You might have noticed that campus seems more upbeat lately, maybe a little more upbeat than it normally is this time of year. The dreary days of November drag on and on, filled with essays, the last of midterms, and the impending thought of finals. The raw, windy weather definitely doesn’t help either, making Neverending November an irritating four weeks to get through, before we can finally let ourselves be excited about the possibility of winter break. But this year, one uOttawa collegiette has made it her mission to make November not only bearable, but actually enjoyable!
This past summer, the uOttawa Summer Orientation Guide team broke down every month of the school year for potential first years. When they got to November, they didn’t know what to do – there was really no positive way to describe November. One of these guides decided that she had had enough with November being the most negative month on the calendar. Nicolette Adessa is a fourth-year Arts student majoring in French and Women’s Studies, and she’s this year’s Vice President – University Affairs for the Student Association of the Faculty of Arts (SAFA). In her mandate was a promise to run two campaigns on behalf of the Association. Last year, SAFA did a campaign promoting mental health awareness, but this year, Nicolette put her own spin on things. Focussing on the ‘glass half-full’ mentality, Nicolette’s campaign this year is called Souriez uOttawa Smiles.
The Souriez uOttawa Smiles campaign works through social media. Students can tweet happy thoughts, quotes, or acts of kindness they encounter with the hashtag #souriezUOsmiles for fellow students to read. Positivity can also be emailed to Nicolette directly (uni@artsuottawa.ca), as well as posted on the Facebook event. SAFA has put together a great promotional video about the event, which you can watch here!
The SFUO, Community Life Service, and the School Spirit Fund, along with the Faculty of Arts, have partnered with Nicolette on her campaign, helping it reach the most students possible. Think of this campaign as a tool to not only maintain faith in humanity this November, but faith that the glass can really be half-full, even during November.
A second driving inspiration behind the Souriez uOttawa Smiles campaign is the Book of Awesome. The Book of Awesome is a book based on the blog 1000awesomethings.com, which posts one awesome thing about life every weekday. Examples of Awesome include wearing underwear straight out of the dryer, mastering the art of the all-you-can-eat buffet, and the sound of rain on the roof of a tent. Reading just one of these is sure to make you appreciate the little things in life, making the book a natural complement to Nicolette’s campaign.
The culmination of the campaign will be on Sunday, November 17th, when Neil Pasricha, the author of the Book of Awesome comes to talk to uOttawa students in the Alumni Auditorium, at 5:00 pm. The event is less of a lecture and more of an interactive experience, which Nicolette promises will involve tons of prizes. Tickets are $10, and are available at the SAFA office, in the basement of Simard, by Cafe Alt, Simard 0035.
If you’ve fallen victim to the Neverending November blues, search the #SouriezUOsmiles hashtag for a quick pick-me up to remind you that no matter how cold it gets, or how many deadlines you have, there’s always something out there to make you smile. Between school and work, bills, extra-curriculars and everything else we have to juggle as students, remember that at the end of the day, or in this case, the month, we’re all in this together!