A series of non-alcoholic events will offer a creative alternative for the thousands of new students arriving at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) for this year's freshers festival.
The annual DMU Fresh Fest, organised by De Montfort Student's Union (DSU) is a week-long celebration welcoming new starters, involving varied, spectacular events taking place on and off campus.
The new cohort of around 3,000 students will be filling the campus, sampling sports, making friends, exploring Leicester and getting involved with the range of experiences offered at DMU.
Many of the events organised for this year's celebrations will be alcohol-free, challenging the conventions of traditional freshers' activities and making the experience as inclusive as possible.
Called Give It a Go, the initiative includes a big launch party in Hawthorn Square on Sunday, 27 September, with DJs and fairground games. Throughout the week, there will be coffee and quizzes, a visit to Twycross Zoo, Drayton Manor theme park and Megazone, along with a day on campus with mini workshops for each of the many clubs and societies running at DMU. There will also be a non-alcoholic taste tour of Leicester's cafes and milkshake bars; an alternative to the other bar tours taking place.
Dan Winney, DSU Vice President, Student Activities, said: "We really wanted to challenge the conventional idea of a freshers fair this year.
"We have a huge number of students from across the globe and from different backgrounds and cultures and we wanted to make sure the whole exciting experience we offer at DMU was available to everyone.
"Your university years are some of the best of your life and Fresh Fest is where it all starts. We've got more going on than we ever have before and we can't wait to welcome the students to the DMU family."
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Another new idea at this year's Fresh Fest is MyUniPal: a series of quick-fire meet and greet sessions where new students get to know second or third year students who can then help introduce them to the DMU experience, allowing newcomers to quickly gain confidence and meet new people.
Elsewhere, other events on offer include restaurant tours of Leicester, a welcome party, film screenings, comedy performances, introductions to volunteering, clubs and societies, a city-wide bar tour, roller disco and the Freshers Ball.
The celebrations culminate on Sunday 3 October, with the Freshers Festival, which will feature live music from DJ Fresh and DJ Russke, a fun fair, secret garden party and silent disco.
Posted on Wednesday 23 September 2015