30 Days 30 Ways (26): Go International September 2, 2011
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Are you interested in travelling the world while working on your undergraduate degree? Try visiting the Centre for International Experience and talking to some of the fine folks in the Global Lounge. To qualify for an exchange program, you must have completed your first four credits at U of T at the time of application. After that, almost everyone is eligible to apply. Although you might not get your first choice of location,there are a million options for students suffering from a little bit of wanderlust!
30 Days 30 Ways (9): Join Blueprint August 16, 2011
Posted by ekkellogg in 30 Days 30 Ways, Uncategorized.Tags: 30 Days 30 Ways, blueprint, get involved
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Build your own experience with Blueprint! No, not literally. You don’t need to build an actual building or anything. This isn’t shop class. Blueprint is a program open to all students (no matter what year you’re in) that encourages you to get involved with the university. It offers workshops for skill-development and gives you a weekly guide for taking advantage of everything U of T has to offer. And at the end of it, you even get a sweet certificate of completion!
30 Days 30 Ways (8): Join a club – find out more at Ulife August 15, 2011
Posted by ekkellogg in 30 Days 30 Ways, Uncategorized.Tags: club, clubs, ulife
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There are around 450 recognized student groups on campus. That means the chances are you’ll find at least one that interests you! Visit ulife.utoronto.ca for a complete listing of these campus groups, as well as basic contact information. Most groups can add you to a general email listserv after you’ve contacted them, so that you’ll be in the know about upcoming meetings and events. And if you can’t find a group that suits your interest, you can always start your own!
30 Days 30 Ways (4): Figure out your housing August 11, 2011
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If you’ve decided not to live in your college’s residence (or even if you are living in residence, but still have some questions) try dropping by the Housing Service in the Koffler Centre. They can help you find the perfect roommate, figure out how to store your stuff, guide you through the steps of applying to residence, and explore your rights as a tenant!
Guest Post: A reflection on Toolkit November 25, 2010
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Does your student group stand out?
By Kyra Cockwell
How do you meet the needs of your student organization while incorporating your own motivations, interests, and goals into a common purpose that you and your teammates stand for?
This question served as the backdrop for most of last Thursday’s Toolkit session, presented by the U of T Office of Student Life. I was one of about 15 student leaders from nine student groups, with interests ranging from ethnic and cultural groups, organizations for social change, religious fellowships, and a student publication. While the interests of these student groups were truly diverse, we began to realize that once we considered our personal vision and connected it with the vision of our organization—an exercise at one point during the session—many of our conclusions were the same.
The session had a powerful impact on my own position as a club president at U of T n, especially when we broke into the small group discussions. From these, I was able to glean an understanding of the major significance of personal reflection as a group leader. George Gretes, president of the Greek Students’ Association shared my sentiments. He explained to me that the GSA has been using personal reflection in the form of shared journals for a couple of years now. “We keep journals to record the reflections of group members,” he said. “It helps me learn from their reflections.” He felt that the Toolkit leaders’ advocacy of personal reflection reinforced something that his group already practices and will continue to practice.
Connecting personal goals with group goals was a major point of the session, as well as finding common ground within the group, which is attained by understanding group dynamics. “Why re-invent your organization every year? Build on your successes so you don’t start over each time,” said Ian Simmie, Student Life Coordinator in the Office of Student Life and co-leader of the Toolkit session.
At a running time of just an hour and a half, the Toolkit session fit perfectly into my schedule, with enough time at the end to share a few minutes of reflection with my fellow attendees. The sessions are enlightening and help you acknowledge the interests of other student groups by realizing that their core values and interests are not so vastly different from your own.
Find more information about the Toolkit program at their website.
Peace of Mind November 16, 2010
Posted by Chris Garbutt in Uncategorized.Tags: Academic Success Centre, Counselling and Psychological Services, Hart House, health, meditation, Multi-Faith Centre, stress, Student Health Service, UTM Psychology Club, UTSC Health and Wellness Centre, wellness, workshops
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It’s almost the end of November and there are only a couple weeks of class left. Maybe you only have a few more hours to cram for your evening midterm, or maybe there’s a few hours left to write your paper before it’s due the next morning. You are personified stress, wishing there was a way to calm yourself down.
You may be feeling stressed because of the overwhelming amount of things to do. You may be frustrated that there’s not enough time in the day to do it all. Frantic thoughts and worry have disrupted your life’s balance and shaken up your inner peace. One way to restore balance and inner peace is through meditation.
Meditation is a good way to focus your mind and calm you down. Stress is the product of lacking time to sit and let your mind rest, and meditation is one way to reduce stress by allowing you to put your mind at ease by focusing on inner processes.
The Multi-Faith Centre at the St. George campus offers meditation workshops which run from Monday to Thursday throughout the school year.
The Psychology Club at UTM has meditation workshops running until the end of this month.
The Health and Wellness Centre at UTSC holds weekly mental health Q&A sessions and can provide tips on reducing stress.
Another way to de-stress is to set some time aside each day to do something you enjoy. Try putting away an hour of your time to listen to music, catch up on MTV’s latest reality drama, hang out with friends, read a good book or get involved with Literary Arts at Hart House.
U of T’s student health service suggests other ways to deal with stress on their website.
Remember, you are not alone in dealing with stress. There are other resources to turn to if you’re feeling overwhelmed and need further support in handling stress. You can visit the Academic Success Centre for tips on how to manage your time and the Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to deal with outside stressors.
* Photo by Flickr user h.koppdelaney, published under a creative commons licence.
The ultimate career fair, Sept 21-23 August 17, 2010
Posted by barrett hooper in Uncategorized.add a comment
Why are you in university? Sure, to get an education. To broaden your minds, expand your horizons. To meet new people and have new experiences and live and learn about the world, about yourself. But let’s face it: the top reason anyone goes to university (or any school of higher learning, for that matter), is so that they can get a J-O-B some day.
That’s where the U of T Career Centre comes in. In addition to the year-round services offered by the CC, each September it hosts the largest career event on campus, called Career Information Days. There’s year’s event runs Sept. 21-23 at University College (15 Kings College Circle).
Basically, it’s a giant career fair providing an opportunity for all students from all three campuses – whether you’re a recent graduate, about to graduate or just laying the groundwork for when you hit the streets diploma in-hand – to meet and network with representatives from more than 100 top organizations.
Jointly organized by AIESEC Toronto, the Engineering Career Centre and the U of T Career Centre, the CID devotes each of its three days to specific disciplines. But it’s not just a casual drop-in sort of affair. The chance to make real connections with potential employers is high. So come prepared. (That’s right, the CID requires a bit of homework on your part, but it offers the very real possibility of getting your foot in the door of your future career.)
The Career Centre offers a variety of preparation tips to help you make a strong, professional impression, from how to dress to identifying your goals and objectives to researching the employers you’ll be meeting. There are also CID preparation workshops offering last-minute tips and suggestions.
Adventure has a new super-awesome name August 3, 2010
Posted by barrett hooper in Uncategorized.Tags: Super-Awesome Web Adventure
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Will you be attending U of T for the first time this September? Want to win a few bucks for the U of T Bookstore while discovering all kinds of cool things about life at U of T? The folks at the Office of Student Life have launched the Super-Awesome Web Adventure. Just answer 10 questions that you can find the answers to on the University’s websites.
To boldly go… April 9, 2010
Posted by admin in Uncategorized.Tags: Student Life
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There’s a vastness to the University of Toronto that’s hard to comprehend until you’ve actually visited here. Buildings upon buildings upon buildings sprawling out across three campuses populated by tens of thousands of people from every corner of the planet. It can be intimidating, overwhelming, even a little scary.
But there are so many opportunities to get involved, to find community and make U of T your home away from home. And with the help of this new enterprise, a blog devoted to seeking out and exploring the Student Life experience, your U of T adventure should feel like less of a trek.
In the weeks and months and years to come we’ll bring you stories about events, activities and organizations that are happening right in your neighbourhood at U of T. Hopefully, you’ll discover that life on Planet U of T isn’t such a strange new world after all.
Welcome aboard.