Final Message to the Students - SUCCI, A Year in Review
I would like to start off by saying thank you to almost everyone I’ve come into contact this year on my term. Each of you have accumulated to make this experience one in a lifetime. From the students, to the staff, to the administration, to my Board of Directors, you all have been a pleasure to work for and with. Many, many, many hours of my life this past term have been devoted to this work, and you all made me enjoy starting every day.
Now enough mushy stuff... I’d like to talk about SUCCI’s accomplishments this year:
Respect Campaign
Now I’m not going to take credit for this, but we’ve been huge supporters of this campaign. This campaign was designed this summer by two of our students and has evolved and grown every day into a huge movement. For those who don’t know what it’s about, it was created encourage students to realize that we all have a common goal here; to graduate. That’s the reason we’re all in school... and the rest of the garbage that goes along with having so many people in a small space is not necessary. At the beginning of the year, Thomas Russell (campaign head) and I were able to go to many classes to present this campaign to students. I believe they were extremely effective and set a nice tone for the year. SUCCI saw such an importance for a campaign like this on campus, that next year we will be funding half of the project as well as possibly (it’s at the board table today) hiring a facilitator to further our lifestyle/diversity/respect agenda.
Stock the Bank Challenge
Ran a very successful challenge before Christmas to see which department could donate the most cans to the Student Food Bank. The participation level was HUGE and I thank everyone who made even one donation. We were able to raise 5093 cans total for our Student Food Bank, which made the bank overflow. Also a congrats goes out to the Admissions and Registration office for a creaming win. Hahaha... sorry Patsy.
Frosh/Frost Weeks
SUCCI organized and ran two successful weeks (one in September, one in January) with new events we’ve never done before. Events like Blown Up Jousting, The Mudmen concert, and our Indoor Winter Carnival were all SUCCI Firsts, which went over very well.
CAMP – Centre for Applied Media Productions Donation
SUCCI donated $250,000 to the College’s new Centre of Excellence, which I believe was a smart move. This Centre is one of the best in Canada and the students will swear by it. I would like to congratulate and thank Don Lovisa for his dedication and leadership throughout this project. He had a vision which came to fruition and some. Also, we now have a Multimedia Production Studio named after us... Bonus!
Diversity Days
This year we partnered up with the Confederation Diversity Committee, OASA, and the Respect Campaign to organize and host our first ever 12 Days of Diversity starting on the National Day to Stop Racism and finishing on our very own Multicultural Fair. We held each day celebrating our variety of diversity on campus including Accessibility Day, International Students Day, OASA Day, and our first ever Pride Day... to name a few. This is something that we are looking forward to supporting again.
OASA
I’ve had the pleasure of working with a student whose leadership skills I admire and has taught me much over my term. Ian Crow has been an asset to their organization, SUCCI and to this college. Ian has represented Confederation at Queens Park with doing an opening ceremony for a College Celebration Day as well as provincially at the College Student Alliance table. Ian has worked with his great, supportive board to make their presence very much known on campus and provide excellent support and services for students. The relation between SUCCI and OASA has never been closer and to celebrate this, we will be merging the offices together this summer. We will have a large shared work environment to encourage collaboration and brain storming. I can’t wait to see what this new set up will do to progress this relationship and benefit students.
College Student Alliance
Over my term I’ve sat as the Northern Director on the CSA Board of Directors. It has been a very rewarding experience and I have been able to bring much representation from Confederation and the North to this Toronto based organization. SUCCI is actually up for an achievement award and landmark award for the work done on and off campus and at the provincial level. One of the initiatives CSA launched this year was the Check Yourself – Speak Up or Shut Up Campaign to encourage young voters to not let the older generation make decisions for them at the polls in the October 2008 provincial elections. The website www.speakuporshutup.ca will be filled with nonbiased information for students from each political party’s agenda and how it relates to post secondary education. This campaign will come into full force during Frosh Week of next term.
There is loads more that the Board and Staff have accomplished this year, but I’d fill this paper.
In closing I need to thank a few more people individually... Kathy Kimpton from Student Success, Ron Vopni from Facility Services, Kaia Beaudry – OPSEU Faculty President, Pat Lang – College President, Rob McCormack from Faculty, Steve, Brenda, Dave ad Joy from Facility Services, Kim Fedderson – Vice President Academics & Student Services, Doris Quistberg – Resident Manager, Thomas Russell – Respect Coordinator, Lee Johnson – Manager IT, our SUCCI Staff, and the list goes on and on. Each of these people and more have helped me out so much to make this year amazing. Thank you all and to all I didn’t mention, I’ll get you in next year’s review.
My biggest thank you goes to Lynne Savela, SUCCI’s Executive Director. She is an asset to SUCCI and to student life at Confederation College. I could not do my job without her and I thank her for her non-stop support, wisdom, leadership, logic, and spell/grammar checking. (you can tell she didn’t proof this article). Lynne believes in students and will be a student advocate all her life. Thank you Lynne.
To all you graduating, see you at the auditorium and the best of luck in your futures. To all you returning... See you next year!
It’s been a pleasure serving you all,
Jon |
