March 31st, 2023- The Department of Athletics and Recreation hosted our 8th annual Part-Time Staff Appreciation Award Ceremony. Bringing together all of the teams that run our facilities, events and programs for the University of Guelph community.
Athletics & Recreation continues to hear from students and athletes on the impact that having access to facilities and programs had on their mental health. There is a power of place in Athletics – it is a place where students meet and come together to play, compete, and have leisure and recreation time. It gives students a real sense of belonging and place. Students also express deep appreciation for the positive impact that physical activity has on their mental health, as well as for the opportunity to keep their bodies healthy and strong.
This was our first full year of operating since the pandemic and student participation is extremely strong.
This award is presented to the part-time employee who is a current full-time post-secondary undergraduate student and acts as a role model for their peers. This person is a leader within the department and demonstrates the following qualities:
• Someone who makes coming to work enjoyable
• Motivates their coworkers
• Takes on a mentorship role among their peers
• Looks for ways to improve their work environment
• Leads by modelling a friendly, inclusive and professional attitude
• Encourages cross-unit co-worker bonding and development
• Supportive and encouraging of the spirit of arc (athletics and recreation committee)
• Has worked a minimum of 2 semesters for the Department
Nominees:
The winner was:
Zayn has been an employee with the Department of Athletics in the Aquatics Unit for the last 5 years. He has held roles such as; Lifeguard, Swim Instructor, Head Lifeguard and Aquatics Leadership Instructor. In his role as a head lifeguard, Zayn aims to empower every staff member to work independently and trust in their training and skill. As mentioned by one of his co-workers, they say this about Zayn;
“There is something about Zayn where he can know immediately after meeting you what potential you have, and how he might provide ideas, conversation, training, or simple support to help you get there.”
In his own certification courses Zayn teaches to train the next National Lifeguards. He will actively recruit individuals he believes demonstrate our shared Gryphon Values and is a teachable person. Zayn very much believes in personal growth and development.
Beyond his drive to help develop the aquatic staff team, Zayn spends a great deal of time interacting with our swimmers, ensuring they all feel welcome and valued. This last year, Zayn championed our monthly International Student Free Drop-In Swim Lessons. Not only does Zayn make connections with our new swimmers, but he also seeks out other staff members on our team who he believes would be great instructors to teach alongside him. At the same time, he is teaching basic swim lessons, he is also mentoring his co-instructors to build their own skills in teaching adult students.
Thank you, Zayn for your dedication to the Department of Athletics, the Aquatic Unit and the Aquatic team.
This award is presented to the part-time employee who puts service first in their daily job tasks. This person understands the value of excellent customer service for both internal and external customers. The characteristics of this employee are:
Nominees:
And the winner was:
Lauren works as a lifeguard and in client services. In these roles she views everybody as an important guest and goes out of her way to ensure everyone feels welcome. She is available to co-workers to help with shifts and other work, as well as being a reliable opener of our building. She is eager to help problem-solve situations and bring forth new ideas to make our programs and facilties better. She is open to sharing her own personal experiences as a user of our facility and has brought forward ideas for equipment, programs and training. She leads open discussions with peers and shares tips and perspectives.
Lauren also speaks highly of our facilities and encourages people to use our space and programs as an important part of their mental health maintenance plan.
She is a member of the Department EDI Advisory and a member of the Accessibility, Inclusive Environments and Programming Sub-Committee. In addition, she is the Chair of the Education and Training Subcommittee. In this role she has been an excellent leader in the development of four (4) training sessions for staff for Winter 2023. These include a facilitated discussion on anti-racism; promoting queer space and inclusive language in athletics & recreation; creating more accessible opportunities; and building equity, diversity and inclusion competencies. Lauren also facilitated one of these sessions herself. Lauren has also contributed significantly to the Accessibility, Inclusive Environments and Programming Sub-Committee and has been the lead on such tasks as updating a shared ‘breaking down barriers’ document and auditing the facilities and program space to be more accessible. Lauren is an important advocate for disabled members and guests to help the department work toward being more inclusive and accessible. Most recently, Lauren worked with members of the department to create poster and digital education around service dogs. This is important education that will be meaningful to all members.
Lauren, thank you very much for your service and dedication to this department.
This award is presented to the part-time employee who exemplifies the true nature of the department of athletics. This person is an individual who conducts themselves as an ambassador of athletics at all times. The characteristics of this employee are:
• Ambassador for athletics throughout the campus and city communities
• Excellent leadership within the department
• Goes above and beyond and conducts themselves with maturity
• Creates a sense of teamwork within their units
• Has worked a minimum of 3 semesters for the Department
And our winner is Aliza Siebenaller from Intramurals
Aliza has been in the department for 6 years. She has been nominated for this award a few times before and we are very honoured to appreciate and award her with it tonight.
Aliza has been instrumental in the transition of Supervisors for our Intramural program. She has been a strong leader in our Intramural program teaching and mentoring many in the office. Her commitment and passion for the intramural program comes through in everything she brings to her role. Her dedication and leadership is apparent in the three letters of support her peers submitted in her nomination for this award.
“ While our office was going through a supervisor change earlier in the year, Aliza stepped up and took the increased responsibility of making sure our Intramurals ran smoothly. While there was no supervisor in place, the office had a saying “What would Aliza do”.
“The past four years have raised significant challenges for the intramural office. These include
completely restructuring intramurals to adapt to COVID-19, onboarding an almost completely new group of office staff and facilitators, and going through multiple supervisor changes in a short period of time. Through all of this, it was difficult to find consistency and reliability because we never knew what was going to come next. However, Aliza stepped up to the plate and became a go-to person that any of her peers could trust and rely on. Through taking the lead on training the new staff, and her work with all the other facilitators to make sure their leagues are running smoothly she has shown an incredible level of initiative. Moreover, throughout her time in the office, Aliza has been able to accumulate a large wealth of knowledge about not only intramurals' operations, but athletic’s operations as a whole. With this, she has been extremely willing to share what she knows, allowing her peers around her to grow as well.”
“ Aliza is always the first person I will go to if I have a question or need help with any tasks at hand. Her hard work and dedication is very evident around the office as she is always around, even when she is not on shift, and constantly going above and beyond and helping out when it is needed. I truly feel that she is the perfect candidate for this award.”