This week is SAC 101 Awareness Week, marking the 101st anniversary of the Students’ Administrative Council. Students are invited to attend a series of workshops and events celebrating student leadership on campus, a follow-up to the first part of the SAC celebration in the fall, which focused on the history of SAC.
“The focus this week is to give students the opportunity to gain leadership skills for home life and school life,” said Terri Nikolaevsky, director of student services and the staff member responsible for organizing the week. “The SAC 101 is about recognizing student leadership, what leaders have done in the past and how student leaders have changed the university.”
Many of the workshops so far have focused on developing communication skills. Others have focused on the achievements of student groups, such as the attainment of a discounted TTC Metropass and the work of the U of T equity gardeners.
To mark the event, SAC published a booklet titled SAC 101: One hundred and one years of serving students. In the foreword, SAC President Rocco Kusi-Achampong writes that one challenge for the SAC in the future “is to curb the tide of student apathy on campus.” Low turnout at SAC 101 may be a reflection of this. About low attendance at SAC 101, Nikolaevsky said, “We can always do better,” adding, “There was not as much advertising time as we needed.”
“SAC has been trying to recreate its image,” said health plan administrator Dan Gillespie at the equity gardeners’ presentation last Tuesday morning. “The question is, how do we attempt to broaden our voice to reach the most amount of students?” However, despite three rows of chairs and a table of free refreshments, only five people attended the gardening presentation and four of them were from SAC. “Some of the workshops were better attended,” Nikolaevsky said.
The equity gardeners aim to beautify the campus and to grow organic vegetables for the food bank. “It follows equity principles, leveling the access to healthy organic food…it’s all about empowering people,” explained equity commissioner Mary Auxi-Guiao. “We want to level the growing field,” quipped PhD student and equity gardener Caroline Xia. “We don’t want to marginalize anyone.”
Tuesday was also the Club Crawl at the Sussex Club House, where students got the chance to meet the SAC team at the SAC 101 display while checking out the various campus clubs and entering a raffle to win a free bike.
SAC also paid for workshop teachers for SAC 101 week, although there was also some financial partnership with Student Affairs. The cost of the week will not be known until it ends.
Tonight there will be a free party at the Scarborough campus. Tickets need to be ordered in advance through the SAC Scarborough office. On Friday at 4 p.m., students are invited to cheer on SAC as it challenges other student societies to some games of exercise ball soccer at the Athletic Centre.
The final event is a group communication skills workshop at Erindale on Saturday.
