Wednesday, September 30, 2020

President provides update on campus testing centre

"As announced earlier this month, testing for COVID-19 will be available on campus beginning October 1," wrote President Feridun Hamdullahpur in a memo circulated to the campus community yesterday. "I am pleased to move forward with this further step in our community’s response to the pandemic and share these important details about the process for getting tested at this centre."

"The new Health Services COVID-19 Testing Assessment Centre is located in the Health Services building and will be available to University of Waterloo students and employees. To help maintain safety at the testing centre and on campus, please read the following carefully before booking an appointment to get tested."    

Who can get tested for COVID-19 at this centre? 

The Health Services COVID-19 Testing Assessment Centre is open to University of Waterloo students, employees and postdocs.  

The University’s agreement with St. Mary’s Hospital is for a campus service and not a service made broadly available to the local community. We are exploring whether this mandate can be expanded at some point in the future. 

When should I get tested? 

In response to the high demand for testing, the Province of Ontario recently announced new criteria for getting tested.  

If you are showing COVID-19 symptoms, or your public health unit or the COVID Alert app notifies you that you have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, book an appointment to be tested. 

How do I make an appointment for testing? 

Testing is by appointment only. You do not need a doctor’s referral to get tested. 

To make an appointment: 

• Complete this online COVID-19 Assessment Registration Form.  

• Once registered online, you will be contacted with an appointment date and time. Appointment times will be from Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. 

What do I do if I test positive? 

If you are a student and have tested positive for the virus or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus, contact Health Services and they will guide you through next steps.  

If you are a staff or faculty member, contact Occupational Health and they will guide you through next steps.  

Important safety reminders 

We all have an important part to play in limiting the spread of COVID-19. Please remember to follow public health guidelines and the University’s health and safety recommendations. 

If you are coming to campus, be sure to: 

• Review the Welcome Back Waterloo guide. 

• Check in by connecting to the eduroam Wi-Fi network or by completing the Campus Check-in form every day you visit campus and for every building you visit. 

• Complete the COVID-19 self-assessment each day before you arrive on campus. 

• Wear a face covering in common indoor areas. 

• Wash or sanitize your hands frequently. 

"We must continue to look out for one another and each do our part to keep our campus community safe," the president's memo concludes.

You can learn more about COVID-19 testing on the Health Services website. 

Building bonds online to support first-year success

This article was originally published on Waterloo Stories.

Starting your first year of university is a big moment. It often means moving away from home for the first time, starting new classes and making new friends. Starting something new and unfamiliar can feel scary.

Plus, back-to-school has never looked quite like this. With most undergraduate classes happening online for the Fall Term, many students will be studying from home. Add it all together, and it’s easy to understand why incoming students might be nervous.

Enter Waterloo Ready, a community-building program developed by the Student Success Office (SSO) that helps our incoming students build a sense of community, while offering resources, online modules, tips and to-do lists to support the transition to university life.

A new approach to community building

A cornerstone of Waterloo Ready is peer mentorship. To meet the challenge of needing to connect virtually, the SSO invited incoming students to join a small online community with other students from the same Faculty. These communities were led by upper year students, known as Peer Mentors.

Miila Tuju is the peer mentor for ENV Community 73, a group of students entering the Faculty of Environment. The fourth-year Planning student says the number one concern her group shared with her was how to form connections, especially online.

“I had a good amount of students express that they would have otherwise felt very lonely and anxious without the group,” she says. “I think at some point everybody brought that up. They were nervous about that, or they weren’t sure how to navigate, especially for this virtual Fall Term.”

That was the case for Mattea Schaap, who credits the peer community with easing the transition to a new city and a new stage in life. “I feel a lot less worried about the community and knowing people. That was a big concern that I had,” explains the first-year Planning student. “Miila also taught us a lot about the campus. I have never been to Waterloo, so it was neat to learn about all the cool things that our campus has to offer."

Her classmate Laynol Eap agrees. Moving to Waterloo from Collingwood, Ontario was a big step. He was concerned about forming bonds before he was introduced to the peer group. “I felt like I was kind of alone, going into the program. But now we’ve all gotten to know each other. And we even have our own group chat where we’ve been talking it up lately. It’s nice.”

An answer to every question

Tuju provided the students in her community with a list of resources to help them navigate their first year and answered their questions about everything from navigating the city by transit to using academic citations. She even asked the group to swap recipes to inspire students moving away from home for the first time.

Connor Phillips won't be leaving his hometown on Manitoulin Island for Waterloo until January 2021. But he says that a welcoming mentor and practice with the tools he'll use in his Environment, Resources and Sustainability courses, like LEARN and Microsoft Teams, have prepared him to take on his first year at Waterloo. He'll be balancing studies with a part-time job as a lifeguard, and Waterloo Ready has prepared him for that too. “We talked about that a bit. Especially around scheduling with a calendar and making sure you have a planner. I’m definitely going to be using those tools.”

Schaap has settled into her residence and feels ready to tackle her first year, thanks in part to Waterloo Ready and the guidance she continues to receive from Tuju. “I am so thankful that we had it. I’m genuinely very grateful for the experience because it made me feel a lot more comfortable,” she says.

Despite taking a leading role in helping students prepare, Tuju credits each of the participants for making the most out of this new experience. “There’s only so much I can do on my end. The big part was the initiative shown by all of them to come and to openly participate with a group of strangers. It was really awesome, and that’s what made the experience a success.”

Continue to connect

The start of the school year doesn’t mark the end of peer mentorship. Students continue to connect with peers and upper-year students through Orientation. The Student Success Office is offering online peer success coaching appointments and a Foundational Training Program so you can build your mentorship skills in the Fall Term and beyond. The Student Leadership Program can also prove you with the opportunity to connect with peers from other programs and learn core leadership skills from upper year students.

Visit them to learn more about online opportunities for academic development, international student resources and other ways to get involved.

Sustainability Action Fund open for applications

A message from the Sustainability Office.

Have a project idea that would support sustainability on campus?

The Sustainability Action Fund is now accepting applications for projects that will work towards the University’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy. Projects can include infrastructure improvements, campaigns or activities to increase awareness of sustainability issues on campus, and programs to support sustainable behaviours.

Applicants can request between $2,000 and $20,000 in funding this term, and can be led by staff, students, or faculty members.

Some examples of past projects that have successfully received funding include:

• Standardized waste receptacles;
• Secure bike cage;
• SDG youth training conference;
• Arts/Environment gardens signage; and
• E-waste collection stations.

The deadline for applications is Friday, October 23. Full details and instructions are available on the Sustainability Action Fund webpage.

Notes to wake you up when September ends

Joe Petrik of the School of Computer Science snapped this photo of a flock of geese reflected in the windows of the Mathematics 3 building. If they're flying south for the winter, they'd better be prepared for 14 days of self-isolation when they get there.