Single and Sexy: 20 years a frosh

from a UW Media Relations news release

The University of Waterloo's pioneering orientation play, Single and Sexy, addresses many situations facing first-year university students who are often on their own for the first time and on a campus far from home. (The image on the left is from this year's rehearsals.)

The premiere performance of the internationally acclaimed play's 20th edition will take place Thursday, August 28, at 1 p.m. for residence dons, orientation leaders, staff and faculty, as well as representatives of community agencies. The performance lasts one hour, followed by a reception at 2:30 p.m. marking the 20th anniversary of the play. (RSVP to sc2gibso@uwaterloo.ca.)

The play depicts the lives and experiences of first-year students in a thought-provoking production. In a non-judgmental manner, it delivers straight talk about sex and sexuality in all its complexity, from date rape to homophobia. It also explores such diverse topics as suicide, disordered eating, racism, plagiarism and substance abuse. Single and Sexy helps students become more aware of those issues and informs them of support and counselling resources available both on and off campus.

"The play's power comes from students speaking to students in the language that students understand," says Sandra Gibson, a health educator at UW's health services. "The goal is to break down stereotypes and keep people listening, then later thinking and talking."

The production's mix of education and entertainment, tough language and challenging scenarios help to maintain the value of practical messages. The students have a lot to cope with – living independently, meeting new challenges, struggling to meet expectations and retaining their values, along with building new relationships.

They also have to study, develop effective time management skills, and prepare for a career. With all these demands, it is normal to be confused and doubtful, straying from smart choices.

The play is directed by Dan Payne; stage manager is Kate Teddiman. The cast of eight students — from a variety of academic disciplines — are Sarah Sosnoski (Nona), Jessalyn Broadfoot (Beth), Brenda Pilatzke (Heather), Jeff Ulrich (Steve), Reid Vanier (Nick), Dave Metcalfe (Damon), Terry Reid (Curtis) and Jeremy Tsang (Ho-Li).

Performances for the new students will be held from Tuesday, September 2 (beginning at 10 a.m.) through Thursday, Sept. 4. All performances are held in the Humanities Theatre, located in the J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities. A special performance for alumni will be held Sept. 28 during UW's homecoming weekend. Admission is free.

Single and Sexy has received national and international acclaim, with adaptations produced at universities and colleges across the country as well as in Australia and New Zealand. A video of the play has been screened at many campuses in Canada and the United States.
A promotional video can be viewed online. There is also an audio clip: go here, and scroll to the bottom.

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Notes for a late August Monday

The UW Staff Association (UWSA) has issued a call for nominations for the UWSA executive. The current president, Jesse Rodgers, and three directors will end their terms of office at the next annual general meeting on October 30. The Call for Nominations and Nomination form is online as a pdf. Members are invited to consider becoming a candidate for one of the soon-to-be-vacant executive positions. (Paper copies of the form will be distributed.) Nominations must be returned to the Staff Association Office, DC 3603, by September 18. “The past year has been a time of renewal for the Staff Association,” writes UWSA secretary Trevor Grove. “We have a new constitution, and starting September 1 we have a new full-time staff member to help with UWSA management and the services the association can provide to you. The new president and directors will have a major influence on setting the direction for the association for years to come.”

Robert Sproule (left), a lecturer in financial accounting at the School of Accounting and Finance, is a member of a team that’s been awarded the first MERLOT House Cup. MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching ) is “an international … online community of faculty and institutions collaborating to increase the quantity of high-quality web-based, interactive teaching and learning materials,” says the press release. “The MERLOT website is a free gateway for these web-based materials. . . . MERLOT conducts the peer review of online materials and ensures reliable and valid reviews through the selection and training of the editorial board members as well as on-going support for the review process.” The House Cup is awarded “to recognize the level of contributions made to the MERLOT collection during an academic year.” Sproule is a member of the eight-person Business Editorial Board. They won the 2008 Merlot House Cup for contributing, among other things, 24 per cent of the individual peer reviews, 33 per cent of the composite peer reviews, 35 per cent of the learning materials added to the MERLOT collection, and 23 per cent of the total contributions to MERLOT by the 19 editorial boards.

Last Friday, a team of Canada’s top four computing high school students, with their UW coaches, headed off to the 2008 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), held in Cairo, Egypt. The results were announced at the closing ceremony Thursday evening, reports the math faculty’s Mary Joy Aitken on her blog. A total of 141 students out of 287 competitors received a bronze, silver or gold medal. Three of the four Canadian students won medals: Aaron Voelker and Robin Chen each won a bronze, while Hanson Wang won a gold and ended with a ranking of 19th in the entire field. The entire Canadian team, including the fourth member, Tom Syzmanski, “did a fantastic job at a very challenging competition featuring the world's best computer science secondary students,” Aitken says. The Canadians will relax on their last day before returning home by spending a day on the beach at the Red Sea. Official results are posted on the IOI website.

What else is happening this week? While most summer camps for kids are finished now, some specialized athletic camps are just getting started. The UW Warrior Boys’ Basketball Camp for boys 10 – 16 years is on today until Thursday; the Women’s Field Hockey Camp for girls in high school runs until Wednesday; and the UW Warrior Hockey Camps for boys and girls ages 5 to 14 began last week and continue to Friday.

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Engineering grad writes to us about trees

Derek Tomlinson (BASc ’94, MASc ’99) writes: “I was reflecting on when I was a graduate student and . . . came across the article written 10 years ago about an effort we tried to get started at UW. The article was written by Barbara Elve for the July 9, 1998 Daily Bulletin.

"During that time we were seeing the removal of many old trees on campus and not a strong replacement strategy in place. We created a group called WE'RE SAD (Waterloo Environmentally Responsible Engineering Students Against Deforestation). We wanted this group to become bigger than ourselves, but the thesis and aspirations of graduating in the fall of 1998 rightfully took precedence.

"But I am still an avid lover of trees," Tomlinson adds. "My wife and I now live in the Philadelphia area with only 0.1 acres of land, but we have six trees on our little parcel of land, four of which we planted ourselves.

"I was back at my alma mater in July, and unfortunately I did not see much has changed regarding the addition of trees to the campus. I am sure this is caused by all the new construction, which is great to see as I love new construction, and I am sure the landscaping just has not caught up yet to the completed construction.

"But my hope is that we don't forget to plant those trees as they help soften the landscape, clean the air, and cool down the areas around all that new construction. . . . My hope is that the campus I love doesn't forget that trees are also part of the fabric of a campus in its goal to look prestigious and also be conscious of the environment to help reduce our carbon footprint.”

Barbara Elve’s more recent article on campus trees may answer some of these points.

CPA staff

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