Stand Up: Hongpao Soc & the human coat of arms

As the countdown runs closer and closer to 2013 and the sure-to-be spectacular culmination of the University’s 600^th Anniversary celebrations, students and staff were treated on Wednesday to one of the centrepieces of this commemoration: the formation of the University of St Andrews crest on Sallie’s Quad, aerially photographed from the chapel tower.

Hi there! Why did you feel that a feat as ambitious as this was the best way to celebrate the University’s 600^th Anniversary?

Well, obviously, it’s a massive talking point! But it’s also symbolic in the way that everyone knows the coat of arms; it didn’t take any specialist knowledge or preparation to take part.

How exactly did the Hongpao Society come up with the idea of a human coat of arms formation?

The idea came from Yi Yu, one of our members who helped run the show today. It was kept a secret so that no one else could come in and steal our idea! When we took it to the Students’ Association, Freddie fforde and his team were extremely welcoming of the idea.

Nearly 1,000 students and staff turned out to form the University Crest. What have been some of the general reactions to the project and were you especially pleased with the turnout?

I think everyone we talked to were incredibly enthusiastic towards the event and expressed their interest in helping out; especially Freddie and everyone from the your600^th campaign, and Emma, who works as the university’s communications officer, organised coverage by the external media. Without them all, it wouldn’t have been possible. Special thanks to the Hongpao community members for working particularly hard to respond to all the emails and messages of support.

There was an issue last week when the original date for the formation was postponed on account of oh-so-Scottish weather. Was that the only major obstacle you faced in mounting this project?

I think it was always about the number of the people who would actually turn up. We were never sure how big the event could be.

When we first approached Freddie and said we’d be expecting about 1,000 people to show up and he responded that we should be more realistic and aim for 200 and then have a very high goal of 600. A few days later we opened the sign-ups, and it went well above 600, so we’re very pleased that people had such passion.

What makes St Andrews so worthy of celebrating?

As a small town with around 7000 students, who all live, study, hang out together, we all seem to be connected really closely. If this event were to happen in a larger university with a greater student population, nobody would know each other, there’s no close connection – the effort probably wouldn’t have been as consolidated or successful. It could only happen in St Andrews!

Are there any more special events in the pipeline for Hongpao and the 600^th birthday bash? What would you personally like to see?

The society has a food fayre coming up at the end of the month, but nothing as big as the Coat of Arms! For the 600^th birthday, keep an eye on the your600th website and the Students’ Association; they’ve got a lot of exciting things lined up – possibly a marathon. We’re pretty excited to see what our fellow students are preparing for the rest of us!