Friday Fun At Yorks RED Zone

Friday's are usually the day that everyone looks forward to, it's the end of the week and people just CAN'T wait to get their weekend's started! Here at the RED Zone we love our job, we love talking to students however we too enjoy the fact that Friday means the WEEKEND is HERE!

At the RED Zone we like to keep things fresh and funky for students by having theme days. We've done Pyjama Day, Retro Day, Accent Day, Word of the Day and Opposite day. Usually our theme days are Fridays, we think it's just a fun way to usher in the weekend and it's something to look forward to during the week.

If you happen to visit the RED Zone on a theme day, feel free to play along! We love it when students get a kick out of our theme days. Check out some of our pictures from our theme days!

Pyjama's At Work...
HECK YEAH!!

Michelle Looking RAD

Monika Channelling her inner
Valley Girl

That's me giving directions!

TOMORROW we are hosting out FIRST Themed day in The RED Zone. So if you're on campus tomorrow and you want to check out Pyjama Day 2013 we'd be happy to visit with you!

Take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone! 

Nicole

Health Ed helped my find my place at York!

When I first came to York I was really overwhelmed by the size of the campus and the number of people. In my first year I didn't really get involved too much with clubs or organizations outside of residence. It was all a little too much for me!

I did however, get really involved with what was happening in my res building, especially with what was happening on my floor. In second year I was actively looking for ways to become more involved with campus life (back in those days we didn't have YU Connect so finding clubs was a little more challenging!)

After searching high and low I discovered Health Education and Promotion. Although I wasn't able to join immediately (since they only hire once a year) I did attend a lot of their signature events, as well all the programs they hosted in my res. By the end of my second year I KNEW that this organization was for me...I just had to convince the folks in charge to hire me.

After a nerve-racking interview process I was lucky enough to be offered a volunteer position within the organization. I still remember the phone call I had with the wonderful Ms. Leah State!! I was so happy and shocked and excited to be invited to join the team, I remember being speechless and Leah saying "Are you there? Hello? Do you accept?" I was thinking, screaming YESS but I couldn't make my mouth work LOL.

I wasn't sure what to expect but from day 1 it was AMAZING! I found my home away from home, my family if you will! Honestly I didn't expect the people to be so nice, friendly, welcoming and warm.

The sense of family and community within the Heath Ed organization was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before! When I talked through campus before joining Health Ed I kept my head down and didn't attempt to talk or to make eye contact with anyone. After becoming part of the team, I couldn't walk through Vari Hall or Central Square without seeing people that I knew! It completely changed everything for me, in such a positive life-affirming way.

I've been a part of this organization for four years now and honestly I don't know how I'm going to manage when I finally graduate and I have to leave! I've met so many amazing people and learned so much I don't know what I'm going to do when it ends. Luckily I don't have to worry about that till the end of the year!

It's not the first time that I've mentioned HealthEd and I PROMISE it won't be the last!! It's become such a major part of life since it helped me grow and develop as a person and it helped me to meet people and make friends.

If you want to enrich your university career I highly encourage you to join a club or organization. Trust me you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!!

Check out a video us in ACTION!!

Best thing about living in residence? The friends you make!

Juhi and I in 1st year!

Everyone is always saying that you make your TRUE lasting friends in College / University; I can say now, from first hand experience that what they say is true. 
Four years ago I came to York, fresh outta High school as an International Student I knew 0 people. I moved into residence and almost immediately after my parents left me there…all alone…I regretted coming to such a huge school in a different country so far away from home.


After my first residence floor meeting I thought WOW I’m never gonna make it here. I was ready to go back to my room and pack my stuff and GO BACK HOME! Then I heard a knock on my door and my whole university experience CHANGED! I made my first friend!!
 This girl was at my door, asking me about the internet, of all things. I helped her set up the internet, then we went for dinner together and everyday after that. Suddenly we realized we had a lot in common and so we became fast friends. 


As you move from year to year the people you were close with in first year are usually NOT still your friends by fourth year, but she and I were practically family at the end. Four years is a long time to be friends with a person, we laughed, cried and helped each other make it through the challenge that is University.
 She was an International Student just like me, she was from Dubai and I from The Bahamas. Leave it to us to make friends with people who live on opposite sides of the world!

4 yrs later still together!

As I sit here writing this I can’t help but to think of all the things we shared over four years, our first winter with SNOW, our first time on a subway, and of course let’s not forget our first time living away from home on our own. She was really a true friend, we were there for each other whenever we needed anything no questions asked! We took care of each other when we were sick, homesick or lovesick. I honestly don’t know how I would have made it through this journey without her.
And now that she’s moved back home I wish her nothing but the best! I hope she is finds happiness, she is an amazing person and truly deserves the very best that life has to offer. I miss her like crazy! All I can say is THANK GOD for BBM and SKYPE!

There is a STRONG possibility that I might never see her again; but she’ll always be with me, because she helped shape the person I am today. I miss her so much, she was my sister, my mom and most importantly my FRIEND!


The moral of my story...living in residence can be such an amazing experience if you open yourself and take the opportunity that is there!

We are SUPERSTARS!! Check us outtt!!

I KNOW we look FUN...check us out in our video's!

We try to have FUN at our job...we want people to know that York University is a FUN school! It's a GREAT place to go to school and to work.

We've been making fun videos for the last few weeks to try to show people just how much we LOVE OUR JOBS and OUR SCHOOL!

Here's a link to the REDZone, YU Card and Housing "Call Me Maybe" video. Call Us Maybe

The reason that I'm sharing this is to get you PUMMPEEDDD UPPPP for our NEXT video!!!!

Our "Bootcamp" video will be dropping on Friday...so look out for it all over the twitterverse!!

Hope you enjoy the Music Video and that you find out BootCamp video funny!

CAN'T WAIT TILL FRIDAY!!!

Nicole

Taking BACK the Halls: My fav struttin' tunez

Most people today have some kind of an mp3 device, whether it's your cell phone or an iPod we all have something portable that we listen to music on.

When I first started at York my iPod was my security blanket. I took it everywhere with me, for two reasons: 1. Because I actually really like music and 2. Because I REALLY didn't want to people to notice that I was walking alone :(

I thought that I would be the ONLY one walking around on my own and so I figured that if I had my iPod people wouldn't notice me.

But the more I walked around the more I noticed that there were TONS of other people also walking around on their own listening to music. That got me thinking that maybe...just maybe I wasn't the only one with this BRILLIANT idea...or with this fear of not knowing anyone.

Now many years later I have realized that EVERYONE has probably felt alone or out of place at some point in their lives. And unfortunately there will be at least one time that you'll feel that way at York...but the point of this post is NOT to bring you down BUTTT to inspire you to take pride in the fact that you're on your own...because believe me it does have it's perks!

Be honest you'll probably take your iPod with you on your first day of classes...you'll probably listen to some music or play with apps while you wait for your first class to begin. But it doesn't have to be an isolating or depressing experience. I challenge you to take it back and make it positive.

Music has the AMAZING ability to lift our spirits and improve our moods. We all have songs that we listen to that just make us happy...NOTHING is better than feeling like a BOSS when you walk down the hall jamming out to your fav tunez. So my challenge is to do JUST THAT!

Find some songs that you love and put them on your mp3 and jamm out to them while you walk to class on your first day.

Here's my TOP 5 personal favourites!!


1. Where Dem Girls At?  By: David Guetta FT Flo Rida & Nikki Minaj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4kVWCSzfK4&feature=related

2. Brand New Chick By: Anjulie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCMo9UmtDJA&feature=fvsr

3. Whatever you like By: T.I.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQJACVmankY

4. Go Your Own Way By: Fleetwood Mac (I really like the Glee version!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEAnIhgCq9Q

5. Celebrity Status By: Marianas Trench
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSRUDnw9uoc

What are your fav songs to Stroll, Strut or otherwise JAMM out to?? Let me know in the comments section!!

Thanks,
Nicole

Suggested songs:
1. Black and Yellow By: Wiz Khalifa
2. Eye of the Tiger By: Survivor
3. Live My Life By: Far East Movement
4. We Found Love By: Rihanna,
5. Wild Ones By: Flo Rida
6. Stereo Love By: Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina
7. Club Can't Handle Me By: Flo Rida
8. Sexy and I Know it By: LMFAO

The RED Zone = EPIC!

This is my first year as an RSA, I've been involved with other organizations around campus and people keep asking me how my experience is going on the RED Zone team. A fellow RSA and friend is always reminding us  to "Keep It REAL," and I'm going to be totally honest with you...

I. LOVE. THIS. JOB!

Me and Tori...and YU Connect :)

When the position was open for hiring I wasn't sure if it was for me. I mean, I knew a lot about York from being a student for four years and being involved, but I wasn't sure if I was really "RED Zone" material. It was actually my sister a few close friends that urged me to apply, and I'm SOO GLAD that I did! Honestly I wasn't sure what to expect when I got hired...but now that I've working with the RED Zone team and administration for a few weeks...I can't even picture NOT having this job.

I'd like to think of myself as a friendly and outgoing person, and I LOVE to meet new people. So working with the RED Zone allows me to interact with tons of different people all day.

The point of this post was not to flaunt the crush I have on my job but to talk to you a little bit about the work that we have been doing thus far.

We have been open for "business" for 8 days and we have already talked to over 500 incoming students. If that doesn't impress you then... 1. you've got HIGH standards or 2. you just don't know what AWESOME IS! Either way I'm here to tell you that 500 students in 8 days is EPIC and it has to be some kind of a record or something...seriously we should look that up!






In any event I think that it is safe to say that we are off to a blazing start this summer, and it's only going to go up from here. As we get into the summer more and more students will be coming to York for their Enrolment Appointments and will be directed to the RED Zone. That means that we'll have even MORE people to talk to!

Look how friendly we are!

If you haven't visited the RED Zone yet you should totally stop by and check it out. We are located in Vari Hall room 1005...just stop by the booth in the center of Vari Hall and they will direct you to us. I encourage all incoming students to come and visit us...or visit me, I'd LOVE to meet you and chat about York.

You meet the nicest people in the RED Zone booth!

Sitting in the booth you have A LOT of people that walk past you; sometimes they're super nice, other times they can be not so friendly. BUTTTTTT today the nicest person walked up to myself and Lindsey in the booth.

This guy had been playing harmonica in Vari Hall for a while this afternoon and I was jamming out while he was jamming. I even tweeted about it. A few minutes after that tweet the guy came over and asked "Hey what are you girls promoting here?"

After explaining that we weren't promoting anything, and that we were RSA's he introduced himself to us. "Hey I'm Nash, a Yoga instructor at Tait." I'm not going to lie to you...he was seriously CHILL!! I mean it was clear that he sooo zen I'm not surprised that he instructs Yoga.

To prove to  us that he was in fact a yoga instructor he showed pointed to the York Lions Recreation Guide and said "That's me on the cover! Let me show you when my classes are."

So having JUST met Nash I can tell you that he teaches Yoga Level 1 on Wednesdays and Power Yoga also on Wednesday. I'm not telling you that you HAVE to go...buttt Nash is SUPER awesome so if you're interested in it you should go and meet him and take his class.

**Lindsay says to mention that he is LOVELY!!**

Thought you should know!

Nicole

Why would I be an AMAZING RedZone Ambassador?

It's questions like these that make me a little uncomfortable: Why would you make a good candidate? Why should we hire you over other applicants? I don't know why but I always feel like I'm being arrogant or conceited when I answer. I know that the interviewers just want to get a sense of why I want the job or why I think I'd be a good fit for the position. But I can't help feeling like I'm putting down everyone else being interviewed. Hopefully it doesn't seem like I'm putting anyone else down...but rather setting myself apart from the rest in a good, positive way. :)

Why would I make a good RedZone Ambassador?

Humm Well...

• I know a lot about York. I've been here for 5 years (time flies when you're having fun :P) and in that time I have  gone through the entire undergrad process from day one to convocation day! I'm finishing up my second first year lol!
• As an international student I have a unique perspective that I think the RedZone could benefit from; especially when it comes to questions about adjusting to life in Canada, working on and off campus and dealing with homesickness.
• I have lived ALL OVER the York Campus from Residence to The Village and The Graduate Apartments. Living all these places has given me tons of experiences and most importantly STORIES! 
• I'm a member of Health Education and Promotion and so I have lots of experience talking with students about any and everything from stress management to responsible alcohol use and even sexual health.
• I'm a team player. I've been involved in group activities for as long as I can remember, and I've done it all! I've been the bottom rung on the ladder and I've been at the tippy top of organizations as well. I'm good with following directions or giving them. 

It's great to know why I'd be good at the job, but I think the most important question is WHY DO I WANT to work for RedZone?

There are tons of places on and off campus that a student can work over the summer, so why do I want to work at school over the summer and why do I want to interact with new froshies?

I want to be a part of RedZone because I think that making connections is really important. It's your connections with people, places and things that makes life more interesting. Coming to a school the size of York can be SUPER intimidating and coming out of highschool into "a centre for higher education" can be daunting. BUT RedZone helps you feel like more than just a number, these are real people that want to make your transition to York smooth. Making that first connection can mean the difference between sinking or swimming so to speak.

I could also talk about the fact that I live on campus and so the lack of commute would be AMAZING lol but lets be serious. York is more than just the school I go to, it's my home, LITERALLY! I care about the community here and I think that students should know there is more to the York experience than going to class and then going straight home. Getting students connected gives them a reason to care, once they care they begin to have pride and then before you know it, they are telling the people in their life how AMAZING York is!

RedZone is also more than just people sitting in the middle of Vari Hall. The fact that they take their show on the road sets them apart from other organizations. The online presence that RedZone has helps to reach students where they actually are...online. Making the to effort to connect with students beyond campus just makes sense since York is known as a commuter school.

RedZone builds community and I want to be part of the team that makes the York community better and stronger.