Community - What does it really mean?

by Melissa CarvalhalResidence Office Assistant

• • •

When prospective students and parents ask what is so special about residence at St. Jerome’s, the answer I often hear myself saying goes something like this: “It’s a great a community! Students are able to get know one another and there are a lot of leadership positions and opportunities for personal growth.” Well, that does sound great, but what does it really mean once students arrive?

Our residence is lucky to be able to provide a home to 286 first and upper year students. Because of these relatively low numbers (compared to 1000s of people in some main campus residences!) everyone has an opportunity to get to know each other, at least by name. The residence community is comprised of nine floors, each with their own don and anywhere between 10 and 41 students. As you can imagine, this really lends itself to new friendships and a lot of lengthy chats getting to know one another. The dons do their best to create a sense of belonging and inclusion for each person on their floor through floor meetings and trips, activities, and one-on-one conversations and connections.

Students living in residence are studying in any of the many different faculties across campus, from Applied Health Science, Arts, or Engineering to Environment, Math or Science.

Their commonality is their experience living at SJU. They have the opportunity to experience the “Living is Learning” mission statement we’ve adopted over the more common Living Learning Residence environment. The “Living is Learning” perspective offers students the prospect to truly engage themselves in development outside of their studies and to educate the whole person. The students enjoy various social, educational, leadership and community outreach initiatives that wouldn’t necessarily be available to them through their faculties.

University is often touted as a time when young adults ‘come to age’ and develop into adults with more acutely developed ideals and morals. Along with striving to educate the whole person, our residence community endeavors to provide an encouraging, safe and comfortable environment where students can connect with others and explore ideas.

The number of students who have been so willing to commit themselves to the residence community further

strengthens it. The dons spend a tremendous amount of time and energy supporting students and putting into action all the values of SJU. The Residence Life Team and Residence Council have spent countless hours planning events and programming. Most importantly, students have contributed to the community by attending events and supporting initiatives and programs. Without any one of these parts, the community could not be what it has come to be.

To sum it up, our residence has been very fortunate to be able to have just the type of student who is excited to contribute to the community. Without the support of these students and their families, I wouldn’t be able to tell prospective students about our great community feeling - I’d have to find something else to talk about. So Thank You to all the student who have committed themselves in one way or another to the community and a big Thank You to their parents and families who have supported them in their growth and development.

GRAPEVINEDECEMBER EDITION 2011

KEEPING YOU CONNECTED TO ALL THINGS SJ

THE ST. JEROME’S

Residence Life at SJU

by Erin KooistraResidence Life Program Director

• • •

The past three months have been a whirlwind of excitement for Residence Life programming at St. Jerome’s. From the busyness of Orientation week through the stress of exams, our Residence Life Team has provided social, educational and community outreach programming for the residents of St. Jerome’s.

In September, we offered a multitude of tutorials including, but not limited to: UW ACE, Quest, Nexus (all UW tools for students), a “how to” guide for using the Grand River Transit system and a fitness room orientation night.

In October and November, we introduced our students to weekly St. Jerome’s programming including: Pilates, Yoga, “Cooking with Ben”, “Active Thursdays” and Open Mic Night at Reaching Our Outdoor Friends (ROOF), a homeless youth drop in center and one of St. Jerome’s close community partners.

We also participated in larger events within the community such as: a trip

to Stratford to see Twelfth Night, The CN Tower Climb to raise money for United Way, Movember to raise awareness and funds for men’s health, a clothing swap and donation for homeless youth, Random Acts of Kindness Day, To Write Love On Her Arms Day (TWLOHA) to raise awareness for addiction, self-injury and suicide, and a Bake Sale in which all the items sold were made by the residents and all proceeds were given to ROOF.

Over the next month and next term, we will continue our weekly programs, introduce new initiatives, such as: “Ask the Expert”, where first year students have the opportunity to take on a leadership role and provide educational programming for their peers, and most importantly, continue to provide interest-based programming through social, educational and outreach means for the diverse student body of St. Jerome’s residence.

COOKING WITH BEN: SUSHI EDITION

Natalie Dewan, Catherine Bellissimo, and Amy Gonsalves (all second year students) show off their newly acquired sushi making skills.

Everyone waiting patiently to taste test their sushi creations. Captured in this photo (left to right) - Greg Hayes, Chris Downes, Luis Juarez, Matt Zarb, Max Li, Ceara Khoramshahi, Dane Moynihan.

RES LIFE ACTIVITIESA Charity Poker Tournament, planned by Mitch Hatfield and hosted by the RLT, raised money and canned goods for the St. John’s Soup Kitchen in Kitchener.

Pictured from left to right: Hansel Paico-Avilez, Adrianno Zaffino, Mitch Hatfield, Siddhant Sahu, Jon Ashbourne, Max Li.

The Room Mate Game, a chance for room mates to see how much they know about each other, drew a large crowd!

Captured in this photo: Tatianna Benning, Rianna Lewis, Goranka Jan, Claire Flood, Margaret Beinarovics.

ART WORKS! A CHANCE TO CREATE

AND HAVE FUNby Sarah Southcott-Whyte

Art Works! Coordinator, Residence Don & Third Year Student

• • •

This fall was the beginning of a new and exciting program in Residence! The program, named Art Works! provides weekly opportunities to participate in the creation of a variety of crafts from making stuffed animals out of socks to cell phone holders out of duct tape. Monthly workshops are also offered, teaching residents how to draw and paint. I’m glad to report the program has been a tremendous success!In keeping with the Residence Life mission “living is learning” Art Works! has been successful in providing a space for socialization, community building, learning, fun, stress relief as well as promoting creativity and problem solving. The experience of putting Art Works! together has been a fantastic one! The program has been met with a wonderful amount of enthusiasm and each week brings a new opportunity to spread that sentiment. It is my hope that soon I will not be the sole facilitator of Art Works, but that residents will become more heavily involved, using it not only as a space for creativity and community building, but also as a leadership opportunity. Art Works! has become a valuable part of the St. Jerome’s Residence and hopefully it will only continue to be met with success!

THE FIRST HAND RES LIFE EXPERIENCE

by Natalie DewanResidence Life Team Member

& Second Year Student• • •

Almost from my first day at St. Jerome’s I knew that I wanted to become a member of the Residence Life Team. As I watched last year’s RLTs welcome us to our new home during Orientation Week and continue to provide fun, community-building programming throughout the year, I developed a strong desire to enhance the university experience for future residents as the RLTs had enriched mine. I hope and believe that the current team is achieving this goal, and can say with certainty that my experience on the Residence Life Team has enriched my second-year experience. I have learned a great deal about working with a team, and thoroughly enjoyed planning events that I believe will benefit the amazing residents that I have had the privilege of getting to know.

This year we have shifted the focus of our programming still further to an equal balance between social, educational, and community outreach programming. Along with the many other student groups and leadership opportunities available in residence and across campus, we seek to provide opportunities for students to have fun, develop new connections, learn, give back to the community, and develop as a whole person. We try to meet these goals through a wide variety of programming from the CN Tower Climb, to lounge parties, or “the roommate game” to “Get Active Thursdays”.

My favourite new initiative this year, and one that has been extremely successful, is “Cooking with Ben”. Every other week Ben, a member of our amazing caf staff who runs the pantry, teaches residents how to make something new (such as quiche, sushi, or lasagna). This week we will be baking cookies, brownies, and more to sell at a bake sale. All proceeds from this sale will benefit ROOF, a shelter and drop-in centre for homeless youth that we have been working with continually this term. This is the perfect example of a fun, educational event that also allows us to give back to the community. It should be a great event and I hope for many more like it next term!

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Ghost made out of cheesecloth

Resident Emily Rutter painting the Creative Space walls

by Jackie Pearson Chartwells Food Service Director

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Chartwells Food Services and St. Jerome’s University have a great partnership and together are taking steps to reduce our ecological footprint and reduce waste.

This October we participated in Waste Reduction Week, where we focused on reducing waste in the Servery. Thursday nights for dinner we have different themes and during waste reduction week, we featured a Flexitarian Menu. A flexitarian is someone who makes an active choice to eat meatless meals from time to time as part of a healthy lifestyle, but is not a full-time vegetarian. A recent U.N. report concluded that raising animals for food is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all worldwide transportation systems combined. Our goal is to increase awareness about different menu options so that students have a wide variety of options to choose from. Throughout the week, students were encouraged to use a reusable mug for all beverages and to do their part by eating what they take and taking what they eat to reduce waste. These small and simple initiatives, if taken by each student, will collectively start to make a larger impact.

In April 2011, The Servery at St. Jerome’s University was awarded the Green Dining Award from Compass

Group Canada. The Green Dining Award is awarded to units that are leaders in the Green Dinning movement in terms of waste management, energy and water conservation, pollution prevention, purchasing and documenting and communicating these initiatives. Some of the initiatives that we are proud of that helped us to achieve this Status are our Recycling and Composting program in the Servery and in the Kitchen production area. Our equipment is also maintained on a detailed cleaning and maintenance schedule to ensure optimal performance and reduce inefficiencies. We purchase as much of our product as locally as possible, and we have partnered with Planet Bean Coffee to offer Fair Trade coffee in the Servery. To save energy and water we were one of the first Universities to go trayless, and save the water and energy used by washing up to 900 trays per day.

Green Dining Award

1. Chicken Balls

2. Lo Mein

3. Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni

4. Shepherd's Pie

5. Pulled Pork on a Bun

6. BBQ Meat Balls

7. Eggplant Parmesan

8. Chicken Snack Wraps

9. Fajitas/Tacos

10. Chili

ST. JEROME’S RESIDENCEGRAPEVINE

December 2011

Have a question, comment or concern? Send an email to resinfo@sju.ca

Attn: Melissa Carvalhal

Chef Manager, Lindsay McAlister and Associate Vice President, Darren Becks, proudly displaying the Green Dining Award presented to the Chartwells unit atSt. Jerome’s Residence.The Green Dining Award was established by Chartwells to provide a formal approach to implementing and rewarding Sustainability initiatives within their foodservice locations.

Top 10 Favourite Meals Served in the Cafeteria

Important Dates:December 22nd - Last Day of Exams

December 23rd - Move out of Residence by Noon

January 2nd - Move in Day

January 3rd - Lectures Begin

February 20-24th - Reading Week

290 Westmount Rd. NWaterloo, ON

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