First I apologize for taking so long to write since September. I totally lost track and take full responsibility. But what are my thoughts on how the year I progressing this year? Well being that we have just finished the first ever leadership summit and NAIT’s Next Top Model within 4 days, I can say its feeling pretty good. I’m very happy with what the campus culture department has accomplished thus far in the year.

With that said I think a quick recap is in order.

Finding our Grove: Well, put simply. September was crazy; orientation after orientation, speaking to students. When would I have ever thought that THAT would be my job. I’m grateful. You get to stand in front of a new crowd and inspire them for the year to come. But at the same time you’ve got 5 events coming up and you cant seem to get them out of the back of your head. One thing I found was tough was focusing. Focusing on one thing at any one time. It makes it tough to accomplish all of the things you have to accomplish. Somewhat of a double edged sword I guess. But anywho we got through it, as a team. We were there for each other as executives and it was a milestone as far as I’m concerned.  Bellow is a picture of us getting our picture taken on the stairs before you go on the pedway to the HP centre.

East Coast party: We decked out the nest with fishing nets hung from the ceilings and had an east coaster play us some sweet tunes with his acoustic up on stage. Some people were dressed up in gum rubbers etc. But the main attraction I think was the screeching in process. Yes I know! We had people who wanted to participate come up on stage, say a rhyme, kiss a fish and take a shot of screech and then after were awarded their official documents. The nest was probably ¾ full for this one, which in comparison to last year’s equivalent the Prairie Party wasn’t as popular.

Ball Hockey Tournament: I would just like to start this one off by saying the girl Ooks have a decent team! The NAISA execs played them in a celebrity game and lost in overtime I think. Or a shout out I can’ t remember anymore but it was very close. Other than that though we had a full roster with lots of teams and great hockey. The Petroleum Engineering Technology students took the tourney down though. It was raining pretty hard but we all managed to have a great time.

Shinerama: This one was great because of the cause. For those who don’t know Shinerama is an all day fundraiser done nation wide to raise  money for cystic fibrosis. The  NAITSA crew was up reaaaaaal early blowing up balloons and setting up for our volunteers for when they arrived. A big shout out to Teagan Gahler our Shinerama coordinator for this year. She did an amazing job and raised somewhere in the ball park of 13-14 grand!  Below is a picture of Jenna and Jacqueline getting balloons ready at approximately 6 am.

Full Moon Party: I had a ball at the full moon party. We had DJ mikey wong come in and he rocked it. Actually the whole night was jam packed. We had Mo badass, Christian Hansen, Mikey, and then a headphone disco to close things off. To be totally honest after 9:30 pm I was dead tired. I had to take a seat for a while. Everyone had a blast though and that felt really good.

I guess what ill say in my blog to kick things off is to try my best to set the stage for the rest of the year.

If I have one piece of advice to give to you even though this sounds entirely cliché, that piece of advice is to get involved; to take that step and make that choice.

Decide to take that initial step and walk into our office. Take that leap of faith and get involved in a club, or at an event, or as a senator, or even as a security guard. It doesn’t really matter so much as to what you do, it’s more about the fact that you took that initial step; because in reality, that’s what we need as an organization. We need the people to come in and take that initiative, to take that leap of faith.

I can remember when I first got here. I was sitting in a seat in the engineering annex (aka L building). I remember the teacher had just got done doing his spiel and so did the student president of our petroleum engineering technology student executive. Then a random dude stood up and started to explain to us this opportunity to run as a senator for NAITSA. I remember him saying that it was a small commitment and looked great on a resume.

The first thing that started to run through my head as I listened to him speak, was how I used to be involved back in high school and how I was pretty good at it. I mean I can honestly say that I enjoyed those times, which so happened to have taken place more than 4 years ago.

Then I started to picture that one line at the bottom of my resume stating “SENATOR” and how it would be exclusive to MY resume, the advantage to my future employer, and what that would mean. Then I started to think of all the money in extra scholarships that I would get because I was involved at such a prestigious level within this school. To be honest I was feeling pretty good about it.

Almost simultaneously I began to realize that half the people in this room were second years. I mean what does that do to my chances of winning this? Then, well what if I lost! What would that mean? A huge hit in the pride factor that’s for sure. Then, well a second year really deserves this more than I do I thought. I mean they would kind of have seniority over me, wouldn’t they? Doesn’t putting in your time count for something? Well I know it does for me, but is this the place where a rule like this would count? In fact there is probably second years who have been planning for this since last Spring and have 50% of the room were sitting in ready to give their votes.

With all that going through my mind I hadn’t realized that I had taken myself out of the race even before I had put one poster up.

But then luckily my brain made a come back and said “well.. if that’s the case then what would it really mean if I could win, what if I could actually pull this off!”

Wow a first year actually taking this down! And what about next year? What could I get involved with next year? I pictured myself feeling unstoppable.

Looking back I’m not sure if what I thought was right, or wrong or even normal but I know one thing is true. Actually making that choice to go down to the NAITSA office and pick up a package put me on a route to something that completely changed my life.

It’s that decision that is responsible in itsself for where I am in my life right now, VP Campus Life. And its that decision that has me sitting here at my office on a Saturday afternoon excited to share a story with you because I love what I do.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t tell you this to impress you. I tell you this to impress upon you, the importance of going above the classroom and beyond the basic curriculum.  The friendships I’ve been blessed to be apart of, the “real life skills” I’ve learned over the course of the past two years, and the memories that I have close to my heart are things ill never let go of.

So I guess that might have been a bit deep haha. But you know what? My goal this year and the entire reason why I’m sitting here right and ran for this position is because I want to change people’s lives. I want you to look back on this experience and say to your self “wow”, I’ll never forget what NAITSA has done for me. I’ll never forget that memory. Now what that specific memory is can be different for every body and I cant tell you what exactly that would look like. But I do know that I have memories like that from a university I used to go to. I know that those memories are something that I’ll never forget, and those experiences have changed my life.

You may be asking “How do you plan on doing something like this Tyler?” Well I believe it lies in enriched experiences. I truly believe that putting the money back into the students is how you do this. To create an event that really blows you away or that you can take from and apply it in your every day life. To jolt you emotionally when someone from the International Justice mission comes in to speak at a 30 hour famine about human trafficking right here in Edmonton. Or when an Olympian comes in to speak of incredible odds and how they’ve over come them. Or that night on a riverboat where everyone was dressed up like pirates and rocked out to a cover band all night long like they’ve known each other all their lives, or maybe its helping you discover a hidden talent like playing guitar! It doesn’t really matter what the event is, we all have our ways of having fun, what does matter though, is what you take away from our events, and how our events can help you have the best possible experience here at NAIT.

I think I’ll leave you with a quote from a TED talk I just finished listening to. It was about James Cameron’s life, his quests to the bottom of the ocean, and how his creativity and brevity led him to creating the biggest blockbuster of our time, Avatar. In it there are two main themes in my opinion and here is one of them:

“Failure is an option, but fear is not”.

Why you ask? Well because we have an opportunity here, as a group of independent individuals, to collaborate, come together and create something magical this year. Interdependence.  I feel as though one of the most powerful things is a group of individuals who each have the same common purpose (putting students first), are independent (responsible, proactive, and accountable), and who can come together to take the necessary steps to ensure they work as a team to create interdependence.

Some of you may realize that I am referencing Stephen Covey’s book the Seven Habits of highly effective people, and you would be totally right.  To be honest I wasn’t able to put all of this together until today when we were talking about our smart goals and going through our deep dive. Then it all started to come together as I have explained above.

I started to realize that we were taking the steps to ensure we knew there was no room for slackers and that they probably would not be helped if they slacked off. Which I think may be a little rough but at the same time I agree with it personally. But we also realized the importance in checking in with each other when things are getting hectic in the office, and that were here to support each other when one of us is having trouble

If we don’t check in then we risk missing out on some great opportunities to collaborate together and possibly create some legendary things. If we don’t check in we risk drifting as a team. If we drift as a team then our impact will be much less. And if our impact is much less then have we really served our purpose? Have we truly done everything we could to ensure that every student feels welcome in the NAIT community? Have we ensured we gave the students everything we had and left it all on the field so to speak?

Probably not.

Coming off of the summer and getting ready for the fall and all its antics with the plethora of events, new students to welcome and communication to uphold with the office, as well as NAIT definitely holds its challenges in trying to maintain some work life balance lol. But then again, that’s why I ran.

So what is the KESA deep dive you ask? Well I’ll first have to explain a bit of background before I go into what a deep dive is. At the beginning of our term, the other three executives and my self, as well as the past execs went on a retreat where we set the stage for the whole year. Creating our expectations of each other and establishing a platform for accountability, success, and what it all looks like to us as NAITSA executives.

We did this, and then were sent home with some homework; to come up with some smart. Throughout the summer my smart goals have evolved a bit, and I think its safe to say that some of the other executives have also. They mainly rest on what my platform was when I ran and ensuring I deliver on what I promised this year.

The deep dive was a get together once again to confirm our smart goals. But more so to have a getaway where we can check in with one another and listen to what we each have to say, where were coming from and to see how we’ve each grown and how our situations have changed since our first retreat.

To be honest I wasn’t really sure what the deep dive was before we sat down. But I can tell you that after coming out of it I’m extremely excited to have the team I have behind me right now. I think this deep dive was more about making sure that as executives, we’re all on the same page with what our objectives are; making sure that our smart goals are in line with what our purpose is as executives of a students’ association, and to enforce the fact that we’re in this one together.

When I say we’re in this together I mean we are here to help each other out when one of us are having trouble. Let me stress that this does not mean we are here to bail each other out when someone has slacked off and just depended on others kind of like a sponge soaks up everything around it for its self.

What I mean is that we are expected to act independently at this stage, seeing as we are executives of a post secondary institute. So it is very important to make it clear in these types of session, I feel, that we bring that forward and let each other know that personal responsibility, and accountability are expected at this point (not being dependent), but at the same time we can’t afford to just act independently either.

Content: Third Day

Three of the sessions from Day 3 were regarding conflict management, developing your personal strategic advantage when looking for work, and communicating between Gen Y and the Baby Boomers. I enjoyed these sessions but found they were a bit introductory, and believe I would have appreciated a bit more depth. Overall, they were a good entry point for some interesting topics.

Networking Event

Day 3 had a dinner/networking event with about a dozen local business leaders. This was a great time to network and meet some interesting individuals. I had the opportunity to chat with a representative from Shell, so it was pretty cool to pick his brain about Shell’s business model in our area.

Content: Second Day

The sessions at the conference which began the next morning were absolutely great and featured a Shinerama legend, Drew Dudley. Drew has years of experience and insight around what we can do to put on great events as well as tips to succeed in our year with the Students’ Association. I felt as though Drew was a master VP Campus Life who has moved on and grew on so many levels. From changing what might be weighing your organization down, to risk management, idea generating, to life advice; I really enjoyed Drew’s speech and thought he was the perfect person to have speaking at Leaders Hall.

One session which was met with a bit of controversy was an info session/workshop on four different personality types. The session was put on by Steve Pilot from People First HR. In his workshop Steve was letting us know about 4 different personality types, the ponderer, commander, harmonizer, and elaborator.

I was an elaborator, which means I’m always excited about a bigger and brighter tomorrow. I contribute great ideas and am usually the life of the party. Now my weaknesses are that I’m usually all over the place with my ideas. I can bring awesome ideas but move on and bounce all over the place. In all honesty, that pretty much sums me up in a nutshell. I know that might be a bad thing, but recognizing our strengths and weaknesses was, in my opinion a huge reason why we attended this conference.

So what does that mean moving forward? I need to find a ponderer to balance my attention span out. The ponderer does, pretty much what his title suggests, which is ponder. Always thinking about the possible outcomes and thoroughly weighing the options before committing to an answer. The ponderer usually pays attention to the details and takes pride in their work. Basically I was told that I should surround my self with at least another ponderer so that they can insure the ideas we come up with are followed through. Because its like I said, I have a hard time finishing.

Now one thing I noticed is that our team, the NAITSA team only had Govind and I in the elaborators group. I can’t remember where Tessa was but I know Tim was in the ponderer group so I think that means Tim and I should be working together on some things, well by some things I mean I should go to Tim for some advice when it comes to some of my crazy ideas because I think his insight may actually be crucial to my year being successful, we’ll have to see.

To Lead

Leaders Hall

I’m impressed. It all began with leaving NAITSA in a rental, picking up the other execs and then traveling down to Hotel Alma in Calgary. Hotel Alma is located on the UofC campus. Their brand new hotel on res is pretty impressive I must admit. They even have small plastic keys, which were pretty neat. Hotel Alma was the headquarters for the 56 student leaders and 20 school represented. There was a mix of Alberta, Saskatchewan, BC, Ontario and even NS schools, colleges, and universities alike being represented and it was quite inspiring to be around some of the leaders of tomorrow; some of the people who are going to change the world, now that’s a good feeling. Below is a picture of the welcoming committee and my self.

Gallivan had a huge part in organizing and fund-raising this event, as well as U of C, SAIT, and Conestoga College. Together they delivered. Gallivan was there to meet us as we arrived with employees and also one of the founders, John Gallivan and that really sent me a message. They actually care. Not only with warm smiles and great service but we were all each given great leather notebook carrying cases which must have cost at least $80.

From there we were treated like royalty with welcoming beverages, maps of the city, free transit passes and cool bracelets.

Food

Here is an area, which in my opinion, could not have been better. We had sushi, roast beef, scrumptious potatoes, cool finger foods and complimentary drink tickets for each meal. The food was great and had a nice differential touch (again the sushi).

Fed breakfast, lunch and dinner, I don’t think there was a single meal that was sub-par. Except maybe the watery looking scrambled eggs the last morning lol. Below is a picture of what our table placements for our sessions looked like. Sorry I never thought of taking a picture of the food:(

If you haven’t heard of Leaders Hall that’s quite all right because it hasn’t existed until this year. This year is the first year it’s being implemented. I have to say that so far I’m impressed with the event. I have received professional, personalized emails twice now from the concierge service with a pdf compromising personality tests as well as conflict management information. Going the extra mile is key in today’s world with social media and the ability for the consumer’s voice to be heard by almost anyone.

We’re in a world where your actions and the quality of your product is under a microscope, and where anyone can spend 5 seconds to look up a service to see if the proof is actually in your pudding.

So with that said I have to give Gallivan their props on this one. Who’s Gallivan you might ask? They’re the company that takes care of our student Health and Dental program when you register at NAIT. As far as I know they provide health and dental to quite a few institutes across the province. But regardless I’m very excited to be going to this event. We have some sweet keynote speakers such as Kelly Hrudey from Hockey Night in Canada, and some leadership HR folks with tons of experience.

I’m particularly excited to meet some of these speakers and find out if we could possibly get them in here. For the students of NAIT to experience someone like Kelley Hrudey perhaps?

One of my smart goals this year is to have a leadership summit. This summit would probably be around a day in length (the details aren’t worked out yet) and I’ve been looking for engaging speakers to recruit and speak. This, I feel, could be a great opportunity to snag some engaging speakers.

So This Wednesday will be the test of faith. You can be assured I’ll be writing about my experiences at Leaders Hall and whether or not Gallivan has outdone themselves, or if they’ve started a work in progress.

Don’t be shy to leave some posts, we want to hear from the students, and this is a great way to do that.

Tyler

Hey everyone! We’ve been busy here at NAITSA since getting back from our retreat in Jasper.

I’ve grown to love the NAITSA board room over the past month or so, all of our planning has been going on in that place haha. So far the events and brainstorming has been going very well. We’re really excited to bring you some experiences that you can not only have a ball at, but put on your resume!

Sign up to be a frosh leader and take that step to get involved in a leadership role, companies love it. If you are extroverted and love to pump people up then this is an opportunity of gold for you!

I’ve taken up some squash in the past couple of weeks and I’m loving it! There’s some people who are playing with me in the office (Govind) and it’s really going well!

Well that’s all I have for now but I’ll keep you guys posted!

Oooh yes, sign up online at www.nait.ca for a First Year Experience (FYE) orientation and I’ll likely see you there since I’m giving the NAITSA 101 in there after school and on weekends.

Not only will you get to meet your favorite exec but you’ll also learn pretty much all you need to know to get through your first year of school, I highly recommend it!

Alrighty hopefully I’ll see ya there!

Tyler