Don Diaries Table of Contents:

1. Purpose of Newsletter

2. Manager’s Corner

3. Student Leadership

4. Maximize Potential

5. OTD

6. Social Committee

7. Interesting Events and Cam-

paigns

8. Don Spotlight

9. Birthdays

10.Shout Outs

ISSUE 3

Purpose

The Residence Life Management Team is sending this newsletter out to

Dons on a bi-weekly basis. Our hopes are to:

Provide Dons with information outside of Big and Small Team Meetings.

To keep Residence Life staff connected.

To give Dons a hard copy of important information.

We really hope you enjoy reading these! Don’t ever hesitate to send feed-

back to reslife@uwaterloo.ca

Manager’s Corner...

Hi everyone,

In an earlier newsletter I mentioned that I was hoping to highlight a few key initiatives that are ongo-

ing in our area. My goal in sharing this information is to be more transparent with you and to help

shed light on how the management team is spending their time behind the scenes. In this week’s edi-

tion I wanted to touch on assessment.

With the development and refinement of the uW Strategic Plan departments now have a clearer ob-

jective to work towards. Behind the scenes we are engaging in numerous conversations with campus

partners, looking for ways to further collaborate in an effort to unify the student experience.

The question we must answer is – why does what we do matter? And how can we prove it? This is

where assessment plays a key role. To be able to tell our story on campus and to prospective students,

we need the data to support the experience we believe in and value.

Right now the Don Evaluation and Student Experience Survey is available for completion. This year

we’ve purchased a new tool for the student experience survey component. The survey tool is used by

numerous institutions across North America. The data that we receive can now be compared and con-

trasted with these additional schools, helping give us a “benchmark” for how we’re doing. It is a really

exciting time and we’re anxious to see how the information can help move our program forward.

Several members of the Res Life Management Team have also been working towards an assessment

plan for the Maximize Potential Certificate Program. As a relatively new program in Housing, it is im-

portant that we take the pulse of this initiative to ensure it is meeting the needs of our students and

aligning with the Strategic Plan.

The management team is also conducting a Programming Audit. This is an assessment of our current

programming model which will help to analyze and identify the gaps that may exist.

These are a few examples to highlight how assessment is effecting our day to day work. We are lucky

to work with an organization that is flexible and values risk taking so that we can continually improve

upon the great residence life experience we already have!

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the initiatives I’ve mentioned.

Jess

Student Leadership

ROCKSTAR REGISTRATION HAS OPENED @ the Front Desks!

Fan Training Sessions:

- Wednesday October 23rd (Beck Hall CC, 8:30pm) and

- Sunday October 27th (Village 1 Great Hall, 8:30pm)

Please post this Facebook Blurb to your residents:

What's up Rockstars!

If you haven’t yet heard of AMPED, it is a 2-day conference in Ron Eydt Village on November 8th and 9th

that will totally redefine what it means to be a leader. There will be guest speakers, 6 leadership workshops,

tons of networking, delicious food, and lots of swag! AMPED is an intimate conference for 150 leaders living

in residence. It is the only Personal Development credit offered for the Maximize Potential Program for Fall

2013, so if you’re intending to finish your certificate by the holidays, be sure to sign up!

Take a look at the promotional video, follow AMPED on Twitter or it on Facebook to get more info. You can

sign up at any from desk RIGHT NOW for only $20!

The AMPED Planning Committee hopes to see you there!

Maximize Potential

WORKSHOPS:

Burst Your Bubble Workshop:

Thursday October 24, 2013

10:15pm

REV NQL

Hot & Spicy Workshop:

Sunday November 3, 2013

6:30pm

UWP Beck Hall Community Centre

Hot & Spicy Workshop:

Sunday November 3, 2013

8:30pm

V1 Great Hall

Suit Style Cooking Show

Wednesday November 6, 2013

5:30pm

FS SCH (Laurel Room)

Maximize Potential Email:

maximizepotential@uwaterloo.ca

Calendar:

https://uwaterloo.ca/housing/sites/ca.housing/

files/uploads/files/mp_calendar_fa112013.pdf

Ongoing Training and Development

RLMT Advice on Staying Connected

Here are some tips that have worked for the RLMT in maintaining friendships and ro-

mantic relationships with people outside of ResLife!

Starting a 'weekly tradition' with friends...going out and doing something

together e.g. Tuesday movie nights!

Including friends and partners in your residence activities and letting them

get to know your residents.

Share the reasons why they are busy or the purpose behind why they do what they do. It can help those around you

who are not in ResLife understand the importance you place on certain activities or job requirements and why it mat-

ters to all of us as ResLife staff. It can also help friends, family, and loved ones understand why this job is more of a

lifestyle!

Schedules probably clash terribly because everyone is studying for different midterms… But why not study for them TOGETHER?! Invite them to your suite!

Talk at least once a day with your partner, whether that’s in the morning, afternoon or evening- try your

best to get one conversation in.

HAUNTED DON PROM

The Don Social Committee Presents the Haunted Don Prom...

When: Saturday, October 26th from 6-8pm

Where: Village 1 Great Hall

Dress Code: Semi- Spooky Formal

Who: UWP, WCP, CLV, MKV, V1, REV and MH Dons featuring a DJ!

What: There will be bobbing for donuts, a jack-o-lantern carving contest amongst small teams, music/dancing, voting for best ___ and prom-goers will make corsages for their dates!

Why: To celebrate this haunted time of year and bring our ResLife community together!

Note: Pumpkins have been delivered to front desks and must be brought to the Prom in order to be judged.

Please save the date because it’s definitely going to be a good time- I mean who doesn’t want to go to Prom all over again?!

Interesting Events

and Campaigns

Mental Health Wellness Day tomorrow...

by the Mental Health Wellness Day committee.

Get your orange t-shirts ready, because tomorrow is Mental Health Wellness Day. This annual initiative

brings the campus together to demonstrate to our students that uWaterloo is a caring community where it

is safe to talk about mental health concerns and that we have the resources to help.

More than 2,500 t-shirts have been delivered across the main and satellite campuses, thanks to the help of

Central Stores and student volunteers, along with an information card listing the three key messages to

share with students:

•1 in 5 Canadians will be affected by mental illness in their lifetime

•uWaterloo is a caring community and is a safe place to ask for help

•We have the resources to help you

The back of the t-shirts reads ‘1 in 5 – Ask Me’ as a way to reinforce to students that any faculty, staff or stu-

dent leader can direct them to available resources. There is also information about a new, 24-hour national

hotline called Good2Talk, similar to the Kids Help Phone but for university-aged students.

Don’t forget to wear your Mental Health Wellness Day t-shirt tomorrow and get ready to tweet how you

stay mentally healthy using the #1in5 hashtag.

DON SPOTLIGHT

This weeks’ spotlight is on WCP aka

Waterloo Central Place! Located a jog

away from UWP is this suite-style

sister residence.

Let’s see what the gang– Ariel,

Ankit, Camila, Sam, Nate, Graeme,

Kim, Amal and Sachin are up to.

WCP Dons are keeping it smooth with

a smores and jam party, signing songs,

and being joyous. They’re carving

pumpkins and decorating in celebra-

tion of the season. They’re also play-

ing dodge ball and spending time

drinking tea with their residents!

Aren’t they a

beautiful bunch?!

Happy Birthday to… ! October

Lukas McIntosh 1st

Vanessa Forchilli 1st

Umema Sharafali 7th

Jasmine Lapalme 8th

Stephen Lim 11th

Breanne Reel 14th

Max Louis-Juste 15th

Rebecca Macalpine 18th

Adriana Richard 21st

Guy Daniels 21st

Kamadchi Karunanandan 23rd

Dudley Ellis 27th

Alexander Mistakidis 28th

Thomas Dicsi 29th

Amal Ghedi 29th

Farzaneh Irani 30th

Brandon Rad 31st

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

Kamadchi and

Jess Lang!

SHOUT OUT TO…

Send your shout outs to reslife@uwaterloo.ca.

Shout out to Brendan Luangkhot (from V1) and Dillon Coull (from UWP) for organizing and

ROCKING a successful series of EMBRACE work-shops across residences! And thank you to the entire team of volunteer EMBRACE facilitators

who did an awesome job!

- Maximize Potential Team

Shout out to Brian Cunha and all the good candy he has in his office for us!

- Cathline Alexander

Shoutout to all the dons because we

are awesome.

That is all.

- Love Sasha Oliveira :)

Thank you for

reading!

Issue 3 Challenge:

What has been your best

Donning experience so far?

Email your responses to

Sudhershi at

reslife@uwaterloo.ca.