Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Social impact grants for GreenHouse innovators

From left to right, bottom row: Dhruv Guliani and Shahid Mawji. Top row: Elizabeth Stankiewicz, Bailee Walls-Guertin, Cassie Myers, Indi Madar, and Julia Hiscock.

Six GreenHouse social ventures received a total of $13,000 at the latest Social Impact Showcase, which highlights the work of each term’s innovators.

The innovators who received funding from the Social Impact Fund (SIF) for the Spring 2017 term included a venture that will import sleeping ‘pod’ technology for shelters and airports, a venture that will help girls develop leadership skills through gaming activities, and one that will help racialized women access fitness programs.

Half of the SIF recipients were GreenHouse Fellows – winners of the Big Ideas Challenge, an annual event in which students pitch their ideas for social good; the winners get summer-long GreenHouse Fellowships.

All GreenHouse students have access to the SIF grants at the end of each term, and pitch their ideas in front of a panel before the Showcase.

The Spring 2017 winners and their ventures are:

Fellows:

• Arawelo: Indi Madar (Master’s in Sustainability Management) - $2,500 to help create a cross-cultural women’s health platform
• MapleKey: Julia Hiscock (Psychology) - $2,500 to bring innovative technology into shelters to create safe, secure, and private accommodations for the transient community
• Bamboo Labs: Dhruv Guliani and Shahid Mawji (Mechatronics Engineering)- $2,000 to develop a technology consulting venture, specializing in helping companies become more socially responsible

Innovators:

• SheLeads: Cassie Myers (Peace and Conflict Studies) - $2,500 to empower girls to realize their leadership potential through skill-based games
• Just Bee: Bailee Walls-Guertin (Health Studies) - $2,500 to create education materials which teach emotional intelligence to children

Finer Minds:

• Elizabeth Stankiewicz (Psychology) - $1,000 to develop a skill-building program for homeless youth with a mental health focus

Read more about some of the SIF winners on the Waterloo Stories site.

Swimming coach takes the plunge with move to Bahamas

This article originally appeared on the Athletics and Recreation news site.

Head coach of the Warriors swimming program, Jeff Slater, has announced he will be leaving after leading the program for the past 10 years. Slater has accepted a new position with the Barracuda Swim Club in the Bahamas. 

Slater was named the head coach in 2007 after serving as the head coach of the Guelph Gryphons swim program for four years. He returned to his alma mater, after competing for the swim program from 1985-89, followed by coaching stints with the men's water polo team and swim teams from 1989-90.

"I am forever grateful to the University of Waterloo and the Department of Athletics for every opportunity I have been given the past 10 years and beyond," said Slater. "This is a very bitter sweet moment for me as I close this incredible chapter of my life. I will miss a lot about the University but mostly the highly committed student-athletes I have had the pleasure of coaching over the past 10 seasons. Seeing the athletes succeed not only in the pool but also in the classroom was always rewarding to me and I am proud to have contributed to their future success."

Slater has had the opportunity to coach some standout student-athletes and has seen many new records fall in the pool and says this is what will be missed the most; his athletes getting a little bit better, a little bit faster each season. 

The highlight of Slater's career came following the 2016 OUA Championship after watching one of his swimmers, Jonathan Ramkissoon (Trinidad), break an OUA record in the 100m breast stroke, and was named the coach of the year, the first time in his career. 

In addition to Slater's role as head coach of the swimming program, he was the lead organizer for all Warriors Camps. 

"We would like to thank Jeff for his extremely hard work ethic and dedication to the Warriors," said director of athletics and recreation, Roly Webster. "Jeff has always earned the upmost respect from his student-athletes and has set them up to be successful not only in the pool but in their careers as they graduate from Waterloo. We will miss Jeff's easy going personality around the office and wish him all the best in sunny Bahamas."

Slater will wrap up his duties in the next couple of weeks before making the move to Bahamas with his wife Marissa. The process of searching for a new coach begins immediately. 

A Tribe Called Red at Reunion; other notes

As part of the University of Waterloo’s 60^th anniversary celebrations and Reunion 2017, indigenous DJ crew A Tribe Called Red will be performing at a 60^th Anniversary Reunion Concert held in the Physical Activities Complex on Friday, September 29. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. 

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased on the Reunion registration site.

Human Resources has reported that retiree Arthur Bissonnette died on July 25. Bissonnette joined the University in April 1973 and retired in May 2009 as a Mail and Delivery Assistant in Central Stores.