Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Football Warriors huddle up to make a difference

This article was originally featured on the Athletics and Recreation website.

The Warriors football program took the UWaterloo campus community by storm last year with their incredible 4-0 start and this off-season, they continued their momentum in the Kitchener-Waterloo community with their outreach program, Huddle-Up sponsored by Pioneer.

Huddle-Up is a free community outreach program for elementary schools in the Kitchener-Waterloo Region that runs annually mid-May to late June. The program runs for 90 minutes for up to 150 elementary aged students held in their gym or fields.

The program was established four years ago when head coach Chris Bertoia took over the football program and has grown exponentially each year. In 2018, Huddle-Up reached over 3,800 students at 17 different schools. Over 25 different Warriors volunteered their time to deliver Huddle-Up with eight student-athletes attending eight or more sessions.

"We are incredibly proud of the Huddle-Up program and the dedication of our student-athletes to give back to our awesome community," said Bertoia.

"It is very important to myself and our program to have representation in our community and give back to our younger generation who look up to our student-athletes. The Huddle-Up program is a great way of reaching out to younger students in a fun and easy-going environment."

Huddle-Up focuses on educating and creating opportunities through an active lifestyle and has a key emphasis on anti-bullying and that we are all teammates.

"We are extremely proud of the efforts that our coaches and student-athletes make to reach so many children in our community. Huddle-Up is a great example, providing positive messages about living a healthy and active lifestyle while discussing an important topic of bully prevention," said associate director Brian Bourque.

"You hear a lot about bullying in schools nowadays and our goal with Huddle-Up is to stop bullying in its tracks through teamwork and common goals," mentioned Bertoia.

Huddle-Up also discusses the importance of a healthy lifestyle including nutritional tips and the benefit of staying active.

"We keep it light and fun for the kids but also ensure our student-athletes are getting the key messages to these students. It is incredibly rewarding putting smiles on these kids' faces while knowing we are making a difference in their lives," concluded Bertoia.

Read the full story and check out additional pictures on the Athletics and Recreation website.

Keep up to date on IST's work with project management tool

A message from Information Systems & Technology (IST)

With the evolving nature of IT, and our goal of ensuring the best user experience for our clients, there is often a significant amount of IT related work taking place across campus at any given time and staying informed of the details and status of this work can be difficult. Using a dynamic link with the Project & Portfolio Management Tool, TeamDynamix, IST is able to display a current and concise summary of this work in one convenient location.

The planned, inflight, and operational work IST leads or supports is now more readily available on the updated Project web page. Project and initiative details are organized under 11 main categories ranging from Business Intelligence, Analytics, Reporting & Integration; Departmental and Campus Systems; Construction and Renovation; and Organization, Governance, Policy and Standards. Projects and initiatives closed in the past year can also be viewed.

Visit the IST Projects page regularly to stay up to date on the status of this important work.   

It's Goose Week at the Library: like Shark Week, only more dangerous

You survived nesting season, but just when you thought it was safe to walk around on campus again, it's Goose Week at the Library.

The Library is partnering with Retail Services, Waterloo Athletics and Recreation, and Food Services for a week filled with goose-themed activities, events, displays and swag. Be on the lookout for events and displays throughout the libraries, including:

• Learn more about geese at our 'myth or fact' game, goose comics and book displays, and a new all-goose selection by Waterloo artist alum Andy Cho;
• Enter our What do you meme, geese? contest and look for submissions on the Library's Instagram, Facebook or Twitter;
• Walk a mile in their webbed feet with the goose green screen;
• Move Your Mind (MYM) and your body with some fowl moves lead by Waterloo Athletics and Recreation;
• Play some larger-than-goose games in the Arts Quad;
• Create a piece of goose art to take home;
• Discover the legacy of geese at Waterloo with a digital exhibit of goose-related items from Special Collections & Archives; and
• Pick up a Goose Week treat from Food Services locations across campus

There will be numerous displays throughout Dana Porter and Davis Centre Libraries all week, stress-relieving activities for students, food, contests and more. 

And remember, if you don't participate in Goose Week activities this week, the geese will know. They always know.