Thursday, August 2, 2018

Warm welcomes from Faculty 101 to Orientation

A message from the Student Success Office new student transition team.

Throughout July, more than 1,700 admitted, incoming first-year students and 1,700 of their family members visited campus to participate in Faculty 101 Days. Attendees represented approximately 30 percent of the fall 2018 incoming students from Ontario.

Each of the Faculty 101 Days included sample lectures, information sessions, and expert panels. Attendees were also able to drop-in at services around campus like the Registrar’s Office, WatCard Office, and AccessAbility services, or to purchase black & gold gear from the Waterloo Store.

“(My favourite part was) being able to watch a sample lecture and meeting other first year students,” said a Faculty 101 Day attendee and incoming student. “It definitely helped me become less nervous about starting school in September.”

A parent who attended a Faculty 101 Day with their student said “I appreciated the enthusiasm of everyone involved in the presentations. It was a very welcoming atmosphere.”

A sincere thank you to the many campus partners, staff, faculty and students who collaborated and contributed in the planning and delivery of these important events.

Faculty, staff invited to participate in Orientation

As we prepare for Orientation, evidence shows that the opportunity to connect with faculty and staff is valued by students and improves their sense of belonging.

As per an email to faculty and staff from Chris Read yesterday, there are many ways to participate, so sign up online to volunteer and be a part of the excitement this fall! Here are some of the events at Orientation where you can volunteer:

• Airport Bus Pick-up – August 31
• Canada House – August 31
• Orientation’s Family Send-Off – September 2
• Welcome Centre – September 3
• Warrior Wayfinding – September 6 and 7

From August 31 to September 14, all staff and faculty are encouraged to wear Here to Help buttons to indicate your knowledge of campus amenities, awareness of student resources, and your willingness to help a new student if they need assistance. If you do not have a button and would like to participate, please fill out the request form to receive buttons.

Libro supports Big Ideas Challenge

This article originally appeared on the St. Paul's news site.

A big thank you to Libro Credit Union who continues to support GreenHouse from its Prosperity Fund. A fund that recognizes initiatives, which focus on regional economic development, money smarts, and youth leadership.

GreenHouse invests these funds in sales training and coaching that help students launch impactful ideas for social good.

At this summer’s Social Impact Showcase, we heard from those who were awarded the Big Ideas Challenge Fellowship in April and since that time have been working hard and diligently with GreenHouse on creating change in the fields of clean tech, mental health, accessibility and child wellbeing.

The 2018 Big Ideas Fellows are:

• Rachel Thorburn for Resilient Minds Consulting with mental health organizations and other non-profits
• Pablo Amaya for Elevate-ing People with Down syndrome,
• Lauren Smith for Filtering Harmful Microplastics from Water, and
• Cassie Myers for Measuring the Impact of Youth Leadership Programs for Girls - and winner of the Velocity Fund grant of $25,000.

“GreenHouse has added a lot to my education. My business background focused on for-profit, and I never really understood about social entrepreneurship," says Pablo Amaya. "I didn’t realize that there was funding out there to support ventures like mine.”

"Supporting students in identifying and understanding pressing problems to solve, as well as training and skill development on design thinking practices is what GreenHouse is all about," says Greenhouse Director Tania Del Matto. "Students go on to inspire others in creating social impact ventures to help cultivate innovation and tackle problems in the social environment space."

“We are proud of the progress our GreenHouse Fellows have made over the past few months in moving their ventures forward, all are working hard on securing partnerships and revenue. As past Fellows have demonstrated, for every $1 we invest in them, they attract an additional $8 via other investors or direct sales revenue.”​

Libro Credit Union has been a huge contributor to this initiative. Jordan Moat, Libro regional manager for Kitchener-Waterloo came personally to see the awarded students and continue to demonstrate Libro’s passion for investing in the communities.

This grant has helped the continued growth of the Big Ideas Challenge, a competition that creates Fellowship opportunities for student entrepreneurs to receive in-depth sales training, coaching and funding to further develop their ideas and initiatives.  Past Fellows have gone onto launch ventures such as Demine Robotics, Curiato, and PASS kit, to name a few.

“It’s been really useful to receive training in all areas of running a business," said Lauren Smith. "It’s also been really nice to be around others whose business at the core is about doing good.” 

For more information about Libro Credit Union and the Prosperity fund program, visit www.libro.ca/community or follow #prosperhere on social media for pictures, videos and more.