Thursday, November 22, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
What if the Library were open till 3am during exams?
Hello blog world,
It’s been awhile.... But I’m back and ready to go!!! Lots to update on for sure. Well the school year is already in full swing, and by that I mean first semester is quickly reaching an end. Before we know it there will be shiny new xrings all around campus, and the start of exam season will be upon us. With the exam season comes a major concern and that would be STUDY SPACE!
The Student Senators have been out and about asking students what some of their concerns are related to academics. One of the most common responses was study space, and let me assure you it is at the top of my agenda! I am currently exploring the option of extending library hours for the December Exam period. I would like to know your thoughts on this. Is having the library open till 3am something of interest to you or your friends? Would you stay at the library past midnight? Would you rather have the library open late or the SUB? All very important questions that I would love/need to hear feedback on. I will be sure to keep everyone informed as this process continues, and I further embark on the journey of bringing late night study space to StFX. I am meeting regularly with Lynne Murphy the University Librarian and her staff, as well as Dave MacNeil the Interim Director of Safety and Security, and Leon MacLellan the Director of Facilities Management.
Please let me know your thoughts by answering this question on The U Facebook or email me at su_vp@stfx.ca. The more I can show the Library and Administration that this is a top priority for us students, the greater the possibility of extended hours.
http://www.facebook.com/theu.stfx.students.union <- Please answer the question at this link
The current discussions in regards to extended hours concern security of students and the building. I remain optimistic that we can find a solution that all can agree on. Again though any feedback is greatly appreciated.
In other news the Antigonish Womens Resource Centre and The Students' Union joint project on Engaging Youth and Preventing Violence Against Women at StFX was recently made public. Check out the link below.
Please stay tuned for more information on STUDY SPACES and the potential for a FALL READING DAY BREAK.
More to report in the coming week or so. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.
Be kind to one another and ask your friends if they would study late at the lib in December!
Rachel Mitchell
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
comm update!
Hello everyone!
Hope you are all enjoying this lovely month of Movember and the wonderful staches that are a-growin'! Here is a little update from the Communications office!
This weekend Wylder and I attended COCA East and Nova Scotia Music Week (NSMW) in Liverpool, NS. For those of you who missed my post about COCA in the summer, COCA stands for the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities. It is an organization that The U is a member of, and it provides opportunities for collaboration, block-booking and professional development for its members. We attended COCA National in Montreal in June, and this weekend at COCA East we were able to meet with all the Atlantic member schools. We paired these meetings with Nova Scotia Music Week where we attended as Buyers so that we could have the added value of attending showcases and developing relationships with artists and managers!
The weekend was great - on Friday and Saturday we attended "5-minute pitch sessions" in which artists had 5 mins to pitch why we should book them for shows. This was great because we were able to see a lot of artists in a short-period of time. Following these sessions we moved into meetings with COCA East. We touched on a lot of topics including recaps of our respective Frosh Weeks (what worked, what didn't work), year-long communication strategy, upcoming small-scale programming, Frost Week plans and block-booking opportunities for second semester. Talking with the others schools is what is most beneficial about these conferences - the discussions we have about what worked and didn't work is a great learning experience and something we can take back to our schools. As well, block-booking can greatly reduce our costs when it comes to bringing in artists for away as we usually get a deal on travel costs. Overall, lots of great discussions were had and I learned a lot!
In the evenings we attended showcases of different artists. I was very excited to see Willie Stratton showcase which gave us a taste for his show this Saturday at The Inn - let me tell you, HE IS UNREAL. You do not want to miss this show! We also attended a songwriters circle and are currently working with a few other East Coast schools to coordinate a songwriter circle for second semester! We'll update you on this project as it progresses! There is a lot of amazing talent in Nova Scotia, and it was great to be a part of the weekend!
Other projects I've been working on have been updates to theu.ca - over the summer we upgraded from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 with the new design of the website. Unfortunately during this upgrade a few glitches have occurred with the site. It has been a long process but I FINALLY have almost all executive and sub-executives, councillors and senators up in the people section of theu.ca. There is still a few adjustments and updates to be made, but hopefully this will help a bit with people trying to find contact information. As well, the fall office hours for the executive have been posted in their profiles! I will be working over the next two weeks to get the office hours for all councillors and sub-executive posted as well, so that this information is easier for students to find!
This post is already quite lengthy so I'll save the discussion of Movember for another day. For now, be sure to like our Facebook page to stay up to date on the campaign! See you all The Inn this Friday for Vilify (GOING TO BE SO GOOD - she's the coolest person I've ever met)
To Infinity and Beyond,
Kaleigh
Hope you are all enjoying this lovely month of Movember and the wonderful staches that are a-growin'! Here is a little update from the Communications office!
This weekend Wylder and I attended COCA East and Nova Scotia Music Week (NSMW) in Liverpool, NS. For those of you who missed my post about COCA in the summer, COCA stands for the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities. It is an organization that The U is a member of, and it provides opportunities for collaboration, block-booking and professional development for its members. We attended COCA National in Montreal in June, and this weekend at COCA East we were able to meet with all the Atlantic member schools. We paired these meetings with Nova Scotia Music Week where we attended as Buyers so that we could have the added value of attending showcases and developing relationships with artists and managers!
The weekend was great - on Friday and Saturday we attended "5-minute pitch sessions" in which artists had 5 mins to pitch why we should book them for shows. This was great because we were able to see a lot of artists in a short-period of time. Following these sessions we moved into meetings with COCA East. We touched on a lot of topics including recaps of our respective Frosh Weeks (what worked, what didn't work), year-long communication strategy, upcoming small-scale programming, Frost Week plans and block-booking opportunities for second semester. Talking with the others schools is what is most beneficial about these conferences - the discussions we have about what worked and didn't work is a great learning experience and something we can take back to our schools. As well, block-booking can greatly reduce our costs when it comes to bringing in artists for away as we usually get a deal on travel costs. Overall, lots of great discussions were had and I learned a lot!
Other projects I've been working on have been updates to theu.ca - over the summer we upgraded from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 with the new design of the website. Unfortunately during this upgrade a few glitches have occurred with the site. It has been a long process but I FINALLY have almost all executive and sub-executives, councillors and senators up in the people section of theu.ca. There is still a few adjustments and updates to be made, but hopefully this will help a bit with people trying to find contact information. As well, the fall office hours for the executive have been posted in their profiles! I will be working over the next two weeks to get the office hours for all councillors and sub-executive posted as well, so that this information is easier for students to find!
This post is already quite lengthy so I'll save the discussion of Movember for another day. For now, be sure to like our Facebook page to stay up to date on the campaign! See you all The Inn this Friday for Vilify (GOING TO BE SO GOOD - she's the coolest person I've ever met)
To Infinity and Beyond,
Kaleigh
Update on a number of things!
Hello Xaverians!
It has been a while since I have blogged and I will not be
able to share everything in this post today. I want to discuss three things
though: collective bargaining, and our upcoming lobby conference, and Students
Nova Scotia’s first position paper.
The Students’ Union release its first briefing note on the
current Collective Bargaining Negotiations which are being held between the St
FX Association of University Teachers and the university Administration on
Friday. This document can be found here: http://theu.ca/?q=node/298.
The Students’ Union is committed to updating this information as often as
needed so that all members are informed. Please check theu.ca often for
updates.
Secondly, I wanted to discuss the lobbying conference that
Patrick Carruthers, VP Finance and I will be attending next week. This is a
week long Advocacy Week which the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
(CASA), organizes. Pat and I will have meetings with MPs, senators, and others
who work on Parliament Hill to discuss Post-Secondary Education in Canada.
In the lobbying document which we will be using this year
the topics covered are: better funding grants, in-study income exemption,
exempting one vehicle, open access, protecting student intellectual property,
and the student voice in Canadian research. These six topics will form the
framework around which we have discussions with those on Parliament Hill. If
you have any questions about these topics, or the conference, please don’t
hesitate to contact me (su_pres@stfx.ca)
or Pat (su_tres@stfx.ca).
Finally, Students Nova Scotia is about to release is first
position paper. This has been apriority of Students Nova Scotia since the
rebranding I spoke about in the summer. Position papers allow for our group to
take a stance on certain issues affecting students in Nova Scotia. The first
paper is a position paper on Funding and Accountability. Pat and I will be
hosting a discussion period this Friday at 4:30 PM during which we will present
a briefing on the paper followed by discussion about the content. After the
meeting, we will be submitting St. FX’s thoughts to Students Nova Scotia so that
they can make any changes before the Board approves the paper later this month.
If you are interested in participating in this discussion, please email Pat or
I and we will send you the full paper.
That is all for now, as always, if there is anything that
you have a question about or want to discuss further please let me know!
Cheers,
Nick
Friday, October 26, 2012
Services Update
Hey everyone!
It's been such a pleasure finally working on campus with all of you back! How is it already October 26th?! That is crazy. Lots have been going on in my office since the summer time so I thought I would give you all an update to remind you of some of the services that are provided for YOU! I will discuss those that are not included in this post, in my next blog update, but please feel free to check them all out online NOW at http://theu.ca/services. I am also starting to look at all of our services and beginning to prepare an evaluation to present next semester. If you have any interest I would love to hear some feedback from you! Send me an e-mail with any positive or negative experiences you've had, things you want to see change within your services or even services you love/utilize the most! As the year goes on there will be lots of ways for you to generate feedback but as for now, I would still love to hear from you :)
On the Health and Wellness front, I have some good news! We all remember my post earlier in the summer about my search for condoms, well low and behold, Trojan has generously donated our student body 5000 condoms. You can e-mail me or come into my office at anytime if you want some. And if you'd rather not ask, I always have a bucket full on my door.
As a reminder for students who are on campus in the evening, visiting friends or working on school work in the library or SUB... we have Drive U available for YOU to drive you home safely and for free. We are always parked outside of the SUB from Sundays-Tuesdays 8PM-12AM, Wednesdays & Thursdays 8PM-1:30AM, and Fridays 9PM-1:30AM. It's getting chilly!
Our Student Food Resource Centre has been handing out recipes for Warm Autumn Apple Crisp, along with their contact information. Sometimes being a student means living off a tight budget. The Student Food Resource Centre offers temporary food relief to ensure that every student at St. FX has access to the food they need to stay happy and healthy. For those of you who do not know, it is located in the Municipal Building located on 42 West Street. It is open Monday to Friday from 9:15-5:30, if you have any questions or concerns please contact our coordinator Amy Brierley at su_food@stfx.ca. As for the recipe for Warm Autumn Apple Crisp:
Ingrediants:
1 or 2 apples (depending on the size), peeled and sliced
3 Tbsp. rolled oats (not instant)
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. whole wheat flower
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. melted butter
Preparation:
Place fruit in a small microwave safe bowl. Combine dry ingredients and stir in melted butter. Sprinkle topping over fruit. Then you microwave on high for 2 1/2 minutes or until apples are tender.
:)
Last but not least, if you are looking for OFF CAMPUS HOUSING for the 2013-2014 YEAR, please visit our awesome and helpful website: THEUHOUSING.CA. Once you are into the website, click on the search tab at the top and begin to browse through the many homes available in the 'nish! We have an Off Campus Housing Officer, Ciara Yorston, hired to check out the homes and visit landlords to then broadcast them on our website for you. Best of luck in your house hunting! If you have any questions or would like her help with anything, please feel free to e-mail her at su_oco@stfx.ca! Keep your eyes peeled for a fresh new look on our off campus housing website.
I hope you all have a very fun and safe weekend, see you all at the Inn for Oktoberfest and TIM CHAISSON!
Tessa
It's been such a pleasure finally working on campus with all of you back! How is it already October 26th?! That is crazy. Lots have been going on in my office since the summer time so I thought I would give you all an update to remind you of some of the services that are provided for YOU! I will discuss those that are not included in this post, in my next blog update, but please feel free to check them all out online NOW at http://theu.ca/services. I am also starting to look at all of our services and beginning to prepare an evaluation to present next semester. If you have any interest I would love to hear some feedback from you! Send me an e-mail with any positive or negative experiences you've had, things you want to see change within your services or even services you love/utilize the most! As the year goes on there will be lots of ways for you to generate feedback but as for now, I would still love to hear from you :)
Before I do update, there is one apology I owe you. I acknowledge that the Tutor-Database from our X-Tutoring service has been down since you have been back, it was a technical difficulty but I assure you it will be up ASAP. We have figured out some of the loopholes and you will be able to access the database in no-time, I will keep you updated! I am truly sorry if you have experienced any inconvenience but as I have done and will continue to do: please send me an e-mail if you need a tutor and I will manually try to connect you with someone on our list. Also, if anyone is reading right now who wants to BE a tutor, we need lots of them! From science, to engineering, to business to arts. All you need is a 75% or higher in the course you wish to tutor and your contact information can be registered in our database for students to contact you if they need. Please send me an e-mail at su_userv@stfx.ca. Thanks :)
On the Health and Wellness front, I have some good news! We all remember my post earlier in the summer about my search for condoms, well low and behold, Trojan has generously donated our student body 5000 condoms. You can e-mail me or come into my office at anytime if you want some. And if you'd rather not ask, I always have a bucket full on my door.
As a reminder for students who are on campus in the evening, visiting friends or working on school work in the library or SUB... we have Drive U available for YOU to drive you home safely and for free. We are always parked outside of the SUB from Sundays-Tuesdays 8PM-12AM, Wednesdays & Thursdays 8PM-1:30AM, and Fridays 9PM-1:30AM. It's getting chilly!
Our Student Food Resource Centre has been handing out recipes for Warm Autumn Apple Crisp, along with their contact information. Sometimes being a student means living off a tight budget. The Student Food Resource Centre offers temporary food relief to ensure that every student at St. FX has access to the food they need to stay happy and healthy. For those of you who do not know, it is located in the Municipal Building located on 42 West Street. It is open Monday to Friday from 9:15-5:30, if you have any questions or concerns please contact our coordinator Amy Brierley at su_food@stfx.ca. As for the recipe for Warm Autumn Apple Crisp:
Ingrediants:1 or 2 apples (depending on the size), peeled and sliced
3 Tbsp. rolled oats (not instant)
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. whole wheat flower
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. melted butter
Preparation:
Place fruit in a small microwave safe bowl. Combine dry ingredients and stir in melted butter. Sprinkle topping over fruit. Then you microwave on high for 2 1/2 minutes or until apples are tender.
:)
Last but not least, if you are looking for OFF CAMPUS HOUSING for the 2013-2014 YEAR, please visit our awesome and helpful website: THEUHOUSING.CA. Once you are into the website, click on the search tab at the top and begin to browse through the many homes available in the 'nish! We have an Off Campus Housing Officer, Ciara Yorston, hired to check out the homes and visit landlords to then broadcast them on our website for you. Best of luck in your house hunting! If you have any questions or would like her help with anything, please feel free to e-mail her at su_oco@stfx.ca! Keep your eyes peeled for a fresh new look on our off campus housing website.I hope you all have a very fun and safe weekend, see you all at the Inn for Oktoberfest and TIM CHAISSON!
Tessa
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
THE BLOG IS BACK!
Greetings everyone! So after seeing the success of the summer blog this year, and the positive response we got from students, we decided we will continue the blog throughout the school year. We did kind of miss out on about 2 months worth of updates in our hiatus, but hopefully we can bring you guys back to speed as quickly as possible with what we've been up to! Unfortunately I didn't really think that far ahead when coming up with the domain name, so the url is going to have to stay at theusummer, but hopefully people are used to it by now! Annd of course, we all wish it was always summer!
Soooo... since August? Well Frosh Week was a huge success and feels like a billion years ago. I had so much fun and it was amazing to see the Frosh having such a great time, huge thanks to everyone who made the week so successful (o-crew, security, student services, etc etc). After Frosh Week, I'm pretty sure September didn't exist. It felt like I closed my eyes for two seconds and it was already Homecoming. We did have great success with the September Sidewalk Fest on September 14th - it was great to see so many students out in the town. We are hoping this event will be an annual one and I'll be adding info about it in my transition report. It is great to have such a positive relationship with our town. We also ran the Football campaign for Sexual Assault Awareness Week in September, which garnered lots of attention and I think the campaign was very powerful and effective in shedding light on this important issue. You can check out the campaign's website at takethepledge.tumblr.com.
This week my #1 focus is pulling together and solidifying the plan for the Movember campaign. Last week I met with Colin Brennan and Leo Macpherson from Athletics, and they are completely on board for partnering with the campaign. The Men's Hockey team is going to be doing some great events throughout the month to help out. As well, I've reached out to faculty and staff... the main goal is to make this a campus wide campaign! We are going to have a great kick-off party on November 2nd at The Inn so watch out for info on that ... for now be sure to head to The Official FB Page and like the page to stay up to date on the campus campaign. I AM SO EXCITED I LOVE MOVEMBER ... more info to follow!
Also this Saturday is our first concert at The Inn feat. Tim Chaisson and Poor Young Things. Wylder and I saw Poor Young Things perform in Montreal this summer and they were unreal, and of coure... Tim. Need I say more? I actually cannot explain how much I love him. I mean, watch this video and look at his eyes. HIS EYES! He has a new album out and the show is going to be amazing, and tickets are only $5!! That's crazy! Get your tickets now at the Info Desk!
That's all for now, I will be posting again soon because there is much more to update you on! Good luck to everyone who is still writing exams, and see you all at WING NIGHT
- Kaleigh, VP Comm
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