Today is Mental Health Wellness Day

by Jude Doble, Student Success Office.

Seeing orange? That’s because today is Mental Health Wellness Day.

More than 1,800 orange t-shirts and information cards were distributed to faculty, staff and student leaders who are wearing them to show our students Waterloo is a caring community that has the resources to help them. Pictured above are Student Success Officer staff members proudly wearing their Mental Health Wellness Day t-shirts.

In the SLC at 12:00 p.m., guest speaker (and brand new graduate) Alicia Raimundo will share her personal experience with mental illness. Everyone is welcome to attend. Wellness staff and student groups will also be on hand in the SLC from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to share mental health information and answer any questions.

Campus wellness is an important issue as one in five people will be affected by mental illness in their lifetime. If a student, staff or faculty approaches you with questions or concerns, please reassure them there are supports available on campus and refer them to the online resources list.

Back to top

Waterloo gets good grades in Globe report card

The University of Waterloo has finished in several top spots in the annual Globe and Mail “Canadian University Report”, released Tuesday.

Waterloo's grades include top marks in the Quality of Teaching and Learning category (tied with McMaster, Ryerson, and Western with an A- grade), Reputation With Employers (an A+ ranking here), Career Preparation (the only university in the large institutions category to receive an A grade), and Co-op/Internships (anything less than the A grade received would have been shocking).

Waterloo received a B+ grade in the overall student satisfaction category, above the B average for large institutions. Our grade in the Sense of Community on Campus was a C+, slightly lower than the B- average for large institutions. Waterloo got an A in Sense of Personal Safety and Security, above the B+ average.

The Canadian University Report bills itself as a "student satisfaction survey" that polls undergraduate students, some 33,000 of them. The results derive from respondents' answers to approximately 100 questions and each university receives a mean score based on the responses of the students attending the institution. Each mean score is then translated into letter grades.

This is the 11th year that the Globe and Mail has published the report card.

Back to top

Campus anime aficionados celebrate 20 years

with material from a CTRL-A press release.

They are a club that really likes anime.

I mean they really like it. It's right there in their name.

The Club That Really Likes Anime, or CTRL-A, is celebrating 20 years of giant robots, quivering eyes, cosplay, fansubs, and yes, even tentacles at a special anniversary event on campus this Saturday.

Formed in 1991 and established as a student club in 1992, CTRL-A has a long tradition of encouraging the passion of local anime fans, both locally and internationally. Primarily a social club, CTRL-A runs a variety of events that promote the Japanese anime subculture including showings, gaming nights, club projects, hotpot, karaoke, and cosplay contests.

Anime, which is sometimes referred to as Japanimation, although that term has fallen out of favour in recent years, refers to a style of animation originating in Japan in the 1960s (some early examples include Astro Boy and Speed Racer) that began washing up on North American shores regularly in the late 1970s when television producers would buy the overseas rights to shows like Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, heavily edit the footage, provide it with a new English script that often deviated heavily from the original storyline, and then rebrand it - in Gatchaman's case, becoming Battle of the Planets and G-Force. One of the most famous examples of this cross-cultural adaptation occurred in 1985 when Carl Macek of Harmony Gold USA stitched together three unrelated shows— The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA— to create Robotech, a popular franchise that persists to this day.

It also explains how Lion Force Voltron and Vehicle Voltron can exist in the same Voltron universe, with fans still arguing over which Voltron was better (Lion Force Voltron, by the way).

Anime fandom grew as North American audiences gained access to Japanese movies and TV series in their original forms thanks to easily circulated VHS tapes, and later DVDs and digital downloads, with fans doing their own translations and subtitles (fansubs) or relying on dubbed versions.

Campus clubs like CTRL-A played a major role in the spread of the subculture, as did anime conventions, self-published fanzines, midnight screenings at art house theatres, and of course, the Internet. As time went on, a few films, such as those by Hayao Miyazaki, received Hollywood backing and wider distribution in theatres, while shows like Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Pokémon encroached on Saturday morning cartoon territory.

And that's just scratching the surface. But I digress.

"CTRL-A is certainly one of the longest-running clubs at the University of Waterloo," says Dave McDougall, director of campus life for the Federation of Students. "It's a great achievement for a student club to persist as long as they have."

CTRL-A's 20th anniversary celebration will feature public screenings of anime dedicated to the history and growth of the culture, and will include a cosplay café and contest, flea market, games (board, card, and video), and other anime-themed activities, contests, music, and food. The celebration takes place in the Arts Lecture Hall from noon until midnight.

"Dressing up is totally encouraged, and free admission for all," writes CTRL-A publicity officer Alcina Wong.

CTRL-A acknowledges its roots in the anime showing culture, and though anime is more accessible than ever in today's digital age (just check out Crunchyroll to get an idea of the breadth of material available), the desire to share their enthusiasm for the culture with others has never waned.

Photograph courtesy of CTRL-A.

Back to top

Thursday's notes

The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) annual general meeting takes place today at 9:00 a.m. in MC 5158. Meeting documents can be found on the staff association's website.

University of Waterloo hockey player Colin Behenna was named Canadian Interuniversity Sport male athlete of the week this week. Additionally, football players Paul Cecile and Christian Mahler were named CIS football players of the week by a panel made up of members of the Football Reporters of Canada (FRC). It's a rare achievement indeed for a single institution to hold both athlete of the week and football players of the week simultaneously. All the more reason to break out the black and gold clothing tomorrow to show your support. Congratulations!

Faculty and staff can still fill out the TravelWise survey for a chance to win a number of prizes while sharing their commuting habits. The survey runs until midnight Friday, October 26.

Back to top