Despite the allure of free samples, football stars and a ribbon cutting some of you may not have been there for the opening of the newly revamped campus centre.
Well if you were one of the many that didn’t turn up on the 25 January then you missed out on a few things,
The day started with Leicester City manager Claudio Raneiri being made an Honorary Doctor of Arts by De Montfort University (DMU). Keeping with the football theme Leicester full back Christian Fuchs also launched his clothing brand #NoFuchsGiven at the graduation ceremony. Strengthening the partnership between DMU and the title holding football club.
Now how did this benefit students, well the Leicester star went on to help De Montfort Students Union (DSU) President Dan Winney and DMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard cut the ribbon at the launch event in the afternoon. Officially opening the campus centre which has now been closed for six months and cost the university £3million.
Crowds were treated to a performance from the DMU Steppers as well as the DMU Cheerleaders, The Saints, upon Fuchs arrival.
DMU Steppers, Chairman, Derrick Mensah said: “I think the centre is nicely done, I wish more people were aware of it. This is a great first performance for the year and we have five new dancers out today.”
The ground floor of the centre has been opened up and now contains a new and licenced restaurant, Milly’s Lane, Café selling Starbucks coffee, stationary centre, Spar, Heat and Eat station for students, Subway and home of the new SULETs office. But despite the promise of free samples from the new café and restaurant some students said they went hungry.
For those football fans out there, Fuchs also entertained the crowd with another Q&A, reminiscent of his exclusive sessions last year in front of 800 DMU students and staff members. But those of you who aren’t a fan of football would have been able to watch as the Premier League star smashed eggs onto the heads of those unlucky enough to volunteer for the game of egg roulette.
If you did turn up to learn something about the new centre, and not just to watch egg roulette – you’re in luck.
Dan Winney said: “Through our #YourDSU campaign we surveyed a lot of students, asking what they wanted from their new Campus Centre and we’ve incorporated a lot of those ideas here.
“It is designed by students for students, it’s light and friendly and all the services students need are fully accessible.”
The event was broadcasted on the community station DemonFM who provided entertainment and commentary to those watching.
It was also revealed that DMU would be working with King Power to offer DMU/King Power scholarships to Thai Students, DMU scholarships for King Power employees and #DMUGlobal visits to Asia to work with King Power charities.
Students on fashion courses alos been given the opportunity to design pieces for the #NoFuchsGiven brand, the winner getting to have their design added to the line. The clothing line had its debut with a fashion show which included several DMU students and preceded the Raneiri graduation.
Captain of DMUWFC, Grace Morgan said: “The university asked if myself and another member of the team would like to take part. A lot of the opportunities I have wouldn’t have been possible without the universities love of sport.”
As part of his graduation ceremony Dr Ranieri said: “I say thank you to De Montfort University for this graduation, but I must also say thank you to my players because if I am here it is because my players made something special happen last year.”
