Day 12: A great lunch, the team reunites, and work-life balance.
Joshua Le - Thu May 23, 2013
Top: We had a delightful lunch with University Governance staff at the Faculty Club. It was my first time eating there since it's reserved for Faculty members and their guests. Marion Haggarty-France, University Secretary; Deborah Holloway, Board Secretary & Manager of Board Services; and Garry Bodnar, Director, GFC Services and Secretary to GFC were the gracious hosts to the SU Exec. For those curious, it's a nice buffet-style meal. The highlight for me was hearing the insight, wisdom, and observations around University governance between Dustin, Kyle and Marion Haggarty-France. I couldn't contribute much to the conversation, but I had a blast just listening and enjoying my meal. Dustin and Kyle do a lot of great work for the SU that never gets public appreciation and praise (Dustin attends ~3x more meetings than I do in a given week), so be sure to tip your hat to them for all they do.
Bottom-left: The Exec Committee reunited after a week long separation with Petros and Adam being away at the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations conference. We meet twice a week normally, but it's been impossible with their transition conferences in May. Welcome home, Adam and Petros! This is temporary "welcome home" because we're going on a retreat this weekend called GovCamp with Students' Council and the Council of Faculty Associations to teach and orient new student representatives about student governance. There will be time to set out visions and goals for the upcoming year. We'll be sure to add in a healthy dose of bonding and social time too. It'll be great to collaborate and meet other U of A student leaders since we all play a role in representing students. We seldom get to meet as such a large group, so it'll be extra special.
Bottom-right: It's Thursday and the end of the month, so I get plenty of paperwork to sort through. For reference, there's my trusty Josh Le Mug mug beside the pile of documents. Thursday is cheque-run day, so I sign off on a bunch of cheques before it goes to the recipient. The cheques and their supporting documentation takes up half of that pile. The other half represents the end-of-month duties which consist of reviewing and following through on profit and loss statements, variance reports, trial balances, and performance assessments. It might sound nerdy, but I'm excited to go through all these reports to further my understanding of the SU operations. I'm still in learning mode, so I can't possibility know everything, but I'm doing my best to take it all in. In general, you can tell what an organization or person values by tracking where they spend their money. Other than the above reason, I successfully left the office before 5PM for the first time! In an effort to strike a work-life balance, I made the judgment call that it can wait for tomorrow if it's not an emergency to complete today. Needless to say, it felt good.
Other notables: I attended the Old Scona Academic convocation to support and celebrate a friend's big milestone. I had a blast and it was great to see and feel the excitement and good feelings around finishing such a big chapter of their lives. I'm excited for what this next wave of leaders and superstars will do for the world.
