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Residence Move-Out
Dear parents,
Where has the time gone?
It seems like just yesterday when you helped move your son/daughter into residence and wondered how all of his/her “stuff” was going to fit.
Well, as the school year ends and students clean out their residence rooms, they typically find that they have more “stuff” than they are able to take home. Encourage your son/daughter to pack-up ahead of time and even bring loads home early wherever possible.
To help students plan for a successful move-out this month, all residence students were sent an e-card outlining important dates and move-out procedures in late March. This information is intended to make sure that a student’s final days in residence are spent studying for exams rather than packing or cleaning their rooms.
Recession Resilience: Strategies for Your Student
You’ve heard it from all sides: the newspapers, television, magazines, radio and internet are competing to see which one of them can scare you the most about the economic climate and your student’s employment future. Unfortunately, the warnings don’t always include practical advice for job seekers about planning for and handling job searches during a recession.
What are my student’s chances of getting a job?
Getting a university degree has a dramatic positive impact on employability and income, even during recessions. Of course, no one degree guarantees either success or failure in the job market, and there are many other indicators people look at to try to determine chances of employment. One is the unemployment rate, which provides very general information about the percentage of job seekers who have not yet found jobs. The unemployment rate varies over time and is beyond any job seeker’s control; however, your student can influence their success through the strategies introduced in the rest of this article, and your student can come to Career Services in Gilmour Hall 110 for help putting these approaches into practice.
The type of work job seekers want and where they want to do it impact the length of the job search. Working in a sports injury clinic may seem more lucrative than other venues for practicing physiotherapy, but a starting physiotherapist might find more opportunities working in physiotherapy clinics specializing in workplace injuries. Really making sense of information about the labour market involves looking at both broad and focused resources. For example, broad information from labourmarketinformation.ca might tell you that education and health care are areas of growing opportunity. But actually talking with people who work in areas that appeal provides much more specific knowledge about which types of jobs and organizations are on the rise.
This leads to another factor in job search success: job seekers’ own actions. The length of the job search is only partly determined by the economy. It is also influenced by job seekers’ suitability and qualifications for the work they want, and the strategies they use to find employment opportunities. During a difficult job search, it can be tempting to apply for a wide range of jobs using online databases, in order to send out as many applications as quickly as possible. Research shows, however, that the most effective job search strategies start with introspection and a good understanding of what seekers have to offer employers, as well as research into opportunities that would be a good fit for one’s strengths and interests. Our staff can help your student develop a better understanding of his or her own strengths and of how to research potential fits in the world of work.
McMaster Summer Work Programs
McMaster Summer Work Programs sponsored by the Office of Student Financial Aid & Scholarships (Gilmour Hall, 120)
continue to grow each year. When summer work programs began approximately ten years ago, there were just over 30 campus employers involved. In 2008, the program helped 197 employers fill over 495 full and part-time jobs on campus and in the off-campus McMaster community. Funding is provided by McMaster University (including income from student tuition) and some of its donors; funds are directed toward the creation of meaningful employment opportunities for students. In 2008, $2.6 million was earned by McMaster students through the programs.
Jobs are a great way for students to help fund their education and to gain valuable job experience. Job postings for 2009 were made available online through OSCAR on the Career Services website on March 1, 2009 (see http://careers.mcmaster.ca/ for more details). There is always a wide variety of positions available and students can find work to match their skills and interest in the areas of research, administration, day care, library, physical plant and more.
To be eligible, students must be registered McMaster students in the current fall/winter session, be returning to McMaster in the next fall/winter session in an undergraduate program and demonstrate financial need by way of an application which is available through MUGSI.
Convocation Gifts that Make Memories Last Forever
Class of 2009 T-shirts and Hoods
Wear your school pride with a class of 2009 hooded sweatshirt or T-shirt.
Hood - $29.95
T-shirt - $12.95
Order Both and Save $9.00 – only $33.90
Combine a T-shirt or Hood with a frame, frame package, McMaster commemorative coffee table book and save $3.00 to $6.00.
Degree and Portrait Frames - Order online early and Save!
Commemorate their accomplishments with a degree or portrait frame. Five styles to chose from including the new Cosmopolitan and Silver Executive Medallion Frames.
Pre-order a degree or portrait frame to Save 10% to 15%.
Moving Back Home after Graduation - Survival Strategies for Parents
It was hard to detach yourself from them when they first entered university. Remember the day you brought them to McMaster and drove away without them? You drove onto a large campus, had a tearful goodbye and either called or thought about calling minutes later to make sure your child was safe. That first step in letting your student be independent was difficult, but how will you feel once it is all over?
Move forward to May, 2009. Their diplomas have been handed out, and you have already framed that precious piece of paper that cost thousands of dollars. You couldn’t be prouder of your graduate’s accomplishments. But when your student returns home graduated and home-less, you might catch yourself reaching for that Kleenex box once again!
There was a time that moving home after university carried with it a shadow of shame. Not for today’s Millenial graduate. They see it as a smart economic decision. For many students, moving out on their own after completing university is not an option. With the cost of tuition, books and student loans, many recently graduated students have no choice but to move back in with mom and dad.
Moving back home is a big adjustment, one that will affect both parents and students. Let’s face it, your child was off on their own for four years, and you were also getting accustomed to your freedom from daily parental concerns. With your child’s arrival back home, are you ready to return to the old way of life? If not, that’s good news because it isn’t realistic to think the old rules and routines will work given how much has changed in each of your lives.
Announcing Exciting Initiatives to Enhance Student Services
Each year the McMaster Students Union and Student Affairs approve funding collected through student fees for “Special Projects”. This provides a great opportunity for staff to be creative in the way they deliver services to students, pilot new initiatives and collaborate on projects. Here are just a few of the projects being planned in 2009-10. We will report on these initiatives in future newsletters as they evolve.
McMaster's Reading Week Series: 5 Perspectives
Service Learning is a form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as students work with others through a process of applying what they are learning to community problems, and, at the same time, reflecting upon their experience as they seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves.
The McMaster Office of Community Service Learning and Civic Engagement ran 5 different Reading Week experiences this year. Each team had 2 Team Advisors (staff) and 1 Team Leader (student) and the groups ranged in size from 10-14 participants. Our theme this year was ‘Looking Closer’ as we aimed to get students beyond the headlines, beyond their assumptions to deeply appreciate and understand the complexity and interconnectedness of multi-faceted social issues.
Each team leader was asked to write a brief outline of what they did on the trip and what the experience meant to them. This is what they had to say.
Registrar’s Website Review
The Registrar's Office needs your help in completing a short survey regarding McMaster University's Office of the Registrar's website (http://registrar.mcmaster.ca/). We are in the process of completing a review of the functionality of our site and who better to ask than the people who use the site. Please download and take 5 minutes to complete the survey and return it to Sophia Holness (holness@mcmaster.ca) by May 1st. Any feedback you can provide would be appreciated.
The President’s Award of Excellence in Student Leadership 2009
The President's Award of Excellence was established in 1993 to recognize students who have demonstrated a commitment to the University's belief in excellence in its student body.
This year, the award was presented to the following graduating students:
Daniel Borrelli
Chad Fullerton
Mark Gruca
Chryslyn Pais
Tiffany Parsons
Debjani Poddar
78th Annual Honour M Award Winners
At the March 24th, the McMaster Students Union (MSU) Recognition Night five students were awarded The Honour M Award. The Honour M Award is the highest award that the McMaster Students Union (MSU) bestows. The award has been presented annually since 1932 in recognition of outstanding leadership, volunteer service, contribution and/or special achievement in extra-curricular activities. Recipients of the award are admitted to the McMaster Honour Society. This year the Honour M Award was presented to:
Pei-Wen Chou
Michael Pett
Arati Sharma
Temara Brown
Katie Stiel
Student Citizen Award
Each year the residents of the Ainslie Wood Westdale Association (AWWCA) and the Hamilton Police Services (HPS) nominate McMaster students for the Student Citizen Award who have demonstrated qualities to enhance the community in which we live and learn. This year, the award winners are: Rebecca Cherniak, Paige Churchill, Emily Closs, Dominique DaBreo, JoAnne Fernandez, Melody Franics, Marnie Gupta, Sunayna Gupta, Dora Habib, Julia Holder, Giselle Lo, Jessica Nasmith, Helen Qian, Caroline Shenouda, Desiree VAladares, Julia Wytsma and Sabrina Youash.
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Past Issues
For links to past issues and some of the other publications at McMaster visit http://studentaffairs.mcmaster.ca/parents/news.html.
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