Here's a tip: President & Vice-Chancellor Feridun Hamdullahpur prepares to toss the ball skyward between forwards Lien Phillip (left) and Brendan Smith (right) at the 14th annual Fantastic Alumni, Faculty, Staff and Retiree Day as the men’s basketball team took on the Windsor Lancers in front of a crowd of more than 630 spectators.

Festivities at the event included two basketball games (Windsor's men's and women's teams won both, but enough about that), an alumni vs. staff Monster Hoops contest, and the annual paper airplane toss, with proceeds from the plane purchases ($185.50) going to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, as did three boxes of food collected at the door.

Airplane Toss winners included:

• Alex Longo, who won a 40” Samsung LED Television & Boston Acoustics Soundbar with wireless subwoofer;
• Tibor Vezsenyi, who won the $1000 Blue Mountain Family Weekend and the Wizard of Oz Date Package;
• Bill Killeen, who won a pair of Men’s and Women’s Opus Urbano Bicycles; and
• Alex Brown, who won a Warrior Blanket, a set of 4 glasses, and a $100 McGinnis Front Row Gift Certificate.

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Education programs, new Housing Fair on offer

by Ryan King, Off-Campus Living and Neighbourhood Relations, Housing and Residences

During the winter term, education programs organized by Off-Campus Housing are running in residences to teach students about their upper-year housing options.

These programs teach students about living off campus, explain strategies about searching for off-campus accommodations, and provide an overview of upper-year on-campus residence opportunities. By attending these programs, first-year students learn strategies about how to be successful as upper-year student – even if they decide to live off campus.

This year, the Department of Housing and Residences is hosting a Housing Fair on Wednesday, January 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre. At this housing fair, students will compare and see over 20 accommodation types, learn about Waterloo Rental Housing By-Laws, and talk to Off-Campus Housing Staff about off-campus concerns and community responsibilities. As an added bonus, the first 500 students completing their “Housing Passport” will receive a free poutine!

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Team heads to local financial competition finals

A student team from the University of Waterloo's School of Accounting and Finance has been selected to compete in the Local Finals of the CFA Institute Research Challenge for the fourth year in a row.

The Waterloo team, which includes Arsalan Hashmani (MAcc ‘13), Donna Heng (BAFM ’13), Prasanth Pahirathan (BAFM ’13), Anqi Wang (CFM ‘13), and Iang Weng (MAcc ‘13), will compete against three Ontario universities on February 13, for a coveted spot in the Americas regional competition being held in Toronto in March. 

The finance competition, which attracted more than 3,500 students from 650 universities from 55 countries last year, is designed to promote best practices in equity research among the next generation of financial experts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.

In the preliminary round, teams were required to assemble a research report on a publicly traded firm – this year being the Canadian chain success story Dollarama. Groups will present their report to a panel of industry professionals who will evaluate the quality of their research and presentation. 

The regional winner will advance to the global final in London, UK in April.

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A new GreenHouse for social innovators

by Eugenia Xenos Anderson, Communications Specialist, St. Paul's University College

Upper-year students with a passion for the environment or development now have a new way to take action on issues that concern them while at the University of Waterloo.  By living in shared suites at St. Paul’s University College as part of GreenHouse, a new ‘innovation hub’ modeled on the successful VeloCity community (which puts entrepreneurially minded students together), GreenHouse will offer students workshops, seminars and working sessions to help them define and implement an initiative for environmental and/or social justice change.

Students will work in teams and receive guidance, advice and mentorship. Living together will help with networking, sharing ideas and meeting like-minded people. The GreenHouse will open in fall 2013, and the application deadline is March 1. For more information, please visit the GreenHouse website or contact St. Paul’s via email or by calling 519-885-1460, ext. 226.

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