Campus hosts summer programs for kids

The university will offer plenty of kid stuff this summer, with several children’s camps and programs ready to start right after the Canada Day long weekend. Plans look very much like last year’s, but there are a few new wrinkles, and the Engineering Science Quest camp will be offering sessions at two of Waterloo’s satellite campuses (in Cambridge and Stratford) as well as four other communities and on the main campus.

The university’s other big day camp, Arts Computer Experience, has important news, says its coordinator, Marsha Wendell: “Along with our regular ACE program for 7-12 year olds, Arts Computer Experience has added a new program for 2011 — Leaders in Motion. This program is an exciting two-week leadership experience for youth 13-17. During the two-week program, campers will enjoy a one-day canoe trip, rock climbing, team building exercises and hands-on leadership opportunities. An overnight stay on the uWaterloo campus will be included.”

For the younger kids, ACE promises “hours of fun while learning about art, computers, drama and music combined with outdoor activities and swimming”. ACE runs in two-week sessions starting July 4, July 18, August 2 and August 15.

Engineering Science Quest operates in one-week sessions, with various programming aimed at children entering grades 1 through 9. “Now in its 21st year,” publicity material explains, “this student-run program explores new horizons in engineering and science, giving children an opportunity to see, touch, invent, design, create, and experiment. ESQ has two streams of camp programming in the summer: engineering and science camp, and technology camp. The child-staff ratio is six campers for each instructor. The program is organized in partnership with the faculties of engineering and science.”

The former “ExXtreme” technology camps have new names this year — Tesla (for electricity pioneer Nicola Tesla) and Payette (for Canadian astronaut Julie Payette). A grid on the ESQ web site shows which programs are available which weeks, on the Waterloo, Cambridge and Stratford campuses and in Brantford, Chatham, Orangeville and Owen Sound.

Some specialized programs will also be running this summer:

• The Ontario Mennonite Music Camp, August 14-26 at Conrad Grebel University College.
• The Quantum Cryptography School for Young Students, August 8-12 at the Institute for Quantum Computing.
• Waterloo’s branch of the Canada-wide Shad Valley program for gifted grade 11 and 12 students, a residential program running July 3-29 and hosted at Conrad Grebel University College by the Centre for Knowledge Integration.

The Warrior athletics program offers several opportunities for the younger generation:

• Future Warriors Hockey Camp for girls 6 to 15, August 8-12.
• Warrior Summer Hockey Camp for boys and girls 5-12, with specialty camps for ages 11-14, starting July 25, August 2 or August 15.
• Women’s Field Hockey Camp for girls 12-19, running August 29-31.

Finally, two of the university’s day care centres — Hildegard Marsden Day Nursery and Klemmer Farmhouse Co-operative Nursery — will have spaces for smaller children available during the summer.

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Engineering dean Adel Sedra and associate dean Mary Wells pose with the participants in last weekend's Catalyst program, which brought 37 girls from high schools across southern Ontario. Lisa Farlow of the dean of engineering office says there were workshops, talks, a scavenger hunt and a Water Boys concert — and more: "Throughout the weekend, the students worked in small groups on a design challenge. They had to design and construct something that would get them through three different obstacles in order to rescue a prince from a tower. They first had to build a boat that would get them through the moat (the pool in the PAC), then build some heat-resistant armour that would get them past a dragon (a propane torch), and finally build a pulley to send the key up the tower to the prince. The weekend closed with an awards banquet."

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Another year older and still full of news

Yesterday was census day across Canada, although the emphasis from Statistics Canada has been on submitting the required information at one's convenience (and mostly online) rather than in a one-day blitz. I asked Chris Read, the university housing officer, how the census was taken in Waterloo's residences. "In working with Census Canada," he reports, "we determined that most of our current students don't have to fill out the census, as they'll be captured in all likelihood at their permanent residence. We have distributed paper forms (in last Friday's downpour!), however, to all our residents who likely have this as their permanent residence. This includes full-time single graduate students as well as all families. They are required to fill out the forms and return them to Census Canada through us." Anybody who needs an extra form can get it from the front desk at the Columbia Lake Village community centre.

"Ever wonder what you would do," asks Katrina Di Gravio of the organizational and human development office, "if while you are serving two students at the front desk, they start speaking to each other in their native language, which makes you feel uncomfortable? If your colleague has left a sticky note on your computer that your cologne is giving them migraines? If a job interview candidate greets you and apologizes for not shaking your hand, explaining it is against his religion to shake hands with a woman? If a student wants an electronic version of a form so they can enlarge the font? OHD has created a Certificate Program with a series of seven workshops based on Waterloo’s Principles of Inclusivity, to help you understand how you may approach these and many other situations. The workshops will help you explore diversity on our campus in an informative, practical and interactive manner. The Principles of Inclusivity, Module 1, starts on Monday, May 16, and is a prerequisite for the remaining modules." Workshop descriptions and registration are online.

A memo to staff members this week from the human resources department: "Your Staff Salary Increase Advice is now available on myHRinfo. Sign-in as normal and select Salary Increase Advice and click on 'Details'. Hard copy advices will be mailed to staff members who have elected to receive hard copy pay advices. If you have queries or need assistance please contact Neime Cahit, ncahit@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 36649. Your annual increase is effective May 1. For those staff members with irregular work schedules, i.e. varying hours at different times of the year, you will receive a hard copy advice through the campus mail."

That’s Alice Tsang (left), a third-year accounting and financial management student, at the Habitat for Humanity site in Mozambique where she travelled using savings from a recent work term. She’s featured in the latest issue of the Inside Scoop newsletter for co-op students: “On the last day of the trip, a riot broke out over increasing food prices. Alice and the other volunteers couldn’t safely reach the airport. ‘The scariest part’, she said, ‘was that no one in the world knew it was happening — when we googled riot in Mozambique, there was nothing.’ The group waited until four in the morning, and then snuck into the airport, managing to leave the country safely.” The newsletter also describes her job experience during the winter term at Research In Motion.

As noted in this space on Monday, the "campus walk" event for 2011, a wellness promotion sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program, is under way, and runs through June 5. Organizers like to point out that last year the registered participants covered enough ground to get them from Waterloo to the university's Dubai campus five times over, and no doubt results will be even more impressive this year. As of a day or so ago, more than 320 people had registered, divided into 62 teams, a memo from the EAP committee say. Registration is officially open until tomorrow.

Voting closed May 5 in some elections for members of the university senate, and the university secretariat has announced the results. Elected to seven faculty-at-large positions are William Bobier (optometry), Dan Brown (computer science), Lutz-Alexander Busch (economics), David DeVidi (philosophy), Michael Drescher (planning), Jonathan Li (geography and environmental management), and Barry Warner (earth sciences). In graduate student voting, the two representatives elected are Robert Henderson (physics and astronomy), Krista Mathias (health studies and gerontology) and Hassan Nasir (civil and environmental engineering). Finally, science faculty members elected one representative, Tadeusz Gorecki (chemistry).

The library reminds faculty, graduate students and staff members that books borrowed on term loan before the middle of April will be due on May 15 and should be returned or renewed. • A recreational volleyball league is in operation this summer in the Research and Technology Park (games Monday, Wednesday and Friday at noon) and there's room for a couple more teams, according to Carol Stewart at the R&T Park office (phone ext. 36339). • Daani Sarma, graduating in science and business with a chemistry specialization, has been named valedictorian on behalf of students in science; she'll speak at the afternoon convocation ceremony on June 15.

And . . . the Daily Bulletin is 18 years old today. The first, brief, untitled edition of this publication appeared Tuesday, May 11, 1993. The Daily Bulletin appeared in parallel with the weekly Gazette newspaper until 2004, when it became the university's primary internal communications vehicle.

CAR

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