Connections - August 2009 by Kris Olafson

Connections

August2009 | Volume 23

Homecoming 2009 p. 11

A UW Mom Shares Advice Based on Her Experience During Her Childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s First Year at University p. 9

Orientation Days Until

p.5

Connections

AUGUST 2009 | Volume 23

Calendar August & September | 3

Features A Heads Up for First Term | 9

Events Upcoming Alumni Events | 10 Homecoming 2009| 11

Archives Cropped photo by Jamie Self.

2006 Oct | Nov | Dec 2007 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec 2008 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec 2009 Jan | FEB | Mar | APR | MAY

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August 3 12

Civic Holiday

International Year of Astronomy Star Gazing Party August 12

For full fee payment instructions visit http://finance.uwaterloo.ca and click “Student fees” on the left side.

September 6

For more information visit: astro.uwaterloo.ca. Alumni @ Rogers Cup Tennis August 15-23

Orientation Week 2009 will be held on Monday September 7 until Saturday September 12. www.orientation.uwaterloo.ca Move-in Day 2

UW Alumni Night @ Rogers Cup August 20

This is the move-in date for: > Students living in the East or West Quad of Ron Eydt Village or Village 1 > Students living on even numbered of UW Place >Students living in the West Wing of Mackenzie King Village > Students living in Columbia Lake Village

Join us on the Corona Patio of the Rexakk Centre at York University for your chance to win UW prizes and a grand prize courtesy of Tennis Canada and Corona.

Labour Day Orientation Week begins

Join fellow UW alumni at the Rexall Centre at York University for the 2009 Rogers Cup. See the top stars in women’s tennis, including fan favourite Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and past champion Serena Williams.

Move-in Day 1 This is the move-in date for: > Students living in the North or South Quad of Ron Eydt Village or Village 1 > Students living on odd numbered of UW Place > Students living in the East Wing of Mackenzie King Village

Come and explore the night sky with telescopes and Star Charts with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and University of Waterloo.

Student Fees for the Fall 2009 term are due.

Alumni Lunch and Theatre Event August 22 A 3-course gourmet lunch at the Hillebrand Winery and a production of Noel Coward’s melody-infused triple bill ‘Play, Orchestra, Play’ at the Royal George Theatre at the acclaimed Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake. For more information about Alumni events visit: alumni.uwaterloo.ca/alumni.

Lectures Begin

Homecoming 2009 Visit homecoming.uwaterloo.ca.

June 2009 | student life 101 |

Thank You from the Student Life 101 Directors

He adl ine s

Student Life 101 would not be complete without you. Thank you for showing your Waterloo pride and assisting to make this day a success. Your friendliness and warmth made all visitors feel comfortable and welcomed onto our campus. Rain or shine you were extraordinary. It couldn’t have been done without all of your support and enthusiasm for the day. Thank you and we hope you come out to help again and make next year an even greater success.

Online Career Advice for Students Joe Hour Website Review www.workshoppersonline.com

The Work Shoppers Online website is a resource for career management. It is designed “to help you generate income from work that is meaningful. They do so by offering motivational workshops and relevant online resources”. The website is committed to jobs and careers. It provides more than 600 critical insights into job and career choices - featuring real people at work. And under the link COMPASS blog is a note board that provides news about occupational information and very up-todate labour market news. As the name of the website indi-

cates, it has online workshops. On weekdays, there are two major workshops. First, the Career Decision Making Program, which is completely free of charge, and can help evaluate what is important to you and the types of work that fit you best. The second is a program called Computer Basics, which can help you to evaluate what you know and what you need to know about any career. On Saturday, it provides a “W5 Resumes” workshop to help you to build your resume and increase the odds of your resume producing an interview. There are also 2 bi-monthly workshops. Ability Profiler assesses your strengths and abilities and helps you research career options

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that maximize those strengths. The Transferable Trade Skill Inventory identifies how well your trade skills, abilities, and knowledge match the requirements of other trades and certification goals. These two programs are all free. Another feature of this website that comes in handy is that it categorizes the information and resources into 13 parts including women, youth, immigrants, disabilities, etc. It definitely facilitates the process of finding suitable jobs. Overall, this website serves as helpful guidance when seeking a career. It is a great resource for all students: co-op, regular, or graduating, Do not hesitate to give it a try!

Orientation Week 2009 is just 33 days away! It is a week packed with opportunities for your children to meet other people in their program and their communities, and build relationships that will support them throughout their time here at UW. Remind your daughter or son to confirm their attendance at: www. orientation.uwaterloo.ca. Once they’ve done that, they can breathe easy, and look forward to a lifechanging experience. The cross campus events listed below are just some of the highlights your children can look forward to.

Students can show their UW pride at Black and Gold Day! Your child will join fellow Warriors to cheer on our Waterloo Warriors football team as they kick off against the Ottawa Gee Gees. On Black and Gold Day everyone is encouraged to wear UW colours (black and gold) to the game!

Monte Carlo Night is a chance for your children get dressed in their finest outfit and come out to our mock casino – complete with gaming, mocktails and dancing. We have several other events going on simultaneously including live entertainment, a photo-themed room, and more.

Orientation Week will end with a legendary night that will not be forgotten. Your children can come out and experience an improvisation troop and a magician at Saturday Night Live, video gaming, a giant outdoor toga party and the CrossCampus Night Walk!

meet upper-year students and others in their Faculty. Your students will also hear from some of the people in their Faculty about what your students can expect as a new UW student. We hope that your son or daughter will enjoy Orientation Week and this experience becomes a valuable memory of UW. We can’t wait to see them in September!

In between all of these events your students will have the chance to AUGUST 2009 | CONNECTIONS |

It’s the Dana Porter Library, Lego Style Student LEGO™ enthusiasts have taken a constructive interest in the Dana Porter Library recently, building a scale model of the Library as part of their larger project to build a LEGO™ model of the entire University of Waterloo campus. The Porter Library is the second building on campus (after Math) to be constructed by the UW Lego Initiative and was recently highlighted in the current issue of Waterloo magazine.

UW LEGO™ Initiative members Christine Ambre and Ivan Yu with their scale model of the Dana Porter Library. Photo by Simon Wilson.

The model itself only took one day to construct, however, the finished product is the result of over a month’s work of observing, scaling, designing, and constructing by five members of the group.

Henry Shew, one of the group’s current executives, remarks that the most time-consuming aspect was

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ordering the lego pieces and waiting for them to arrive.

When asked why the group elected to build Porter, Henry was quick to note the landmark importance of Porter. “DP is very significant on the Waterloo campus,” Shew says. “It’s the first thing you see when you’re in the city, driving toward the university.” Porter’s prominence and unique look has made it a campus icon over the decades and has frequently inspired other creative works. In the past year alone, Porter has also been a muse to a student artist, Ryan Felix, who made a photographic transformation and merger of the building with the Davis Centre Library, as well as to over one hundred individuals who took part in Library Day events in October and doodled their own versions of the structure.

The Porter LEGO™ model created by the UW Lego Initiative is currently on display in Porter. You’ll find it behind the glass window at the Graphics Copy Centre across from the Browsers Café.

Volunteer Opportunity Ontario Universities’ Fair Ontario Universities’ Fair September 25-27

Know a UW student interested in helping us recruit? Have them volunteer for the Ontario Universities’ Fair (OUF) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Dates and times: Friday, September 25, 8:30 am – 6:00 pm Saturday, September 26, 9:30 am – 5:00 pm Sunday, September 27, 9:30 am – 5:00 pm UW is looking for volunteers to help them at the OUF this fall. Specifically, we need students and alumni to be part of our triage

Advice to Parents of Incoming Students

team. The goal of the triage team is to create a good ‘social’ vibe at the booth and to provide excellent customer service to our guests at the fair. The triage team will connect with our guest and then direct them to the experts at the booth to have their detailed questions answered. Help make a difference and volunteer this fall! Shifts run 5-6 hours in length, and food tickets will be provided for volunteers. T-shirts are also available on a first come first serve basis. Please contact Jody Berringer, jberring@uwaterloo.ca, by Friday, August 28th if you are interested in volunteering.

Discuss academic expectations ahead of time. Encourage your child to make his/her own personal goals

Discuss the use of alcohol and other lifestyle choices your son/daughter will have to make, but don’t give lectures.

If you take your child to school, don’t expect to spend a lot of time together. Orientation is designed to foster separation.

Be prepared for your child’s—and your own—conflicting emotions as the day of departure approaches.

Keep in touch. Send letters or care packages.

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Year-round Hotel Style Rooms at UW St. Paul’s University College offers Hotel Style Guest Rooms on the University of Waterloo main south Campus. We feature 8 smoke free rooms for nightly and short term stays in our controlled access building. Our guest rooms provide one double bed and are perfect for visiting Faculty & Scholars, lecturers, parents, friends and other UW guests.

Amenities and services include:

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- Free – parking - Free – local calls with long distance access (calling card required) Private washroom - Individually controlled heating and air conditioning - High speed internet (through UW’s residence internet service) - Extended Basic Cable television

Please contact St. Paul’s for more information: www.stpauls.uwaterloo.ca/hotel/ guest _rooms.html 519-885-1460 ext 203 or 1-866-885-1465 ext 203 gueststpauls@uwaterloo.ca

Feat u r e

A Heads Up for First Term Wendy Vaughan M.A., Coulsellor UW Counselling Services

Two years ago my son started university. Near the end of his first term I wrote the following article, hoping to provide a possible blue print of what might be ahead for other parents. You might be expected to experience at least some, if not all of the following: Empty Nest Syndrome? Recently I realized that I may be suffering from “Empty Nest Syndrome” but the strange part is my son is still living at home, while he attends university. Lots of things have changed since September. He is now: On a totally different time schedule than me – he gets up just in time to get to his 11 a.m. classes

Less available for house chores and assumed family activities.

and I am already at work Rarely at home for meals – I recently negotiated a weekly dinner together because some weeks we may not eat together at all A combination of intense self-focus and vastly increased interest in the world – he recently mentioned the possibility of asking family members to donate money to organizations of interest to him in place of giving him Christmas gifts! Stretching his intellectual muscles – we have long talks about films and different aspects of humanity. We have discussed philosophy and culture and moral choices. Struggling to balance time for school, part-time job, social life, girlfriend, and family.

Becoming an adult – today he takes his G2 driving license. He voted for the first time in his life at our last election. He is paying for part of his university costs and part of his car insurance. As both a parent and a counsellor, I am now tired, proud, amazed, a bit lonely, nostalgic, and independent. When we talk, I find myself trying not to lecture him on study skills, the need for more sleep, and the importance of not learning new material the night before an exam. And most of all, I say a silent ‘thanks’ that he is growing into a young man that I am so very proud of. We’re both almost done his first term.

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E VE NTS

Upcoming Alumni Events More information about the following events can be found at the Alumni Affairs website. Astronomy Stargazing Party August 12, 2009

Explore the night sky with telescopes and Star Charts with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and University of Waterloo. Witness the Perseid Meteor Shower and catch a glimpse of Jupiter.

Rogers Cup Tennis and UW Alumni Night August 20, 2009

SAF Building Grand Opening September 8, 2009

Join fellow UW alumni at the Rexall Centre at York University for the 2009 Rogers Cup August 1523. Then enjoy UW Alumni Night on August 20 on the Corona Patio. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have a chance to win UW prizes and a grand prize courtesy of Tennis Canada and Corona.

Join us as we celebrate the opening of our new SAF building! Be a student for the day and come fete our Grand Opening! Time: 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Location: The new building, adjacent to Hagey Hall

Niagra Alumni Lunch and Theatre event August 22, 2009

Join fellow UW alumni at the RexThe University of Waterloo is pleased to invite you to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of the Niagara region with your fellow UW alumni.

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Homecoming 2009 Saturday September 26, 2009

The count down has begun! On September 26th, come out with your friends to this year’s exciting Homecoming. There will be a wide range of activities to keep you entertained… > Cheer on the UW Warriors as they compete with the Windsor Lancers

...at Homecoming 2009!

> Hear alumnus Chamath Palihapityiya (BASc’99) chat about his experience at Facebook as the Vice President of User Growth, Mobile and International Expansion.

Celebrate the kaleidoscope of experiences that are Waterloo – from the flavours of the East Asian Festival to the rhythms of Pow Wow. Cheer on our Warriors football team as they take on the Windsor Lancers. Hear UW grad and Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya (BASc ‘99) speak, and much, much more…

> Support fellow student groups as they entertain family carnival participants through music and dance performances.

Come make some memories

Interested in volunteering? Email homecoming@alumni.uwaterloo.ca

There’s no place like Homecoming.

homecoming.uwaterloo.ca Saturday, September 26, 2009

> Take a challenge – submit a video corresponding to what your Waterloo means to you by entering our “Show us your Waterloo!”contest and you could win $250! Visit www.homecoming.uwaterloo. ca for contest and event details. Contest closes August 14th, 2009. Email homecoming@uwaterloo.ca for entry or participation questions. Want to have fun and gain great event experience? Volunteer with the Homecoming team in making this exciting day possible. If you’re a reliable, friendly person that loves working on a team, please click here to learn about how to volunteer. AUGUST 2009 | CONNECTIONS | 11