Introducing a New Living-Learning Community
Based on the success of the Environment Living-Learning Community, where Environment students receive mentoring and academic support while living together with other Environment students, St. Paul's has decided to introduce a new community - one that should appeal to first-year students who were involved in social change efforts in high school and wish to continue being change-makers at university. The Social Impact Living-Learning Community is open to students from any Faculty.
Students will live together and be supported by an upper-year Peer Leader who will help them succeed in their first year while keeping their passion for social or environmental issues burning strong. Through events and activities, students will learn how to break down complex social and environmental issues, connect with design thinking principles, and better understand the growing fields and opportunities within social innovation and social entrepreneurship.
The GreenTeam Steps it Up
St. Paul's GreenTeam, a student leadership group focused on promoting sustainability initiatives throughout the College, is now in its third year, and had many great successes! The group is composed of around 20 students who are passionate about various environmental initiatives. This year, the team launched a "Choose Meatless Mondays" in Watson's Eatery, piloted an extended blue bin program in the residence wings, and most notably, hosted the first annual "EcoSTP."
This event was aimed at motivating and educating students on how to increase their individual sustainability on a daily basis. EcoSTP hosted booths from many on-campus groups, including the Sustainable Campus Initiative, the Ecology Lab, as well as St. Paul's groups such as GreenHouse and Watson's Eatery.
The event also hosted two guest speakers, a professor from the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, and an alumna from St. Paul's GreenHouse.
The event was a great success, and the team is looking forward to scaling up the event in future years, with a greater focus on education and promoting behaviour change.
St. Paul's Welcomes Refugee Student from Congo
Among the many new students who started classes at UWaterloo last fall is Leonard Honore (pictured below in red), a refugee student from the Democratic Republic of Congo who is living at St. Paul's. He is being sponsored through the University of Waterloo's and World University Service of Canada's (WUSC) Student Refugee Program.
All Waterloo students contribute to the program through a dollar-per-term levy administered by the Federation of Students. St. Paul's students also help cover the sponsored students' accommodation and meals through a $30 voluntary levy.
To gain sponsorship, students must have official refugee status and be academically eligible for admission to Waterloo. Once they arrive in Canada, the federal government grants them permanent resident status and they are eligible for Canadian citizenship within three years.
The competition to get sponsorship for the Student Refugee Program is stiff. Leonard was not successful in his first two attempts, but his volunteer work at his refugee camp's high school and adult education centre - along with his grades - helped him eventually achieve his goal. For now, he is completing two terms in the Bridge to Academic success program at Renison and will then proceed to full-time study in Arts.
