NAAUC Talk Summer 2014/15
Revamping Our Style! There comes a time when even the most perfect things require a makeover. In order to provide you with only the finest, in these past months we have stripped ‘NAAUC Talk’ down to its bare bones and rebuilt the Australia-wide publication to be more engaging than ever. Through the days and nights, we searched high and low for some seriously juicy content. Then we stumbled on to the truth that aside from exciting updates of NAAUC, YOU were the missing superstar of our publication Having finally seen the light, we tracked down students from right across the country and grilled them for latest goss and photos.
Star in the next issue of NAAUC Talk. Day and night, we have searched high and low for some seriously juicy content. Then we realised that YOU were the missing superstar of our publication. Having finally seen the light, we tracked down amazing students from colleges right across the country and grilled them for latest goss and photos. want to see your photo in a national publication Send us an email and any accompanying photos to: secretary@naauc.edu.au. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter to keep updated with all things NAAUC! Official quarterly publication. National Association of Australian University Colleges Inc.
Contents. Revamping Our Style! 01 Changeover 04 Message from the Conference Directors 05 NAAUC On The Road 07 Wellness Week 08 True Colours Project 09 Valedictorians around Australia 11
NAAUC AGM 2014
WE HAVE BEEN HARD AT NAAUC!
The fantastic week, that was the Melbourne National Conference, left our NAAUC team proud yet exhausted. After a year of hard work, we went through a period of much needed feeding and hibernation. Finally, the 2014 executive and working party gathered for the last time to celebrate our shared achievements and newfound friendships, before returning home.
CHANGEOVER There is no downtime in the world of NAAUC. Our new executive soon ventured to sunny Queensland for an official changeover. For three solid days, we picked the brains of the old exec team for all their advice and wisdom. We gained insight into how to successfully coordinate a national
2014 NAAUC team Post conference
organisation and run an awesome conference. Any spare time was spent exploring the beautiful UQ campus and its colleges to identify some of the best spaces for academics and events. The team left excited and motivated, with plans well underway for the coming year of NAAUC.
2013 & 2015 Confrence directors
A Message from the Conference Directors. Hello future NAAUCers! Planning for the 2015 Conference is well under way and we are pleased to announce that the 48th Annual NAAUC National Conference will be jointly hosted by St John’s College and King’s College, within the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus from the 12th-19th July. We have been very busy confirming accommodation, finding and training our new Working Party and locking in a top secret ball venue for the Annual NAAUC Ball, which will be held on the last night of Conference. As well as showcasing the lights of Brisbane city, this 2015 Conference aims to extend the delegates beyond the boundaries of city Colleges and Residential Halls and seeks to focus on the wider community- regional and rural Australia. Along with the rest of the NAAUC Executive, we are getting ready to bunker down for a summerlong organization phase where we will plan in detail the academics that will stretch your minds, guest speakers that will floor your jaws and events that will knock your socks off! Get ready for a NAAUC Conference that is bigger and better than you can imagine! Love Pat & Tam.
St -Johns
~ Hos t Col l ege 201 5 ~
NAAUC On The Road
There may be hope yet for the potential future Formula 1 careers of our new NAAUC team if the racing start we have had for our NAAUC On the Road program for 2014/2015 is anything to go by. Since taking the wheel in September, we have already received many enquiries from colleges hoping to incorporate NAAUC into their P-Week training for incoming RAs, committee members and anyone involved in their college’s O-Week. We kicked off our program in early November with a trip to ANU; where we presented to a number of incoming leaders from a range of Colleges and Halls. We ran seminars on a number of topics including Effective Committee Operation, Event Planning, Risk Management, and Strategic Planning. These sessions were presented by experienced collegiate leaders in our President Alice Draffin and ACT State Representative Kathy Lee. This training program received a high level of positive feedback by all involved and we’ll be back visiting ANU in February.” If you think that your college may benefit from involving NAAUC On the Road in your P-Week Training, a presentation on a pressing topic to your leadership team or collegiate body, or any other form of Leadership Development, please send an email to vp@naauc.edu.au. Hope that you are all enjoying your Christmas Break as well as all of your planning for another successful year at your college in 2015. Aiden Davey | Vice President
Wellness Week
Women’s College, University of Queensland Inspired by the 2014 conference, ten NAAUC delegates from Women’s College teamed up to launch a fantastic event that was Wellness Week. Second year rep, Lucy Walton revealed that attending the NAAUC workshops on Mental Health as well as Sex, Sexuality & Gender made her realise the lack of awareness on these topics at Australian colleges and the impact this may have on its residents. Wellness week thus aimed, not only to raise awareness for mental health, but to reinforce the importance of showing care and support for your peers. For a week in October, the girls ran these exciting events!
. Smoothie bar . Pledge to the cause . Wellness week photo-shoot
. Random acts of kindness . Inspiring sex, sexuality & gender panel
. Tone with Tod in Tight & Bright... physical health is just as important Although the campaign ran for merely one week, the positive effect it had on the college was obvious in the weeks that followed. During the stressful period of exams, girls continued to receive flowers, study packs and letters of encouragement. Even more, the sex, sexuality and gender panel made student more conscious of their everyday use of language.
. Body image day . PJ Dinner . Splendour in the Quad feat. live music & sing-alongs!
. Reflecting on the Week with a display of posters and videos
Lucy and her committee were astounded by the effect that Wellness Week could have on such a wide range of people – “It was beyond all our expectations... The response was incredible!”
To run a similar event at your college, the girls at Women’s recommends delegating a committee to run the week and seeking support from the university student services and, of course, Red Frogs!
True Colours Project
University of Western Australia
Almost six hundred rainbow flags flew high across the residential colleges at the University of Western Australia in late October this year. The initiative True Colours aimed to show an acceptance for diversity at residential colleges. As St Thomas More College President, Simon Thuijis explains, “In an environment where fitting in is important, it can be very difficult for individuals to open up about their sexuality”.
support of the project. By posters, social media and word-of-mouth the publicity for the True Colours grew rapidly with five residential college becoming involved. The response from the student body was overwhelmingly positive, Simon notes. Conversation about diversity and acceptance were heard around the colleges, a social media competition took off with tens of entries and a real culture shift was seen at college of UWA.
Historically, the rainbow flag was representative of equality, diversity and inclusiveness in cultures around the world, and in late nineteenth century, it was adopted as a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride. The initiative was about creating a safe environment for residential students and showing a majority support for LGBT.
In the weeks that followed, many of the flags stayed up and the project saw real success when open conversations were started by those that have previously been too afraid to speak up. Given the success of the initiative, Simon’s next task is to launch the True Colours Project at colleges Australia wide. Diversity and equality are at the heart of what all colleges should stand for, so what better way to reinforce this message than a nationwide display of rainbow flags.
When planning the event, the goal was “simple but high impact”. Collegians were provided with free rainbow flags to fly in
Kings College
~ Hos t Col l ege 201 5 ~
Valedictorians around Australia
Emmanuel College, University of Queensland
St Andrew’s College, University of Sydney
St Catherine’s College, University of Western Australia
University College, University of Melbourne
Queen’s College, University of Melbourne
St John’s College, University of Sydney
See you in 2015! Well this is all for NAAUC in 2014. Looking back, it has a fantastic year for the organisation and its members. Although there’s been times and tasks that have stressful, demanding or just plain tedious, the success of this year and the overwhelmingly positive review of our national conference made all invested time and effort completely worth it. Now, we look forward to another fantastic year working with residential colleges and halls across Australia. As an organisation, we will continue to strive to be the best, and in return, we hope to see you [delete all] remain involved in all things NAAUC in 2015! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we’ll catch you in the New Year! The NAAUC Exec 2015