Inside the Green Wing
The location of the wing provided an opportunity for a lovely new courtyard with trees and new seating areas.
The newly opened Green Wing was built with the help of dozens of alumni and friends who gave to the Shape the World Campaign and is a major accomplishment for St. Paul’s.
The wing is more than 42,000 square feet and consists of eight floors, two of which are mixed-use, while the other six contain a total of 76 'super single' residence rooms, which feature a large footprint and ensuite bathrooms. The residence floor names from the ground up are: Atlantis, Blackforest, Gotham, Arcadia, Olympus, and Galactica. These floors also include a shared kitchenette.
The kitchenettes provide an ideal common space for students
The main floor of Green Wing contains an expansion of Watson’s Student Centre, which includes a long accessibility ramp. Next to the student centre is a 1,200 square foot Student Commons space with soft seating and three private study rooms. Students working alone and in groups occupy these rooms continuously throughout the day. The Commons area provides a great space for students to sit with their laptops and headphones, to hang out with friends or simply to enjoy the views.
The expanded dining room also allowed for an accessibility ramp.
At the other end of the floor is a large 2,100 square foot space dedicated to the GreenHouse social impact incubator. The room has floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the green and other buildings on campus. Custom-built white board stations are placed strategically throughout the space.
GreenHouse students working in their new incubation space.
The other non-residence floor includes a new 24-seat seminar room, 6 administrative offices, and 8 hotel-style guest rooms.
The popular hotel-style guest rooms have been relocated from the graduate apartment building to the new wing.
The floors are serviced by a large elevator which has the added benefit of making the majority of St. Paul’s more accessible for our students and guests. The stairwell at the far end of the wing has windows that overlook the green and Laurel Creek, toward main campus. Street-style art was painted in the stairwell and can be viewed through the long windows at night when the stairwell is lit up.
The new Student Commons provides a space for students to study and or socialize with friends while enjoying the natural light from the floor to ceiling windows.
Don Profile: Ben Zammit
Program & Year: Science and Business, Year 3B
Hometown: Niagara Falls
Don of: La Bastille, Fall 2015 and Winter 2017, Alcatraz, Fall 2017.
What made you want to be a Don?
To put it simply, because I love to shut down parties. No, I wanted to become a Don so I could stay involved in St. Paul’s after my first year, which I enjoyed so much. Also, I always thought the senior Dons here were really cool, and I wanted to be like them. Now I am a senior Don, but it turns out I’m not as cool as I thought I’d be.
What is the most important part of your job as a Don?
The most important part of my job is having the right attitude. Staying positive and approachable can be difficult over the long term, especially when your own schoolwork is getting hectic. You have to remember that being ready can make or break somebody’s first-year experience.
What have you done for co-op terms?
I have worked for the federal government and for a winery. For the government, I worked at Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the infrastructure funding branch, which gave me a chance to try to improve infrastructure policy for First Nation’s communities that really need it. It taught me a lot about Indigenous relations, an important topic for myself as an Inuk, and relevant to my involvement with the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Center. Being from Niagara, I also got the chance to work at a winery called Tawse, the Canadian Winery of the Year in four of the last six years. I worked as a cellar hand, essentially the labour that gets wine made at the end of each season.
What did you most enjoy about your co-op experience?
The best part about co-op is that it’s a dry run for the real world. You can test out a life to find out if its right for you. I found out that planning a pension scares me more than not knowing where my next paycheck will come from. So, now I know public service isn’t for me, and that I want to start a business one day, hopefully a winery.
What kind of future co-op positions are you looking for?
My next co-op will be my last. Actually, right now I’m trying to decide between going to Australia to work at a winery in the Clare Valley, or to work at a microbrewery locally. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.
One or two things you are most passionate about?
I am a passionate cyclist. If I do end up choosing that Australian winery, I’ll actually have January off while the grapes are still ripening. I would dedicate it to biking from Canberra to Melbourne through the back country. I haven’t told my mother yet, though. I’m more worried about her biting me when I tell her than the snakes when I get there.
Where do you want to be in 5 years? 15 years?
In five years, I want to have been a cellar hand in a few more harvests in different parts of the world. On my list I have Italy, Chile, France, New Zealand, California, and South Africa. I want to get a Master’s in Enology and Viticulture from UC Davis or the University of Adelaide. In 15 years, I hope the winery I started is only losing a manageable amount of money.
Favourite St. Paul’s tradition or event?
I love community dinners, the events where the whole College comes down to Watson’s Eatery for a meal together. As a Don I get to plan them, and coming up with themes is always fun. Some good ones have been “Dad’s Backyard BBQ,” where we had the grill master asking who wanted a burger or dog. The Halloween murder mystery was complete with an Oscar-worthy film called “The Murder of 67,” which can be found on YouTube. In the works, we have our “Office Holiday Party” community dinner, but we’re going to need to find a water cooler for that one.
Greatest St. Paul’s memory to date?
I’ll have to go back to first year for that. What comes to mind is coming home after a long Friday night of “studying,” where my roommate Logan Miller and I stopped by Toast Time for some foosball before staying up even later just to talk. We’re still best friends now.
Looking back on your STP experience thus far, what has been the most pleasant surprise?
Coming away from my fifth term here, I think that what surprised me most was myself. The people that have come and gone in the time I’ve been here have affected who I am so much, which speaks to how important these years are. The friends I’ve made through St. Paul’s are still my closest, and I have the feeling that they always will be.
