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Oh Reading Week. I always have such high expectations of you. I promise myself that I’m going to get my homework done, I’ll clean up my house, catch up on my sewing (yeah, okay… keep the needles away), watch those episodes of Dexter that I’ve missed (which I definitely will do), and you know what? I’ll even get ahead in my readings and assignments. Ah, such optimism.
In case you were wondering, this year’s Reading Week falls between Monday, February 16th and Saturday, February 21st. That means that classes resume on Monday the 23rd. You can find this date and other sessional dates on the Registrar’s website here.
What you do with your Reading Week is up to you, you can go to Cancun if you want, or you can do what I did last year which was lie on my best friends couch eating fondue and watching chick flicks with her for four days straight. Mmm… fondue…
Reading Week is meant to break up some of the stress that has accumulated since September. Granted, there was the Winter Holidays but who actually finds that relaxing? Family around all the time (which inevitably means either a fight between someone or embarrassing stories being told to your new BF/GF), navigating crowded shopping malls… or worse… being dragged by your mother through said malls, visiting family and friends who may not live nearby, etc etc. No matter what you do, or what you celebrate, the holiday season is usually very busy.
When planning your Reading Week, be realistic with yourself. You are not going to reorganize all the cupboards alphabetically. You will most likely not sew the hole that has appeared in your favorite pair of old jeans and you probably will not get ALL of your homework done. Plan accordingly and prioritize: if you don’t have assignments due right after Reading Week, get some extra reading out of the way, or catch up on older stuff you didn’t...
MACCESS - Your new central hub for McMaster services!
New for you – MACCESS (maccess.mcmaster.ca) is a portal designed for students with the help of students. You’ll find it on-line and it’s designed to provide all major services (and some not so major) in one place. Sign on once and you’re in – you don’t have to sign in again for access to MUGSI, personal timetables, e-mail, grades and WebCT. You also get features like portable bookmarks, and a customizable RSS feed to keep you up to date. And, there will be more coming to MACCESS in the future.
Students contributed in a huge way to the development of the portal. In the summer of 2005 we did a survey of what you thought was important and over 6,000 students responded. We also held focus groups to get more information on how students wanted to use the portal. In the fall of 2006 we interviewed students in MUSC for feedback on the best way to organize the content in tabs. In 2007 we asked students to name the portal and MACCESS was selected as the most popular choice. With all of that input we hope you will find the portal useful and simple to navigate.
We want to encourage regular feedback on the portal so we have added a discussion forum with a topic for feedback and comments. Please use it to tell us what you think.
And, as a special incentive to MacInsiders readers, I will be giving away two $25...
Teaching Awards - Nomination Period Closing This Wednesday!
Nomination period for first semester closes this Wednesday so get your forms in!!
There are those profs who go above and beyond to ensure that we as students get the best possible education? Have you ever wanted to recognize these individuals for their work? Show your appreciation? Thank them for their help? Teaching awards can do just that.
To show your support, you can nominate your teacher here:
Health and Dental Plan Opt-Out Cheque Distribution
If you opted out of the MSU Health and/or Drug plans, you can pick up your cheques from November 17th to November 28th from 10am-4pm in MUSC 215 (Clubspace). Make sure to have your student card otherwise you won't get your cheque!
The Santa Claus Parade happened yesterday, and even though it was raining and the weather wasn't very good, the parade continued and it had a fantastic turn out. Hundreds of people lined the streets downtown around Gore Park and watched as dozens of parade floats, vehicles, and marching bands walked by. The streets were blocked off by police to accomodate the parade, and buses were diverted.
While some groups canceled due to the weather, such as the McMaster Students Union, the McMaster Engineers showed some great Mac spirit and went ahead with their participation in the parade, showing off their Mac Eng vehicles and dressed in their red suits. I wanted to say - GOOD JOB GUYS for sticking it out in the rain to be a part of this year's Santa Claus Parade.
SEED works to promote access to education, in hopes of empowering
people to maximize their potential. In Zambia and Kenya, we fund
scholarships for children's primary education. The Kenyan scholarship
program needs interns this summer to collect information overseas,
conduct research and evaluate the process of the scholarship.
Interns should be prepared to make a commitment to the McMaster chapter
of SEED in 2009-2010.
The next information session will be held on:
Monday, November 17th
6:45 pm
MUSC fireplace
We will be meeting at the fireplace in the Student Center and moving
upstairs to a to-be-announced room in MUSC.
At the session, more details will be given, along with lots of
photographs, stories from former interns and application information.
If you can't make the meeting but are interested, send an email to seedmcmaster@gmail.com for more information and a copy of the
application.
For any general questions, feel free to contact Jinghao Yang (yangjm@mcmaster.ca)
or Cara Weymes (caraweymes@gmail.com), former interns of the Zambia
scholarship program!
Next week on Monday November 17th is a stress busters event held by FYC (First Year Council) in Quarters. It starts at 9:00 (runs till 11:00) and it's 5 bucks to get in (you can pay via meal card to quarters) and if you come early you get a free drink! The 5 dollars also gets you a special meal: either a pound of wings or a burger and fries. There will be lots of fun stress relieving games like Piniatas to blow off some steam, fun games to meet new people (some may be embarrassing but they'll break the ice that's for sure!), Dance Dance Revolutions to show off your skills, giant twister and good music! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=45185834457
Mac LAN Club is hosting a LAN Tournament!
Saturday Nov 22nd, 12noon to 6pm. BSB 106. Counter Strike 1.6 and Warcraft 3: DOTA
$5 Entry Fee! CASH Prizes! Randomly Picked Teams! Only 40 seats available so buy your ticket early!
Tickets are on sale @ Compass in Student Center, please visit website for complete rules.
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Notice: The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the student(s) who authored the content. Views and actions of MacInsiders may not reflect the views of all the members of the McMaster Students Union. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by McMaster University or the MSU (McMaster Students Union). Being a student-run community, all articles and discussion posts on MacInsiders are unofficial and it is therefore always recommended that you visit the official McMaster website for the most accurate up-to-date information.
Photography: Please note that some photos of McMaster found on MacInsiders may be from the "Picture McMaster" service, and are property of McMaster University.
MacInsiders is
a recognized and funded club of the McMaster Students Union