Amit Sikder and Sophia Salem set aside time each week to help out fellow students, but the hours they put in are also an investment in themselves.

Sikder and Salem volunteer in various roles on and off campus. Both are Student Success Leaders (SSLs), assigned by the Success Centre to different units seeking to improve student life.

Salem is a fourth-year English and history major looking to go to teacher’s college. She started working as an SSL last year and intends to continue with the program when she returns for a fifth year.

For Salem, the program is a give and take. As with a job, she’s expected to fulfill certain duties, but she’s also able to turn to mentors for advice and attend workshops on public speaking—a skill she says has always come as a challenge.

“One of the things we do at the beginning of the year is goal-setting, and one of mine was to get in front of a group and present,” said Salem.

After a “super awkward and embarrassing” first experience as a presenter, Salem was disappointed but not deterred. She went from presenting in front of one person to speaking to a hundred people when she recently hosted an orientation day.

On the volunteer experience she said, “We’re also doing it for ourselves, and I don’t think that’s being selfish.”

It’s not surprising that students have been making the most of volunteer opportunities to develop their leadership skills.

A recent study sponsored by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario confirmed what seems intuitive: that students engaged in supportive programs on campus are likely to develop key skills for school and the workplace.

The study tracked the progress of students in the University of Guelph’s Peer Helpers Program over the course of three years. Researchers compared their progress to those in comparable programs and to students who were not involved, measuring skills like “managing self,” “communicating,” and “mobilizing innovation and change.”

The U of G researchers didn’t find the same skill development in students engaged off-campus and those who weren’t engaged at all.

Sikder, a third-year student who’s been involved on campus and in the community, said volunteering on campus has its unique perks.

His SSL placement is in the Student Wellness Centre, where he’s helped with November’s Stomp Out Stigma campaign and the MacSecret initiative.

“I really enjoy networking with people my own age,” he said. “And when you’re just starting out, you need guidance and mentorship. There are programs on campus designed for people in those situations.”

A biology and psychology student aspiring to work in medicine, Sikder said his volunteer experience is helping him communicate with more confidence.

“I want to be someone [patients] can trust to get help,” he said.

Fortunately, Sikder said, he’s not in a difficult financial position and doesn’t have to take on a part-time job.

Shaimaa Abousidou shares that perspective. A fellow SSL, she studies full-time and commutes from Brampton, which doesn’t leave much time for a job in Hamilton. Thankfully, she said, income isn’t a major issue.

In the career assistance unit, Abousidou reviews students’ resumes and leads professional development workshops.

“I treat it as a job. It’s a very formal process and students respect what you do for them,” she said.

Anna D’Angela, a graduating student who’s been volunteering all four of her years at Mac, echoed this sentiment.

“Maybe it’s just the type of person I am. I don’t see much of a difference between a job or a volunteer position,” she said.

D’Angela started out as a delegate for the Horizons Conference in her first year, and has been involved with the conference since. This past summer, she was a coordinator and was able to see her Horizons experience come full circle.

“A lot of first years need to figure out where they’re going,” said D’Angela. “Getting involved and volunteering showed me what I want to be as a person.”

 

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In the midst of second semester, summer might be the furthest thing from students’ minds. But the MSU and its partners are looking even further ahead: to Welcome Week.

As faculty societies begin to gear up for another year of planning for the incoming first-years, the Student Success Centre (SSC) and the MSU, as part of the Welcome Week Review subcommittee of the Student Services Committee, have just compiled their financial report from Welcome Week 2012.

The report comes in the wake of last year’s changes to orientation fees. In the past, incoming first-years had to register and pay for a MacPass, allowing them entry for the week’s events; they no longer have to, and are instead automatically charged fees.

In a campaign led by then-MSU president Matt Dillon-Leitch, the 2012 annual general assembly met its quorum of three percent of the student body for the first time in 17 years. Because it had the required 601 students, all votes passed were binding. And the students chose to implement the $110 mandatory fee for Welcome Week for new first-years.

The aim was to create a system with a widely bought but reasonably priced pass in order to have a “bigger and better” Welcome Week.

But despite the ample cash and months for all of the parties to report back, the finances remain unclear.

“This is our first year of developing what this consolidated financial report is,” explained Gina Robinson, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Student Success Centre.

But David Campbell, MSU VP (Administration), added that of the current breakdown, “we didn’t find any drastic areas that are way off.”

The $110 spent by each student is split between the MSU, the Student Success Centre, off-campus residence life, swag and miscellaneous merchandise, and the nine different faculties.

Campbell noted that there was some chance a “few dollars here and there” might be shifted from one division to another, but that the total value of the levy would stay consistent, potentially being indexed to CPI.

Although the breakdown was good, Campbell and Robinson explained that the reports sent to them from the faculty societies were far from consistent.

“Some of the statements weren’t really well put together,” said Robinson. “They didn’t always add [up] properly.”

Each faculty received $11 per student, but most supplemented this basic fee with additional money from their faculty societies.

“There were some faculties we had to go back to and ask for a second round of reporting, but there were no major [discrepancies],” Campbell said. “There’s nobody we suspect that egregiously misspent.”

He elaborated by saying that the faculties had no real guidelines for determining what constituted a Welcome Week expense.

Things like summer rep training or post-Welcome Week rep appreciation create some ambiguity when it comes to budgeting and reporting. And certain expenditures, like last-minute rain locations for faculty day, have resulted in misrepresented budgets and false deficits.

With this in mind, the faculty expenditures will be confirmed, said Campbell, but he didn’t expect the differences determined from clearing up ambiguity to amount to a lot of money.

Both Robinson and Campbell described their new roles as “gatekeepers” for the faculty finances, which are compiled and streamlined by the Office of Student Affairs for the first time this year.

“I feel really good about it because that way we can account to the student body exactly,” Robinson said.

The MSU and the Student Success Centre, like the faculties, received funds from the guaranteed sale of MacPasses to all first years.

The MSU and its divisions of Avtek and Campus Events are responsible for putting on Welcome Week concerts; this year, the performances by the Sheepdogs and Steve Angello cost roughly $40,000 and $50,000 respectively, including production costs, making them some of the biggest concerts Welcome Week has ever seen.

Meanwhile, the Student Success Centre offered a range of programming similar to what it has in past years, including $16000 spent on the Summer reading Program and $10,000 spent on the IRIS theatre production. It also funded the off-campus students’ Sunday night social, spending $7,000 as part of their goal to expand programming for off-campus students.

Within the course of just a few days, Mac students have come to recognize the floating blue balloon and the #upfromhere and immediately think: Jacob Brodka.

RELATED: Selected questions and answers from our interview with Jacob

Brodka prides himself on being from outside the “MSU bubble,” having gained much of his experience through Transition and Orientation Planning at the Student Success Centre and through the CLAY and HORIZONS conferences.

For being a second-year student, Brodka speaks with a clarity and confidence that would be more characteristic of a seasoned politician. But he still exhibits an approachability and genuine interest in students that is polished but energetic – a reflection of his overall young, eager campaign team.

“I’m interested in creating a new dialogue with people who aren’t traditionally involved with the MSU and with voting. If you do generate that buzz and get people excited about change … you’ve got that many more people that know what the MSU is doing.”

Brodka hopes to harness student interest and bring a wider group of stakeholders together in a Change Forum, where student ideas are nurtured.

Like other candidates, Brodka believes campus capacity is the most pressing student concern. He is forthright in admitting that the MSU has limited sway over University finances, but must use its lobbying power to ensure an adequate amount of learning spaces for the future.

“Someone can’t wake up MSU president and somehow magically create new classroom sizes. This is a lobbying point; this is something that involves the government, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be having the discussions.”

With a ten-point campaign, the actual practicality and feasibility of developing all these wide-ranging initiatives within a one-year term seems dubious.

Innovation, change and creativity are central components of the Brodka campaign, but his limited experience in navigating administrative policy and being part of a consensus-building process may hinder his momentum.

Of all the campaigns, Brodka’s is probably the most concerned with creating buzz and bringing new voters into the fold while maintaining their interests. But in an effort to do that he may lose sight of all the ambitious initiatives he has put forward.

 

Welcome Week has the potential to make or break a first year’s experience at McMaster. But it’s difficult to say what this year’s batch of first year students thought about their Welcome Week.

The Student Success Centre (SSC) had originally scheduled Welcome Week focus groups for Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 in which first-year students are invited to voice their opinions on their Welcome Week.  In the past, the SSC has attracted approximately 15 students per focus group. This year, no students signed up.

According to Rachel Nelson, SSC Events Coordinator, the Centre is currently looking into why this occurred. Students were notified of the sessions via a mass email notification sent to their McMaster emails.

The MSU already conducted Welcome Week focus groups in early October. These groups mostly consisted of SRA members who had held a variety of positions in Welcome Week.  The groups looked at the purpose of Welcome Week, scheduling, levy fees, and Welcome Week representatives.

While the MSU coordinates some of the larger events such as the PJ Parade and Faculty Day/Night, the SSC is responsible for organizing move-in, distributing MacPasses and co-ordinating MACademics sessions.

MACademics are the school-oriented sessions run during Welcome Week in order to prepare first year students for the realities they will face in university. This year some sessions attracted up to 100 participants. For the first time, SSC also offered sessions tailored specifically for arts-based students and science-based students.

However, questions have been raised as to whether Welcome Week should have such a heavy academic focus. MSU Executives David Campbell and Huzaifa Saeed have put together a proposal to recommend an “Academic-focused Welcome Week” occurring the week after Welcome Week.

David Campbell, VP Administration noted that it is worth expanding MACademics due to its clear value to students. But he stated that, “Welcome Week should focus on social networking and getting your roots settled … which research shows is essential to academic success and retention.”

The MSU proposal would also aim to involve faculty societies and get more faculty-focused academic support for first year students. However, Campbell noted that this requires a significant amount of planning and resources.

With possible changes looming, it remains unclear what exactly first years think about their Welcome Week experiences. The SSC distributed a First Year Transition Survey earlier in November to ask new students about their overall experience so far. 1,000 students responded to this survey. With plans for Welcome Week hanging in the balance, the time for first year students to speak up is running out.

By Janice Phonepraseuth

OSCARplus, McMaster’s online career portal, has a "No-Show Policy" that is effective when students who have signed up for an event fail to show up and fail to cancel their registration. It seems, however, that students don’t know about it.

The policy states that after the first and second "no-shows," students will receive a warning email from the campus office. After the third "no-show," students will receive an email with a contact for the career centre. The student then has to explain why they didn't attend the events.

If there is no justification given for why the student has missed the event, the student will be barred from signing up for any more events for the remainder of the academic year. They will be able to register for events again in September of the following academic year.

When entering the event, students are asked to present their student ID cards, which will provide information that is used to track the student’s attendance.

Although the policy was implemented in 2007, many students do not know about it. The Student Accountability Policy is not stated on the OSCARplus website itself, but is found through a link under "Student Resources."

It was created by a student accountability committee, and is supported by career and co-op related offices in the faculties of business, engineering, social sciences, and science.

Students, upper-year and first-year, were surprised to hear about this policy and thought it should be clarified.

Souzan Mirza, a first year student, said, "I didn't even know about the policy until I got the first email. When I tried to find it, I didn't find it through legitimate routes, I found it through the MacInsiders website which isn't run by the school but the students."

"I don't condone it; I think there should be more than 3 strikes before you're out. People may want to sign up for many things and things happen and they can't make it,” said Lindsay Ceschia, a second year Honours Social Psychology student. “They should put something visible that everyone can see right when they are signing up,"

Gisela Oliveira, Employment Services Coordinator at McMaster's Student Success Centre, explained why the policy was established.

"We were having a lot of trouble with attendance for these events. Companies were coming on campus with a specific number of guests in mind, when only half of that amount showed up," she said.

"The issue here is kind of bi-fold: first is missed opportunities for students, and second is the school's relationship with the employers."

By following this procedure, students get their opportunity to participate in these events, and the school's relationship with the employer is unharmed.

"I thought it was a bit much that it's for the whole year, but I guess it makes sense because they don't want people registering for the events and not showing up," said Mirza.

One fourth-year honours political science and religious studies student agreed. “I understand the reasoning behind the switch,” he said, “but the fact that they’re limiting student opportunities for success is a little discouraging.”

The policy was set up to ensure students who signed up for these events showed up. If they cannot attend, students must cancel their registration online by 11:55pm the night before the event on OSCARplus, or by 9 a.m. on the day of the event, by phone or in-person. Students who fail to do so are marked as a "no-show."

Oliveira noted that there are exceptions for students who become ill shortly before the event takes place.

"So when we send you the ‘no-show’ email, you contact us and explain to us that you were ill, and the ‘no-show’ is removed. There are exceptions," said Oliveira.

“It was implemented…to teach accountability to students and also to keep the relationships we have with employers,” she explained. But it remains to be seen whether the students need to learn to be accountable, or whether the system could be more accountable to student needs.

 

On September 25 and 26 between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. McMaster’s Student Centre will be center stage for a plethora of organizations from across Hamilton. Nearly 75 vendors will take over the Student Centre atrium in hopes of exposing students to the need for volunteers in the Hamilton community.

This year marks the 8th annual Community Engagement and Volunteer Fair with a record-breaking number of young activists expected to turn out. Spread out over two days, the Volunteer Fair will expose students to a multitude of local agencies, from small grassroots to globally recognized organizations all hoping to team up with students to make a difference in the greater community.

The fair promises to be even larger this year, as the Student Success Centre has recently announced its collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Experiential Education.

This new partnership will give students access to a wider variety and higher volume of agencies across Hamilton. “The [Student Success Centre] has more relationships and partners in the community,” said Angela Fortino, Employer Relations Officer at the Student Success Centre. “This year the fair is full, plus we have organizations on the waiting list.”

More relationships within the community mean more opportunities for students to find the right volunteer position for them.

Students will not only have the opportunity to interact with big brand organizations such as United Way and Red Cross, but also a more diverse set of niche organizations this year.

“We get agencies that meet a particular need in the community that is pretty unique… You’re able to tap into different aspects of the community,” said Adam Kuhn, Student Success Centre Manager.

And with the Student Success Centre on board, a higher volume of students are expected to take notice and be aware of the event.

“The Student Success Centre has more retail access across campus to reach a higher volume of students,” explained Kuhn.

The Volunteer Fair is essentially a mass-networking project with a dual focus. It gives students a means of networking with volunteer organizations, and it allows local agencies a means of recruiting essential volunteers through a single, two-day event.

Volunteering is one means of expanding your professional Rolodex as a student, simply by means of networking. It’s is also a good way of establishing credibility and rapport, which can potentially act as leverage into a full time position. Students can use volunteer positions to build their resumes, linking their volunteer work to their field of academic study, and potential future occupation.

“[Volunteering] can affirm your career goals and passions or it can challenge your assumptions,” noted Kuhn on the benefits of volunteering.

The Volunteer Fair presents an opportunity for students to connect with a diverse range of local agencies in hopes of finding the right niche regardless of passion, career goal, or area of interest.

Dyson Wells

The Silhouette

A new app has been released to burst the campus “bubble.”

MyHamilton, a new community-based app, was released last Thursday at a City Hall event. The app was produced by a collaboration of McMaster University, Mohawk College, Columbia College, the City of Hamilton and Weever Apps.

While still in the growing stages, there are high expectations for the interface, which was named through a contest open to McMaster/Mohawk students.

The MyHamilton app attempts to address the issue of students not being connected with the community by offering students an interactive way to explore Hamilton and explore the culture and spirit of the city.

The McMaster Students Union conducted a survey last year to gauge students’ plans following the completion of their studies. Of the 800 students polled, 40 per cent stated they would not consider living in Hamilton following graduation, 24 per cent said they would not look for a job within the city and 34 per cent said they would only take the job as a last resort.

The app currently focuses on the downtown area, spanning from the escarpment to Bayfront Park, and from Wentworth Street to Dundurn Street.

Kathy Woo, Social Media and Digital Communications manager at the Student Success Centre, explained the app’s use of Twitter, as opposed to other social media platforms like Facebook.

“Hamilton is such a huge Twitter community, and that seems to be where a lot of the students are engaging right now. It’s immediate, it’s real-time, and it’s on the fly,” said Woo.

The app, using Twitter and Google Maps, enables users to explore Hamilton, sharing their finding with friends.

Once a post is made, the tweet, along with picture provided by the user, will appear as a pin on the map that will then be visible to other users.

The app also includes a list of discounts for local events and businesses, as well as directions and methods of transportation to navigate the city.

It is expected to give a leg up to local businesses in Hamilton while helping students find those “hidden gems” throughout the city.

The app’s profiling feature, in which students enter information such as their name, email, faculty and year of study, allows businesses to track their client demographic.

Talks regarding the development of the app have been going on since May. Discussions about the app’s progress and features will take place once feedback regarding the app has been received.
Gisela Oliveira, Employment Services Coordinator at the Student Success Centre, said, “the best part about this app is that it’s a student telling a student, or it’s a young professional telling a student [about local businesses].”

“It’s not necessarily the businesses shoving it down their throat that Hamilton is the place to be,” said Oliveira.

To get the app, students must scan a QR Code.

To join the Twitter conversation with MyHamilton, users must tweet a picture with the geolocation setting on and include the hashtag #MyHamilton.

It’s that time of year again. With a new group of first year students and a fresh team of reps, Welcome Week is once again in full swing. The difference this time is that every first year student has bought a MacPass.

Halfway through the week, MSU President Siobhan Stewart is already happy about the results. “I would say it’s better,” said Stewart of this year’s Welcome Week. “I think it’s too early to say one hundred percent, but my perception at least is that it’s better.”

This positive response comes in the wake of last year’s MacPass policy change. In a campaign run by former MSU president Matthew Dillion-Leitch, quorum was reached at the MSU general assembly, where students voted in favour of a motion to impose a universal Welcome Week levy on first years.

Rather than paying separately for the ticket to Welcome Week events, all incoming students are now charged the $110 though their student accounts with no chance to opt out.

The intentions behind this change were both “financial and philosophical,” explained MSU Vice President of Administration David Campbell.

In previous years, Campbell said, some students who wanted to purchase MacPasses on site were turned away.

“[Dillon-Leitch] saw that this wasn’t right,” he said.

Furthermore, he described the prices of years past as being “artificially low,” due to a subsidy from another university source.

“The problem that we were faced with…was do we want to jack the prices up, or are we going to find another solution? Because we need some sort of sustainable model.”

The new MacPass levy has translated to increased registration for Welcome Week. Although the fee is automatically applied, students were given the opportunity to register online in advance, explained Michele Corbeil, First Year Transition Program Coordinator at the Student Success Centre.

She described the response as “positively overwhelming,” citing an increase of 500 students in registration before the week began.

By Sunday, a total of over 4600 students had picked up MacPasses—roughly 800 more than in previous years and still rising throughout the week.

“The majority of that increase happened in off-campus students, which is really key,” said Campbell. “We were really pleased with that, because that was one of our big targets.”

Though the registration overall was up, it was difficult to say if attendance increased at specific events.

“It’s a growing year for SOCS,” said Stewart. “They’re really motivated and…excited about it.” Both Campbell and Stewart emphasized the expansion of programming for off-campus students, as well as other marginalized groups. “The programming is fairly diverse…and we’re always looking to expand that.”

The no opt-out policy doesn’t appear to be a major issue, for either off-campus or residence students.

Said Stewart, “I haven’t heard any complaints from any first year that I’ve talked to, but that’s just my experience thus far.”

Campbell notes that the no opt-out policy is something the MSU is still working on.

“In my ideal world, it wouldn’t be that we’d introduce an opt-out, but it would just be that every student was getting something out of it,” he said.

And in the end, that’s what Welcome Week is all about, said Stewart. “My sincere hope is that students find something to connect to during this week.”

Dina Fanara

Assistant News Editor

The Student Success Centre (SSC) has been in existence for only a year and a half, but has already made some significant accomplishments. In 2010, for example, the SSC won the President’s Award for outstanding service to the university’s student population.

The creation of the SSC was a collaborative effort on behalf of Career Services, the First Year Experience Office and Service Learning and Civic Engagement offices at McMaster.

Jacquie Hampshire, Events and Marketing Coordinator for the SSC, explained the mission of the organization: “Through our programs, services and community partnerships we inspire students and alumni to engage in learning opportunities to succeed academically, personally and professionally.”

Hampshire added that the “goal is to make sure we are consistently meeting the changing needs of students and offering services and programs that are innovative, connected to the community and tied to the success of our students and alumni.”

The SSC offers “services and programs in the areas of community service learning, civic engagement and leadership, careers and employment, and academic success,” Hampshire stated.

Many new initiatives have been implemented this year, including the Summer Reading Program, which was supported by the Student Services Fund. Students who chose to participate were given the choice between two books to read and discuss with their peers.

This program was geared toward incoming first year students, giving them the opportunity to not only network with other first year students with similar interests, but to engage in academic discussion, which would soon become part of their everyday lives.

The majority of the communication took place via Facebook, with several meetings taking place throughout the summer on the major first-year orientation days.

The highlight of the program was a question and answer period with the authors of the two books.

Another new project of the SSC this year was Career Exploration Month, in partnership with the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences. This program consisted of a networking breakfast, a keynote speech by motivational speaker Stuart Knight and many job shadow opportunities with Hamilton employers.

The Social Media conference, which took place on Nov. 10 and 11, was also a new addition this year, and targeted students in their final year who would soon be in the process of finding permanent employment. One of the focal points of this conference was creating an “online brand” through social media for employers to see.

The Centre has also hosted an array of workshops on topics that include how to write multiple-choice exams, reading strategies, and writing skills.

This year, the SSC has also put much considerable effort into reaching students through social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These resources are being used not only to spread the word of new and ongoing programs, but to connect students with potential employers.

The SSC is excited to implement several new programs in second term, in addition to their ongoing programs, such as their summer job and employment fairs.

Second term will see the re-launch of the Dr. Mary E. Keyes Certificate of Leadership Development program, of which the main message to students is that leadership is attainable for everyone. Any student at any point can complete this new certificate during their time at McMaster, from first to final year.

To round off the year, the SSC is introducing an event called the Hamilton Employment Crawl, which will take place on April 25 and 26. The aim of this program is to allow final-year students who are looking for employment to become informed on the job opportunities that exist in Hamilton.

Farzeen Foda

Senior News Editor

The rise of social networking not only allows you to stay updated on what happened Friday night, but it could also help you begin your career.

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are but a few of the online platforms available for job seekers to advertise themselves to employers.

McMaster’s Student Success Centre held a Social Networking and Job Search Conference on Nov. 10 and 11 at the McMaster Innovation Park. The two-day conference featured employers and Social Media experts, as well as McMaster faculty from the department of Communication Studies.

The conference explored the various aspects of Social Networking and how students can use the evolution of social networking to their benefit. For students, it’s about “building your online footprint,” said Jacqueline Hampshire, Events and Marketing Coordinator for McMaster’s Student Success Centre, explaining that building a profile on a social networking site such as LinkedIn can open new avenues for career exploration that can complement rather than replace traditional job fairs.

With a strong focus on LinkedIn as a key platform for job seekers, it was noted that employers are actively involved in posting job openings and head hunters are also vigilant in seeking talent through social media.

Companies present at the Social Networking and Job Search Conference included Walmart, GE Canada and the AIDS Network, among others.

Hampshire explained that unlike a standard resume, in which a candidate must select key things to condense into a maximum of two pages, there is no limit to the amount of information that can be included on a LinkedIn profile, making it an excellent platform to elaborate on other involvements and marketable skills.

Speakers and discussions at the conference further explored how different social media are used. Hampshire explained, for example, that after company representatives meet a potential employee, “it may not be appropriate to add that person on Facebook the next day, but to invite that person on LinkedIn would be perfectly acceptable,” explaining that unlike Facebook, LinkdIn has been established on the premise of professional networking.

Building an online image is vital in this day and age to better market skills and attract the right kind of attention from employers.

Hampshire stressed this point and encouraged students to verify their online presence. “Google your name and see what comes up. Is what comes up something you would want a potential employer to see?”

Building a professional appearance online is just as important as maintaining your image on a regular basis. Remaining active and vigilant in the social media platform is yet another avenue for students to tap into when exploring career possibilities.

 

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