5 Things I’ve Learned Being a Don

Hey Yorkies!

Today I’m here to talk to you about donship and what it’s like being a don. As a current don for Vanier Residence, I’ve got to say that donship has been one of the most exhausting yet rewarding, and life-changing experiences I’ve had so far in my life. When I first applied to donship, I had absolutely NO idea what it would entail, but I knew I liked the idea of living on residence (come on, everyone loves the benefit of having a free room). I didn’t sign up for the free room though, but to be challenged. I just wasn’t prepared for the amount of challenge it would bring me! Becoming a Don has submerged me into this concept of Residence Life and Don Life, and I was introduced to a whole new world which revolved around empowerment and leadership, a world that I had no idea existed six months ago.  I’m here to share with you five important things I learned when becoming a don.

1. Time Management: Being a don takes up a huge chunk of your time between one-on-ones, bulletin boards, meetings, casual interactions with your residents, programming (active and passive), and the list goes on and on. Time management is a crucial tool in becoming a don because it assists you in managing everything that needs to get done, while having time to practice self-care (which is ESSENTIAL for donship) and focus on your academics (which is important to any student) . Donship is estimated to take up to 15 hours of your time weekly, but in reality, being a Don is a 24 hour job. If you’re planning on applying to become a don, make sure to sharpen your time management skills through attending workshops, watching time management videos or even reading a time management book!

2. Self Care: As I stated in number one, self care is ESSENTIAL for donship. Becoming a don means offering support to your residents through a wide variety of cases including but not limited to: alcohol use, conflict and mediation, assisting international students in homesickness and mental health issues. To be able to support your residents to the best of your ability, you must first support yourself through scheduling periods of self-care. A good way to know when you need self-care is recognizing warning signs of stress, being aware of your own vulnerabilities and acknowledging your limits/ability of skill. Self-care can be anything you enjoy doing such as: reading a book, meditation, going for a walk or listening to your favorite music. Read this Self-Care DIY for more info on how to self-care and why it’s so important! http://www.shamelessmag.com/stories/2012/11/self-care-diy-how-just-you/1/

3. Empowerment: One of my top favorite things about becoming a don is the chance to empower the residents in my building. As a Don, you are given so many options on how to empower your residents through Resident Recognition, RLAAF Fees, One-on-One’s and casual student interactions. It’s important to keep the FISH Principle in mind when being a Don: 1. Play 2. Be There 3. Make Their Day 4. Choose Your Attitude. Empowering your residents is a two-way process in which you and the resident both end feeling happy! A way you can empower your residents is allowing your residents to be co-facilitators in your programming through asking them what type of event they want to see, inviting them to help coordinate a particular house event or even encouraging your resident to see the DLLO on how to become further involved with residence. To read more on the FISH principle: http://www.charthouse.com/content.aspx?nodeid=22610

4.Resilience: There will be times where you have spent hours upon hours planning the perfect program, only to find that two people showed up to the actual event. Or you can be working on making that perfect bulletin board for your house, only to have it unnoticed by your residents. Being a Don has taught me to accept that these sort of things are bound to happen and all you can do is dust off your shoulders, get off the floor and try again! Donship is all about resilience, and not letting things get to you personally, because chances are, there’s nothing personal about it!

5. Role Modelling: As a Don you will be put into many communities: your house community, your residence community, your don team community, your general don community and the residence life community on a whole. It’s important to realize that as a role model you play a key factor in these communities and how you behave may halt your community or enrich it. As I said before, Donship is a 24 hour job and it doesn’t end when you leave campus. It’s also important to note that there is no difference between your online identity and your public identity. An analogy which was given to us in don training was the fishbowl effect: as a peer leader it’s important to be conscientous of your actions, because much like a fish in a fish bowl, your actions are always visible to others on AND off campus!

Don Hiring is coming up in December so make sure to keep these in mind!

All the best!

YORK IS U “GET INVOLVED” VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION RECAP

Hello hello hello to all my fellow Yorkers!

I am loving the amazing energy currently available here at York University. September is probably one of my favourite months because it has some of the most notable events of the year: York Fest, Orientation Week, The Terry Fox Run The Great Canadian Hair Do and Festival Village! I am here to tell you all about one of the things closest to my heart (yeah I’m pretty cheesy, but only for this student-led organization): York is U

On Thursday September 19th we had a York is U “Get Involved” Volunteer Orientation where we discussed what York is U is, how you can get involved and future opportunities up ahead! If you missed the orientation or completely forgot everything from the orientation, no worries! That is the exact purpose of this blog post!

Ok so for starters, what is York is U & What Do We Do?

York is U is a student-led organization under Student Community & Leadership Development (SCLD) which provides volunteer and leadership opportunities to the York U community through planning york-wide events. Some key events for the school year are: Red & White Day Part One, Red & White Day Part Two, York’s 55th Birthday and Winter Orientation.

Wait, what the heck is Student Community & Leadership Development?

Student Community & Leadership Development are really focused on enriching and improving the student life at York. Their located at South Ross 172 and some compartments which lie under the SC&LD (not including York is U) are:

• RED Zone – Troubleshooters all-wise knowing oracles of the ways of the York
• Health Ed – Keeping you informed, healthy & awesome
• YU lead – Develop your leadership super powers
• Student Community Peer Mentors – introduce you to various clubs and help your club run events
• Res Life – provides awesome opportunities to get involved right here on campus in your residence

How do You Get Involved? 

As a Volunteer

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved with York is U! A great first step to take is to complete our get involved form which can be found under our York is U website or by clicking this link: http://yorkisu.ca/volunteer-get-connected/. Just complete the form and choose the events you would be interested in getting involved with! It’s THAT easy!

As a volunteer, it’s important to note that there is no time requirement! You can volunteer for as short as 30 minutes to as long as five hours, it’s completely up to you! There are also no general pre-requisites to getting involved with us, our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to become engaged.

As a Coordinator 

If you’re up for a bigger leadership role, apply to be a coordinator for one of our events. As a coordinator you would be getting knee-deep in planning our major events and will be gaining some valuable leadership skills! Coordinator postings will be available on our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/York-is-U/156311332220), our Twitter (https://twitter.com/yorkisu), YUConnect (http://yuconnect.yorku.ca/) and our general website (www.yorkisu.ca)

YUConnect

YUConnect can be seen as the hub for anything and everything extra-curricular! York is U primarily uses YUConnect to approve service hours, promote events, post coordinator/volunteer opportunities and much more! If you haven’t gone on YUConnect yet make sure you do so at (http://yuconnect.yorku.ca/). Once you’re there, join York is U to keep up to date with our events!

Service Hours: When you volunteer for us or attend our meet and greets, you will get hours which you can put on your co-curricular record! To find out more about YUConnect check out fellow RSA Chris’ blog on all you need to know about YUConnect here: http://thenewyorkerblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/yu-connect-the-hub-for-everything-extra-curricular/

So what am I getting in return for all my hard work?!

The benefits of becoming involved with York is U are plenty and are numerous!

– Free Swag: as a volunteer you instantly get a York is U volunteer shirt! There are also many other things we give out to committed volunteers such as USBs’, Highlighters, Pens, Scarves and much more!

– Co-curricular record: your filling up your co-curricular record which is a very important piece of document! Most jobs on campus require you to give your co-curricular record in and not your resume, so it’s important to have some involvement! It’s also a great tool for applying to graduate schools and finding a job after your undergraduate career

– Meeting new people: During my time at York is U I have met so many new people from various programs! Some of my closest friends were met through York is U!

What are the next steps? 

Our next volunteer opportunity is as soon as this Monday September 23rd 2013 from 4:00 PM-6:00 PM!  Meet at 4:00 PM at Michael Angelo’s (which is in the basement of the Atkinson building) for a free pizza lunch and information on how you can become an ambassador for the Good Neighbours Guide! Find more information here: http://www.yorku.ca/scld/pdf/GoodNeighbours.pdf

** If you’re interested in this opportunity, please fill out the form here and check mark the box Good Neighbour Sept 23 at 4:00 PM! Please also wear your York is U shirt or other York U related swag!

Where do I go if I got questions!

Online: Talk to us on our gazillion social media platforms! We are friendly!!

Physical: Stop by our office at South Ross 172 anytime or come to the kiosk at Vari Hall (all the ambassadors have kiosk hours where we promote our York is U swag!)

Defining the Village

Heya,

There were many times in my first year of university, where I found myself creeping down Sentinel Road, not knowing where I was heading, but all the same, I was enchanted by this little community hatched beside Keele campus. I had no idea what the village was, not one clue. Could you blame me? I was your typical commuter student, in and out as fast as you can say “lecture dismissed”. However, after meeting some fantastic people who lived there, I had the framework, but was still missing some fundamental details. So  I did some research, until I had a clear idea of what was exactly going down 10 minutes south of Vari Hall. Here is where I will give you the details.

THE VILLAGE 101

– The houses in the village are NOT owned by York University, they are privately owned. Many of these houses have been converted to “rooming houses” by their respectful owners, where they are given to rent for York University students and other people from different walks of life (there is no requirement of being a  York University student/having a York University affiliation to habitat the village)

-It is up to the STUDENT to ensure that they are living in safe conditions that meet fire conditions. It is also up to the student to know their rights when it comes to being a tenant for the specific property owner.

– There is no such thing as Dons/DLLOs/RLC’s/Residence Security at the village. It should be noted by now that since the village is not property of York University, there is a limited amount of responsibility which the university can take when it comes to the tenants residing at the village that are York University community members. 

-There is free transportation (The York U Shuttle) available for those residing in the village who are York University community members. The shuttle service includes “Village Express”, “Village West” as well as “Village East” and they operate within the hours of 6:00 PM and 2:00 AM from Monday to Friday. All shuttles pick you up in front of Vari Hall! 

– Living on the village means a lot more responsibility! 

Hope you learned a thing or two!

Job Searching 101 on Campus

Greetings Yorkers (past, present-day and future),

I am hoping that everyone has been having an impressive summer so far, and if you haven’t, then what are you waiting for! There is still so much time left, so not to worry. In this post I will be answering two fundamental questions about job searching: Where to go to apply for a position/prepare for an interview and Who is available to help the application process easier

WHERE

The career center is the go-to place for anything and everything job-related.  Their located at 211 McLaughlin College for all questions and concerns (so go ask some)! If you go to www.careercentre.yorku.ca you can find job postings, which are available to apply for are various positions you can narrow your search down to such as: contract, permanent, summer jobs, on-campus, off-campus, and so forth. You will also see the following three positions: Work/Study, York Engaged Students (YES) & College Life at York (CLAY). To be eligible for these positions you must fill out the student financial profile (SFP) available at www.sfp.yorku.ca (which you should be doing anyways to get access to $60 million dollars’ worth of scholarships/awards/bursaries). Before I go ahead with the Who part I want to describe the three positions so you have a better idea on what’s what.

Work/Study: Work/Study positions help you balance your expenses while offering your valuable work experience and giving you flexible hours. Work/Study positions usually schedule hours around your school schedule to ensure student success.

Examples of Work/Study Positions: Fine Arts Student Ambassador, Red Zone Student Ambassador

York Engaged Students (YES): The YES program gives students a chance to gain skills to assist them in preparing for the post-undergrad world.

Examples of YES positions: Student Ambassadors, Student Therapists

College Life At York (CLAY): College Life At York (CLAY) is a work/study position available on Keele campus, where you have the opportunity to enhance the student experience in the college system.

Examples of CLAY positions: Alumni Affairs Developer, Academic Resource Adviser

WHO

The Career Centre is not only the place to go to find certain jobs, but it is also the place to go to make the application process much easier in terms of resume writing, cover letter review, and much more. The Career Centre offers free workshops all year long on various applicant concerns such as “Making a Great First Impression”, “Dining Etiquette”, “Suit Yourself: Personality and Career Choice” and so much more! Most of their workshops are available to RSVP online on the website! Later on you can also receive a letter of recognition (upon request) from the Career Center stating that you attended these workshops (which can your awesome preparation for a future employer!)

100 Reasons To Love YorkU (Part 4)

Heya guys! Hope everyone had an epic weekend, finally some good weather (about time, eh). I hope this information hasn’t become too overwhelming, remember to take small doses daily (even though it’s equally as awesome to burst with pride). Anyways, hope you guys continue enjoying these reasons!

31. Future Event Planner for Vogue? Like to plan events? Want to have some experience programming large-scale events? Great! Then join your Residence Council where you can plan events all year long for your college while having fun! If you don’t live on residence, become a York is U co-ordinator and plan events such as The Terry Fox Run, York’s Birthday and Red & White Day. For all your hard work, you’ll be recognized at ceremonies, given hours and best of all, you’ll be making friends outside your program 🙂 Check out http://www.yorkisu.ca for future updates and contact your DLLO in september! Psst, I’m the DLLO for Vanier so 😉 yeaaaaah

32. I just want me some frozen yogurt: So I just found out this exciting news today, YORK LANES IS OPENING QOOLA! Don’t know what that is? cool, me neither but after some research, I’ve come to the conclusion it will be the best frozen yogurt place in Canada! It’s a huge name in the states and the first ever will be in our very own York Lanes! In addition to frozen yogurt (served Menchies style) there will be belgian waffles (YUUUUM) and smoothies (yummmy!)  Check it out: http://qoola.com/

33. Show me your teeth! YFS (York Federation of Students) automatically opts everyone into their health plan which covers things that are not covered by OHIP. This includes various benefits such as dental care, massages, etc. Use it! Get free teeth whitening at http://www.yorkusmiles.ca/

34. On Guard! I don’t know why but I’ve always had a fascination with sword-fighting. It sounded so awesome when I was a kid (not to mention bad ass). Feel free to embrace your inner child in practicing sports like Kendo (which means way of the sword in Japanese) and Fencing (Think tomb raider, lara croft style). As a bonus, it’s super cheap, only $100 a year for Kendo and $90 for Fencing! Everyone is welcome, no try outs required! Learn more at  http://www.yorku.ca/fencing/ and http://www.yorku.ca/kendo/default.htm

35. Movie Fanatic: Love watching movies and even more so, discussing them after? Future flixster critic? Check out Movies at York (M@Y) to watch free movies all year long in our huge lecture rooms! Past movies shown have included: the avengers, the dark knight, transformers and argo. They also have a pick of the month so keep your eyes and ears open! More information here https://yorku.collegiatelink.net/organization/movies/about

36. Culture Frenzy! The YFS hosts one of the most anticipated events of the year, Multicultural week. Learn about different cultures through trying new types of food at the YFS food market, participating in the multicultural parade and strutting your stuff on the fashion show which will display fashion and trends around the world. Check out the past multicultural week on http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2013/01/31/multicultural-week-kicks-off-with-smudging-ceremony-and-parade-monday/

37.I DON’T GET IT!!: If your in the sciences stream, that’s probably what’s going through your head 9 out of 10 times. Which is why you should take advantage of SOS (Students Ombuds Services) where you can access peer tutoring, peer advising, peer mentoring and career workshops! Read more on it at http://bethune.yorku.ca/sos/

38. Frosty The Snowman: Back from our winter break and in the mood for a York Fest type two kind of thing? Then partake in The YFS Frost Week! Frost Week includes amazingness such as free shisha, hot drinks, breakfasts and so forth! Events have in the past included dirty bingo and pub night! Last year there was a huge shisha tent out all week (it was awesome, to say the least). Read on last years’ event here https://www.facebook.com/events/542101519133520/

39. Yummy Grub: If your in the mood for trying something different and a bit fancier, then go to the underground! The underground is York’s restaurant and they have various food items (which are ALL delicious!) You can find the underground at the student center. The underground has also hosted various events such as break-dancing competitions, saint patrick’s day, and lounge night! Go to http://myunderground.ca/

40. Students For York: S4Y is a political club that strives to be a unionized voice for the students while supporting York University’s mission. They have various events such as  “Model Parliament” where students have the choice to represent NDP, Liberal, or the Conservatives and then engage in a friendly debate. There is also “Expression Fest” which is a york-wide talent show! Check it out at http://www.students4york.webs.com

Hope you enjoyed these reasons!

100 REASONS TO LOVE YORK U (PART ONE)

Heya guys! I hope ya’ll are a bit more confident after reading some of the amazing and insightful blog posts from my fellow RED Zone Ambassadors! (Check out Ernest’s post on some important dates:  http://mysavior1990.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/welcome-to-yu-yu-yu/ as well as Chris’ series on “YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ______” at http://thenewyork-er.tumblr.com/tagged/needtoknow.)

Earlier this week I got in a heated discussion with an old friend who is attending UFT on why YORKU (Insert CHEERS, HOORAHS, FIRE TORCHES!) is AWWWESOME! And… long story short, I won (obviously). So I will be giving you guys 100 Reasons why YOU should LOVE YORK!! I will be releasing 10 very important reasons weekly so keep an eye out ya’ll.

Before I get into my glorious and magical reasons, I would like to give a shout-out to my fellow RED Zone Student Ambassadors’ and twitter peeps for giving me their input on what should be on this list. Also a very special shout out to a particular RED Zone Student Ambassador: Nicole!! For helping me when I got stuck at 70 something (it happens guys!). Some of the reasons she gave I never even thought of (showing that there is SOOO much to love about York!) Check out her blog at: http://www.1inreallife.blogspot.ca/ 

1. Our Learning Skills Services: The Learning Skills services provides free workshops on: time management, exam preparation, study secrets (oo la lala) and much more. This is an EXTREMELY valuable resource ESPECIALLY for first year students. They help make your transition into university as smooooooth as possible! Attend eight workshops and get a passport for success (which can be valuable if you need to petition later on) Check out their event calendar at: http://www.yorku.ca/cds/lss/calendar/

2. York’s Student Financial Profile: This service makes finding money for school a breeze! Fill out the online application and York will match you with money, they take all the guess work out of it, what’s easier than that? Get your money smarts on at: http://sfs.yorku.ca/aid/sfp/

3. Cheap Meal Plans: York offers one of the cheapest meal plans in CANADA! Take advantage, have your food security for the year! View the plans at: http://foodservices.info.yorku.ca/meal-plan/

4. The Unique RED Zone: The RED Zone is a student-led transition program and there is nothing like it anywhere else! We operate Mon-Fri 10 AM-4 PM in the summer time at Vari Hall 1005 so come by (we’re lonely!). More info on us at: http://redzone.yorku.ca/

5. The Leadershape Retreat: We are the only university in Canada to host the Leadershape Retreat, a six day intense and interactive leadership-building experience (I don’t want to say more then that, it’ll ruin the surprise!). From someone who has gone, I can say it is truly an amazing experience. Get your leadership on at: http://www.leadershape.org/

6. Our Unique College System: Our college system helps further build spirit and pride through creating smaller as well as more tight-knit communities! It is extremely similar to Hogwart’s house! Get some college knowledge at: http://futurestudents.yorku.ca/colleges

7. The Unique Architecture: Some of the architecture at York is breath-taking (and this is from a science student who typically doesn’t even notice these type of things). If you don’t believe me, then look at this BlogTO article on our Life Sciences building being featured in the Five Ten Best Buildings in Toronto: http://www.blogto.com/city/2013/04/what_are_the_5_best_new_buildings_in_toronto_from_2012/

8. Let’s talk about Sustainability baby!: York University has been listed as one of Canada’s greenest employers for 2013 (YAY US). We are very sustainable at York and will even stop selling water bottles on campus starting from 2015!! Read up on our green at: http://www.yorku.ca/sustainability/

9. Butting Heads!: Conflict is bound to happen everywhere, and York University is not an exception to this universal law. Which is why we have the Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR for short!) to help you deal with all your non-academic conflicts! Read about the different service to get some conflict resolution (and some peace of mind!): http://www.yorku.ca/oscr/index.html

10.YORK IS U!: Keep an eye out for York is U from the get-go people! WE LOVE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS (WE LOVE YOU!!!!) and of course everyone else (WE LOVE YOU TOO!!!), We have events all year long such as: York’s Birthday, The Terry Fox Run and much more. You can volunteer for us as late as the DAY OF THE EVENT for some hours, a snazzy  volunteer t-shirt and life-long friends (hehe). Read about us at: http://yorkisu.ca/ (we got a fancy new page yay)

This marks the end of the TOP 100 REASONS (PART ONE) hope you learned something new! Until next time, Yorkies!! 🙂