesting theme makes students want to
attend them.
This means the theme
each college chose was
really important in how
many attendees they’d
have.
More students (272 to be exact) voted on this
question as they weren’t forced to attend to
choose which theme they liked the most.
Even though this college was fifth in attendance,
Lonsdale scored the highest percent in this
question with 18%. Bowland was a close second
with 16%. Grizedale had the highest percentage
of attendees, but only scored 15%.
In joint fourth is Pendle and County with 11% of
the votes. In joint fifth is Furness and Cartmel
with 10%. Last but not least is Fylde with 9% of
the votes.
The fifth question: Was
there anything you
felt was missing at the
Extrav(s) you went to?
This question is incredibly subjective to the
students who answered it. However, I have
chosen the two most popular answers.
The first answer that most students wished was
at their Extrav was food. Some colleges supplied
snacks like chocolate and cotton candy. The
majority of them didn’t have any actual food. One
student commented saying,
“The food included in
our ticket wasn’t allergen
friendly”.
Lancaster student who commented on the
lack of allergen friendly food and snacks
available at Extrav.
This meant that some students couldn’t have
any of the snacks either. People may argue that
Extravs are parties so there isn’t a necessity for
food. However, this could be a thing for colleges
to think about in the future.
The second answer was about the lack of
activities. Some Extravs had lots of activities
whilst others heavily focused on the drinking
aspect. A few students compared pervious years
Extravs to this year, with one student saying,
“Remember when there
was a dinosaur sand pit
last year? Miss her.”
Lancaster student who’s comparing the
activities of this year’s Extravs to previous’
ones.
Obviously it’s difficult to attend to the needs of
thousands of students, however this provides
colleges with the opportunity to broaden
their activities and find other ways to keep the
students attended.
The final question: What
are your predictions for
next year?
As I previously said before, themes are so
important for attracting attendees to Extrav. I
asked this question to grasp the full idea on what
students truly want from Extrav. Here are just a
few answers that students said:
“Star Wars”
One of the most popular answers for Extrav
theme predictions.
“Barbie”
The most popular answer for Extrav theme
predictions.
“Harry Potter”
Another popular answer from students about
theme predictions.
Conclusion
After reviewing all the questions and doing maths
for some of them, I’ve come to the conclusion
that students want more from Extrav.
The only problem with
that is the costs of them.
It’s difficult for colleges to
appease all students but
everything I’ve discussed
is something that they
could think about.
It’s obvious that students like the Extravaganza
week but some don’t see the point of them. That’s
okay because there’s a large amount of students
who love attending them. But is it worth the
money if there’s no activities or food?
Some students commented on whether Extravs
will be around this time next year because of
those two main issues.
To some students, yes
it’s worth every penny. To
others, they’d rather be at
home.
Appealing to students who remain in Lancaster
is important for the survival of Extravs. I hope to
be attending many more next year.
Photo Credits: Lancaster Student Union on Facebook