Purpose of Newsletter

Manager’s Corner

Student Growth and Development

Ongoing Training and Development

Special Events and Info

Don Spotlight

Birthdays

Challenge

Don Diaries...

ISSUE 6

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 feedback to reslife@uwaterloo.ca.

Manager’s Corner... Hi Dons,

For those of you that are in exams – I wish you the best of luck! Don’t forget to take some time for yourself in December amidst the studying.

For any Fall only Dons – thank you again for your contributions to the program. Best of luck in your future endeavors!

Winter only Dons – we’re preparing for your arrival and are eagerly anticipating your return to campus! Enjoy the last few weeks of your coop term.

Projects keeping us busy recently include:

Analyzing the current programming model and beginning to make recommenda-tions for the future

Analyzing the Returner Don portfolio and beginning to make recommendations for the future

Conversations about “Experiential Learning” with Coop – a key theme in uWater-loo’s Strategic Plan

Conversations about Health & Wellness with Health Services; and beginning to explore new methodologies for supporting Mental Health

We have a well-developed Residence Life program, but are always looking at ways to increase efficiency, intentionality and support for students.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or con-cerns.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

Jess

SGD: Maximize Potential

A message from the Student Growth and Development Team…

We want to send out a big thank you from Maximize Potential for all Dons

who participated or were involved with workshops and sessions this past

Fall.

We appreciated and enjoyed working with each of you- or seeing you bring

out your residents to sessions!

We are already looking forward to having more Dons be a part of and get in-

volved with Maximize Potential for the Winter term.

THANK YOU!

- Franco, Becky, Sasha, & Julia

Ongoing Training and

Development Dealing with Exam Stress…

Think Positively. Approach the exam assuming that you will do the

best you can. Imagine it, picture it, repeat it to yourself - it's what top ath-

letes do to psych themselves up.

BREATHE! Slow, deep breaths tell the brain that there is no emergency requiring the services of your SWAT team. Relax-ation and focus will be easier to achieve.

If you draw a blank, don't panic! It happens. Work on a question you know and your brain is likely to find the mental file you're looking for

Keep things in perspective How much is your exam really worth? Have you performed pretty well throughout the rest of the course?

Stay away from the stimulants! Coffee, cigarettes, and sugar may briefly make you feel alert and energized... but if you're already nervous, they may drive you past being keyed up and into panic. Besides, you'll only crash and crave later.

And finally a few lessons learned from Mr. Bean… Be prepared & stay calm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98V9cEYe6-A

Good luck on all your exams!

Special Events and Info

Housing Fair

When: January 29th, 2014 11 am – 3 pm

Where: SLC Great Hall

The Waterloo Residences and Off-Campus Housing Office is hosting a Housing Fair, catered to all University of Waterloo students. The fair will take place this coming January in the Student Life Centre at the University of Waterloo.

The event is geared towards students searching for new accommodations, and January tends to be a peak time for students to search for off-campus housing. This open house-style event will bring together landlords, on-campus residences, and important resources to help students with their search.

How can ResLife help?

We will provide more intentional information in the New Year (ie. Promotions, messaging,

etc).

If Dons are speaking with students about Off-Campus Housing, have Dons encourage stu-

dents to focus on studying and preparing for the holidays and in January, OCH will have

them covered for their housing search.

If students have questions prior to the holidays, direct them to the OCH office for support

(SLC 0134).

Details TBD: potential Rez competition for highest turnout per community at the event.

Any questions – connect with Julie or Paul from OCH

(http://uwaterloo.ca/off-campus-housing/about/people)

Special Events and Info

MAB

Encourage your students to volunteer their time with the Marketing Advisory Board (MAB) for winter 2014! Great opportunity to meet new people, voice your opinion, and get free food!

Apply now at https://leads.uwaterloo.ca/Job/ApplicationIndex?advertisementId=134.

DON SPOTLIGHT

BE-WICHed!

This issue’s spotlight is on Woolwich and Beck!

Coordinated by the tiny, but powerful Miss Martini, this team has been rocking and rolling since September 2013!

We’ve got the Mighty Megan, Kind Kathleen, Jumping Jasmine, Noteworthy Nashid, Amazing Andrew, Yippie Yuna, Awesome Ananya, Daring Dillon,

Terrific Tariq, Cool Cara, Fantastic Farzaneh and Boss Man Brian!

Happy Birthday to… ! December

William Ho 2nd

Sachet Vora 2nd

Kimberly DCunha 3rd

Nancy Song 5th

Zainab Mahmood 18th

Graeme Shepherdson 20th

Diljyot Khara 21st

January

Miranda Marcotte 9th

Kathleen McCaughey 11th

Amrita Pal 13th

Tessy George 14th

Emma Furfaro 17th

Daniel Sabau 17th

Zehra Haque 19th

Drew Pilcher 24th

Connie Chung 25th

Lindsay Cartwright 26th

Thank you for

reading!

Issue 6 Challenge:

What was your favourite holiday memory?

Email your responses to Sudhershi at

reslife@uwaterloo.ca.

Last week’s challenge…

Cathline’s guilty pleasure is

KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS

Shout Outs?

Send them to reslife@uwaterloo.ca to be

featured on the next Don Diaries.