End of semester report
Transition, Time Management, and
Leadership
I
never quite understood what being busy was until I ran in an election. Then I
realized that I actually never quite
understood what being busy was until I became an executive. I finally
understood what being busy meant when I began planning a concert, but we’ll get
to that. Although my days have been filled with phone calls, brainstorming,
emails, and endless running around (both around town, the school, and within
the office), the transition into this position has been an incredible learning
experience. Due to circumstances beyond our power (*cough* past exec *cough*)
we came in this year essentially in crisis management mode, not allowing time
for the training I would have so greatly appreciated. However, this forced me
to learn how to do my role quickly, what my duties entailed, and how things
work around this place.
When
you are forced to manage your time it’s incredible how great you become at it!
Taking three classes, being the president of a new organization called Women In
Leadership, and enjoying my position at the UWSA has posed many time-management
challenges, but when you have to plan in advance you do and I’ve been quite impressed
with the way I’ve been able to manage my time and still enjoy a bit of summer.
I have been known to leave everything to the last minute because I “work better
this way”, guilty as charged, but the planning of the concert and WWW has
really forced me to get things done in advance and I’m appreciative to be
developing this skill.
This
position has also taught me a whole new style of leadership. Coming from a
strong business background where I’ve even run my own business for three years,
I’d developed certain ways of doing things and leading people that simply don’t
work in a more bureaucratic and government-esque environment that is the UWSA.
I read endless books and articles on leadership and am learning how to tailor
my leadership style and techniques to fit a very very different organization style and adapting to organizational
behavior that I’ve never experienced.
To say
the least, the role has certainly had its ups (getting that call from Avicii’s
management saying YES!) and downs (having to share a wall next to the circus
that is Moe’s office), but more than anything else it has been an incredible
learning experience!
Oh No, It’s Welcome Week!
I have
this philosophy that I like to live by: Work Hard, Play Hard. Nothing could be
more true when it comes to the university experience. Many people come into
university expecting great seriousness and strict emphasis purely on academics,
but when it comes to having a well-rounded university experience nothing could
be farther from the truth. Of course, it’s important to get good grades, focus
on your academics, and all that jazz (trust me, I do think this is
important—I’m the one who leaves when the library forces me out), but what’s
equally, if not more, important are the experiences you have outside the
classroom.
This
first week acts as a transition period. But into what? Not studying. I think
that this week acts as a transition period into increased participation in the
university environment, activities, atmosphere, and simply soaking it all in.
The more hopeful and intended outcome of course is to establish a strong sense
of loyalty, affiliation, and identification with your university. A place that you
are proud of and proud to call home. And how do you do that? Not by smacking
students in the face with textbooks (I don’t mean literally), but by providing
opportunity for interaction, for people to step outside of their comfort zones,
to meet people and experience things they never have (especially now that we
don’t live with mom and dad).
When
we look back to remember our university experience, I certainly don’t recall
fondly on Intro to Business 45-100 (except I will because my teacher was a
babe), but we remember essentially everything else that made us who we are.
University is about all the aspects of adulthood coming together, smashing
together really, in the span of four years that shape us into who we become.
Oh Concert, My Concert
Like I
mentioned, I never quite understood what being busy really meant until I
planned a concert. The biggest concert the Downtown Festival Plaza has ever
seen. Featuring AVICII! Needless to say it has been insane… what’s more chaotic
than insane? Whatever it is, that is what it has been! Although hectic, it has
been so fun! It has given me the opportunity to build relationships within the
community, with university stakeholders, and with local business to develop the
UWSA name, as well as the University of Windsor’s, and establish ourselves as a
serious organization doing BIG things! This concert really is about more than
the music. This is about the UWSA, the university, and Windsor showing that we
are bigger than believed and more bold and capable than we have ever been. I’m
so proud of this accomplishment for all of us!
To Pub Or Not To Pub
Ah
yes, the very controversial, highly discussed, very “re-visited” pub discussion.
Well, as you all know we came in on May 1 to discover that our destiny had been
determined for us by a very brilliant Andre Capaldi (I mean that, I really
do..I think this contract is a great thing but we’ll get to that). I spent this
first month (while trying to plan a concert, all of welcome week, and trying to
learn my role) fighting the glorious-not-so-glorious pub battle. Fortunately,
Board came to the consensus that renting space out to the bookstore and keeping
space for a lounge was a good idea. Phew! Because it really is. Actually, it’s
a fantastic idea. I know it’s easy to get caught up in the “but what about
student space! This is our pub”. Well friends, our pub was failing and here’s
why: it was trying to be an everything space. A “lets grab a drink but it’s overpriced maybe we’ll get some food but its
slow or maybe it’s a dancefloor but its empty” space and when you try to do
everything you do nothing.
Please,
indulge with me in my vision of what this space is going to look like. This
space, located along the beautifully lit patio wall (which I intend to cover so
we can use it in the winter and have an entirely glass room!), will be a place
for YOU (no matter who you are). It
will be a lounge, a space where students can go to grab a cup of coffee, maybe
sit down with a friend for a glass of wine, go to study, meet a professor, do
an interview, go on a date, just hang out, look out the glass wall and watch
the ant relentlessly carrying that crumb… well, you get it. It’s no longer a
space to throw parties (don’t worry, party we shall just somewhere else),
because it wasn’t working for that, our demographic changed. Students need a
place to hang out and unwind, because like I said, the university experience is
about more than books. It’s about the time spent away from the classroom where
you unwind and be who you are. This space is going to have a business plan
designed to be self-sustaining, because we’re not in this business to make a
profit, we’re here to serve students and serve you we shall!
Meetings, meetings, meetings
My
job sounds super fun, right? Right! But when I’m not planning concerts or
fighting for student space or scouting the coolest swag, my days are filled
with meetings, emails, phone calls, and conferences. You know, the not-so-fun
stuff that just needs to get done.
Overall,
I am so grateful to have this position and have really enjoyed (most of) it so
far! I’m very excited for the year coming up and think it is going to be our
best one yet! I’m always open to talk about UWSA or anything else; my door is
always open. Feel free to ask me any questions to further clarify what I’ve
been up to or give me some ideas/feedback about what you would like to see. And
remember, it’s about more than music. It’s about more than books.
