Ben Isle: Extra curricular activities aren’t just about sex

Now that Freshers’ Week is over, I would like to steal you away from your hangovers to offer you a pearl of my fourth year wisdom. Don’t worry, I too have the obligatory Freshers’ Week hangover. I am very hungover. I’ve been out a lot. Whilst we all know that having fun can be exactly what you need, there is more to St Andrews than vomiting chips and cheese into the gutter outside McIntosh. Don’t worry, there’s also less to it too!

One thing that makes life in the bubble so unique is the role of societies. It really fascinates me. Nowhere else in society do you get such societies (and yes, those of you that read the news, that was a satire of Mr Cameron’s Big Society).

So I decided to do some research on the origin of societies, but research took too long so I wrote an article instead. Being in fourth year, a number of my friends have been starting societies or at least trying to get on existing committees so it makes sense to write an expose on the newly formed Promotion of All St Andrews Societies Society, or PASTA Soc Soc.

The basic manifesto is this: there are so many societies in St Andrews, dedicated to self-promotion, what if another society could do all their self-promotion for them. This is where PASTA Soc Soc steps in; its sole purpose will be the self-promotion of itself and others. Over and above their uniquely original agenda PASTA Soc Soc are brilliant because they’re doing it all for charity. It is, arguably, a universally known fact that charity is a good thing for students to get involved with. But why should we do things for charity? I conducted a short interview with the society’s president:

Ben: Hi Mitchell, it is great to see you. Thank you so much for agreeing to this press conference, I know you must be really busy with the society’s launch.

Mitchell: Have you sorted out our Internet yet?

Ben: Ok. Brilliant. Thanks Mitch.

Mitchell: No, Ben, seriously can you actually call BT? Because I want to skype my girlfriend.

Ben: So I was wondering, am I right in thinking that you seem to have set up a society for a number of quite specific but also fairly universal purposes?

Mitchell: Yeah, sure.

Ben: Ok and when I was thinking of questions it took me a little while to decide what to ask but I really wanted to get your opinion on all of the most influential matters so, why is it important to you that people in this town do things for charity?

Mitchell: Because it’s for charity.

“Because it’s for charity.” He was right, if we do things for charity they will, of course, be for charity. I really don’t have a bad word to say about charity or about PASTA Soc Soc, so get involved!