How they’ve grown and how it’s going: A follow up interview with Lancaster’s 93% Club

Amongst the many societies at Lancaster University, the 93% Club is one that has gained a lot of attention this year, becoming part of the first and largest network of state-school students across the country. This achievement is pivotal as Lancaster’s student body is 90 per cent state educated. The national motives of this society aim to bridge the gap between the 93 per cent state educated students and the other 7 per cent.

‘Letting people still know we’re there and here to help’

Now we’re in another lockdown, the big question for most societies is how do they keep functioning? The 93% Club at Lancaster told us: “As an exec we’ve taken this opportunity to be constantly in contact with our audience through our socials, like using each Wednesday for a word of the week that our followers can use to improve their CVs and job applications, alongside our recently launched “Committee Recommends” series.

“We also have a busy schedule of online events such as a talk with Jack Edwards, who is a massive study youtuber and 93% club alumni, as well as with Lee Elliott Major, Professor of Social Mobility at Exeter University who is the first in his field.”

All of these events are scheduled on their Instagram for all members to participate in, with follow up Q&A’s and more speaker panels following. They are also establishing a national blog with “three of the Lancaster exec working with the National committee”, the plan for this is to be live as soon as possible with a lot more advice and future guidance for students to discover.

‘By joining we can find out what exactly people are wanting to see so we can give them these opportunities we work so hard to create’

The 93% Club at Lancaster continued to tell us that: “In our first year at Lancaster, we’ve grown to over 165 members and are constantly planning new ways to continue this expansion. More members means more voices, so it helps us to tailor our content.”

On top of this, the more members in the society, the more national recognition it gains, meaning more support is offered to them and therefore to the students of Lancaster. “Applications to join the 2021/22 Executive team will soon be officially open”, so for people wanting a more hands on role with the society, this is the perfect opportunity.

‘We’ve moved from 10 clubs to 32 since the Lancaster branch was formed’

With incredible national growth in such a small space of time, the 93% Club said: “We’ve grown nationally on a huge scale, with a podcast being established that our very own VP Media is a founding member of. It features things like mobility issues, and really exciting guest speakers soon to be revealed.”

A competition to name this podcast is to be announced shortly as well. However, the Lancaster branch has also made massive strides individually. They said: “We recently signed a partnership with Freshfield LLP, a global multinational law firm who are very compassionate and interested in the message and aims of our group”, allowing them to have finances for greater events and wider scale involvement.

Moreover, they helped the national society win the Bright Network award for Impact on Campus, which is an incredible achievement for such a new national club. They said: “We’re now also registered as a National Charity which is pretty cool”, which helps with funding and connections across the nation.

‘Create a safe space for state educated students, more than anything redress that inequality’

“Lancaster has one of the highest state educated student populous, so we’re hoping with more recognition will come more popularity with students”. The strive for success is core to the club, with them constantly thinking about the future with their finances and opportunities to have a “varying focus on different careers”. The goal is to keep “branching out to creative, marketing, business- getting as many industries involved as possible” to keep the society diverse and appealing for the mass audience, helping as many people that are looking for it.

‘We’re not currently affiliated with the University but we are working towards it’

Interestingly, the club told us: “As we’re now a certified National Charity it means we have our own Executive Board (which includes two members of our committee) that we respond to so that we can work towards the desires felt not only here in Lancaster, but also all over”.

Despite this focus, there is the wish to “work more closely and get affiliated with Lancaster to do more specific work here.” This would help the society have a better discourse with the University and lead to more tailored events that can’t just be met through participation.

For new and current members of the 93% Club, applications will soon be opening for the 2021/22 Executive Committee and anyone can apply for a spot to get involved.

If you’re interested in getting involved with Lancaster’s 93% club, don’t hesitate to contact them through their Instagram. 

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