University of Victoria
EN-2: Student Orientation

Staff from the Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability had a key role at the President's Welcome BBQ in presenting information to students about various sustainability initiatives on campus to all new students. In addition to the information table, the event was as close to Zero-Waste as possible, with staff Green Team volunteers assigned to each Zero-Waste station to ensure that students sort their waste properly into the appropriate bins. Other orientation events include tabling at the Graduate Student Info Fair, as well as Vikes Thunderfest which is a large back-to-school kick-off event organized by Vikes Nation, the UVic Students’ Society, and Residence Life.

In addition to the efforts at the president's BBQ and other orientation fairs, a Sustainability Week was held from October 10-15 as part of UVic’s orientation activities. This was organized in collaboration with Student Affairs and was advertised through the orientation guide, as well as the official mobile application. There were a wide range of sustainability-related tours and events scheduled for every day of the week, including a week-long social media take-over of the official UVic Snapchat account. See “Notes” section below for a full list of events and other links.

The Sustainability Office also worked closely with the Communications + Marketing department to release a featured story in the Ring newspaper to promote Sustainability Week events (https://www.uvic.ca/ring/2016+controlling-invasive-species+ring). Furthermore, the Sustainability Office was granted access to post Sustainability Week-related content on the official UVic social media accounts to take advantage of their online reach.

Sustainability Week events:
Green Buildings: Urban Adventure! – Tuesday, October 11, David Turpin Building (1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.)

Rethink the Drink: Movie and Panel Discussion – Tuesday, October 11, TBC (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.)

Edible Campus – Wednesday, October 12, Petch Fountain (1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.)

Great BC MilkShakeOut – Wednesday, October 12, Mystic Market (11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.) & Cadboro Commons (5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.)

Invasive Species Management Plan Open House - Wednesday, October 12, SUB Upper Lounge (6PM)

Creative Compost Collaboration – Thursday, October 13, McPherson Library (12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.)

The Campus Ecology Walk – Thursday, October 13, Cunningham Building (1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.)

Dodge in the Dark – Thursday, October 13, CARSA (7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.)

Campus Bike Tour – Friday, October 14, Student Union Building (1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.)

Additional links:

Thunderfest: http://vikesrec.ca/sports/2016/5/4/thunderfest-2016.aspx

UVic Orientation events for internal partners for 2016:
http://www.uvic.ca/studentaffairs/assets/docs/SRGE_2016-Orientation-Program-Plan.pdf

2016/17 New Student Handbook live digitally at:
http://www.uvic.ca/orientation/assets/docs/UVic_New_Student_Handbook_2016-2017.pdf

Web app/mobile guide:
https://guidebook.com/g/uvic2016/

Snapchat take-over link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkvmzhrY67Q