On Wednesday, August 31st, over 900 members of the Sheridan community gathered at the Trafalgar Athletics Stadium to kick off the 2016-2017 academic year. The theme of the event this year was Community Picnic, and featured summer picnic touches from the table decorations, to picnic blanket giveaways, to gardening activities and pinwheels.
If you haven’t yet done so, we invite anyone who attended to please take a short post-event survey, available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5Q5ND65. Your comments will help us to further refine the event in the future.
Here is a look back at highlights from the event:
Employee Accomplishments
In keeping with the Community Picnic theme, this year’s Employee Accomplishments were printed on special tablecloths that decorated each of the tables at the Welcome Back Breakfast.
See the full tablecloth here.
The following people were recognized:
Individual Achievements:
Theresa A. Fraser, Scarlett Wong, Jason Dean, Rafael M. Santos, Deborah Megens, Mozammel Khan, Elaine Brodie, Bruno Degazio, Clarence A. Porter, Mimi Mekler, Christina Wiggins, Evelyn Shoemaker, Shady Hana, El Sayed Mahmoud, Elizabeth Dancy, Rachel Jiang, Sandra Shoufani, Volodymyr Voytenko, Andrew Smyk, Amanda Maknyik, Sirena Liladrie, Derrick Millard, Alison Feierabend, Dr. Marisela Strocchia, Ruby Hynes, Sophia Awan, Darby Pierson, Simone DeVriendt, Nicole Lee, Jennifer Frost, Gail Collins, Ruth Kehoe, Ramneet Hothi, Karen Johns, Nancy Van Dorp, Christine Szustaczek, Deanne Romero, Janice Galloway, Tara Hayes, Richa Saini, Charles A.R. (Chuck) Lawrence, Nigel Johnson, Tae Hwang.
Team Achievements:
The following employees were part of a team achievement recognized at this year’s event:
Maher Ghalayini, Julie Jaglowitz, Kristina Arena, Mary Ventrella, Deborah Megens, Carin McLean, Peter Amponsah, Peter Hoag, Theresa Fraser,Asta Dvorak, El Sayed Mahmoud, Philip Stubbs, Elsayed Abdelaal, Jessica Carey, Jessica Derreck, Sue Hutton, Anna Pautler, Herb Sinnock, Andrew Staples, Michelle Szabo, Tanya Bedrossian, Michael Cassidy, Rossana Gorys, Mandi J Buckner, Basil Joseph, Alyse Nishimura, Nicole Korstanje, Ryan Kelly, Paula Laing, Jenna Pulver, Diana Herholz, Carol Appleby, Vicki McAllister, Natalie Fasano, Susan Anderson-Wilcox, Mary Ventrella, Amanda Latourell, George Georgopolous, Janice Galloway, Tania Iveson, Davis and Trafalgar Health and Wellness Peers, Jacinda Frazer, Ida Gianvito, Vicki McAllister, Mark Orlando.
Community & Inclusion at Sheridan
The Picnic theme helped bring out the event’s central focus on community and inclusion.
After everyone made their way from the breakfast tent (decked out in Sheridan colours and featuring colourful tablecloths and hanging balloon ornaments) to the outdoor stadium bleachers, the formal program began with a performance from the Bachelor Musical Theatre Students. The students opened with Freak Flag from the musical Shrek, which will be part of the 16/17 Theatre Sheridan season. Accompanied by Aaron Eyre on piano, the students took the stage twice more during the event to perform Holding Out for a Hero and Footloose from Theatre Sheridan’s production of Footloose this upcoming season.
Paula Laing and Elijah Williams of Sheridan’s newly-renamed Centre for Indigenous Learning and Support helped kick off the event by acknowledging the territory.
Provost and Vice President, Academic Dr. Mary Preece, who served as the event MC, welcomed the 900+ employees present and acknowledged that this year, a new group was joining the Welcome Back Event for the first time – the new Sheridan Retirees Association, which will welcome all new retirees from Sheridan.
Special guest speaker Candy Palmater, who hosts The Candy Show on CBC Radio One, shared her story about her upbringing in northern New Brunswick as part of the Mi’kmaq First Nation community, her drive and hard work to become a star University athlete, lawyer and comedian even in the face of skepticism, and her deep gratitude for the educators who believed in her and pushed her to succeed when she doubted herself.
The event concluded with a planting activity, as attendees helped plant a large native wildflower garden in the area just outside the Trafalgar Athletic Stadium. The garden will help reduce our carbon footprint and provide habitat for wildlife. Local not-for-profit group, Oakvillegreen and Sheridan Mission Zero volunteers helped guide the activity.
Farewell to President Jeff Zabudsky and Year in Review
Sheridan’s President, Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, took the stage for his final Year in Review remarks. Jeff highlighted not only some of Sheridan’s outstanding award wins and milestones from this year (read the full list here), but also reflected on some of the initiatives that flourished during his time at Sheridan that he feels proudest to have been a part of. These included the Hazel McCallion Campus, our Research Centres of Excellence, the growth of curriculum-based projects with community organizations, and the founding of the Canadian Music Theatre Project. Jeff thanked the Sheridan community for the chance to have served as President, and said Sheridan was “the best place I have ever worked.”
President’s Creative Challenge
As in years past, the Welcome Back Breakfast also kicked off the President’s Creative Challenge for 2016-2017. This year’s challenge will ask students, faculty and staff to consider: How can we design and create a community that cultivates participation and belonging for everyone at Sheridan?
As employees left the Athletics Stadium they created an inspiration gallery with post-it ideas about participation, belonging, and community at Sheridan that will become part of the new President’s Creative Challenge website, launching in September 2016 with more information about the Challenge.
Journey Update
Dr. Mary Preece, who will be assuming the role of Interim President on November 1st, reinforced the focus on community & inclusion as she provided an update on the Sheridan Journey.
Mary shared with attendees that over the coming months, she will be dialoguing with the Sheridan community across campuses about what we want to see in Sheridan University – what needs more work, and how our ‘building blocks’ should come together. “Our journey to become Sheridan University does not and should not need to look like the journey that others have taken before us. I want to hear your thoughts,” said Mary.
Final items
Congratulations once again to the winners of the FitBit Alta fitness tracker, the solar portable charger, the deluxe picnic basket, the Fuji Film Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera, the Samsung tablet, and the tickets to the special ‘Sheridan Night’ Performance of Come From Away at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.
Everyone at the event should have received a Sheridan picnic blanket.
Have a fantastic academic year!
