Hey all, welcome to (or back to) the University of Sydney! The Sydney Arts Students’ Society, also known as SASS, is the official society those studying under the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences but welcomes anyone studying at USyd! We offer an inclusive environment for all students from all backgrounds and abilities, and endeavour to continue supporting the Arts and reinstating its importance within academia.

All of us understand how scary it can be to start university, but we are ALL here for you! Our main goal is to provide a community for both new students and current students, and we hope you find your place here <3 As I will continue to reiterate in this welcome, our team is the most welcoming and kind team, and we are always here for anyone who has any questions or just needs a friend. Studying arts can be very isolating, there are so many different majors and it can be hard to make friends through your classes. At SASS, we combine all students studying arts and even those studying other disciplines in order to create an environment where everyone is welcome and has someone to talk to. 

To introduce myself for those who don't know me, I'm Jenna! I am currently a third year student studying a Bachelor of Arts/Advanced studies majoring in American Studies and History. As a true arts student, I have survived the horrors of FASS1000 (and I promise you will too), but I promise there is so much more to the study of arts, like SASS! I was first involved in SASS as a little first year. After going to welcome drinks and first year camp, I made so many friends that I still keep in contact with to this day! After going to more SASS events such as the BRAT party (what a year 2024 was), and our annual ball, I felt that I had found such a community in this society. 

However, I had never planned to be on the executive team let alone PRESIDENT of the society. I had joined the 2024 AGM to vote for my friend, and ended up putting my hand up to run for sports director of all things. For those who met me through interfaculty sport, you all know how much I hate sport, but man was I good at making those team lists. While being on the executive team in my second year, I became a lot more involved in the organisation side of SASS, whether that be attending all events that I could (until I went on exchange) or being a camp leader at the first year camp, which made the idea of being president very exciting. Eventually I put my hand up for president and I got it! Although it has been very time-consuming, I would not change anything about it, and I have absolutely no regrets about being a part of this amazing society. The 2026 team is the most amazing SASS team I have seen, and we are so excited to welcome you all into our society for another amazing year.

Ok enough about me! This year we have some very exciting events coming up. We have our annual First Year Camp, interfaculty trivia, pub crawls, parties, and so many more in the works! We also have an AMAZING publications team who are working very hard regarding our three annual publications; 1978, Wattle, and Avenue. These publications are the core to our society, and I am so excited to see this year's journals come to fruition. We are also actively involved in interfaculty sport each week, bringing together a vibrant team and community for those wanting to meet new people and take the load off the stress of uni. 

Although we have very fun social events planned, we also will have some academic and career orientated events to prepare you for the future. In collaboration with the Student Affairs team of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, we will be promoting events such as careers fairs, panels, and other opportunities to talk to external organisations to get an idea of what there is outside of university!

Overall, we have an amazing and energetic executive team that is really looking forward to welcoming every student, and we would love for you to join us! (It’s also free :)) 

See you soon!

2026 SASS President

Jenna Ritchie