Cheer on the women's volleyball team 🏐

The VIU Mariners women’s volleyball team is trying for a fifth national gold medal at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s 2023 national championships, which VIU is hosting. VIU’s first game is today at 6 pm in the gym. Come dressed in blue and cheer on our team! And Happy International Women’s Day and Happy Holi! Watch for the VIUFA Women’s & Gender Equity Committee and VIU Students' Union handing out flowers to women attending the game tonight, and the Holi celebration starts at 4:30 pm. See below for more details. 

Need to know

Women’s Volleyball National Championship 🏐

It’s not too late to buy tickets to the 2023 CCAA Women’s Volleyball National Championship, happening March 8 to 11 in the VIU gym. We want Mariners fans to dress in blue and fill the gym for VIU’s first game today (March 8) at 6 pm. Special VIU student tournament passes are available from VIUSU.

VIU SDG Action Week 📌

SDG Week Canada (March 6 to 10, 2023) is an annual week of action, awareness and accountability on university and college campuses in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. There are several events and workshops happening in honour of this week at VIU, both virtual and in-person. Visit the SDG Action Week homepage to learn more.

Holi event on the Nanaimo campus 🥳

A Holi celebration is happening on March 8 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm near the Royal Bank Plaza (outside Building 200) featuring music, food and colours! The dress code is white or anything that people don't mind getting coloured. Holi, also known as the Festival of Colours, Festival of Spring and Festival of Love, is one of the most popular and significant festivals in Hinduism.

Connect

Sign up for the VIU Games 🏆

The games are about to begin! Sign yourself and your friends up for the VIU Games, an annual event where teams of 10 members made up of students, alumni, faculty and staff, compete with one another to win the prestigious Chassels Cup and other prizes. The competition combines spirit and sporting events into one action-packed day on Saturday, March 18. Register on Eventbrite.

SAS Culture Night 🍕

Join Services for Aboriginal Students for their next culture night. Witness the Munu Canoe Family sharing dancing and singing on March 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in the Malaspina Theatre. Pizza will be served.

Come on a road trip with us 🚗

Want to check out Tofino, the Horne Lake caves, Malahat Skywalk or Butchart Gardens in Victoria? Join the Cultural Connections Road Trips team. Learn more.

Local hikes 🥾

Nanaimo is home to some beautiful parks and beaches. Want to check some of them out? The Cultural Connections team is organizing hiking trips and the best part – it’s only $2 per hike. Learn more.

Culture Couch: Tuesday evenings 

The Culture Couch Series is a place to engage in cross-cultural understanding. The symbol of a couch reflects the casual and comfortable nature that we come together with in this student-led weekly series. Tuesdays, 5 to 6 pm, in Building 255, Room 170. March schedule:

• March 14: Eritrea, Palestine, Syria: 3 Arabic countries. Say hello, dance and eat
• March 21: Rendez-vous en France: La France, c’est branché
• March 28: International Games Night: global games, snacks and music

2SLGBTQIA+ student bi-weekly gatherings 🌈

Connect with peers in a safe space to chat, share food, do fun crafts and celebrate diversity. There will be an additional circle offered for 2S students. Brought to you by VIU’s Positive Space Alliance and the Office of Indigenous Education and Engagement. Come out on Thursdays from 3 to 4 pm. Dates: March 2, March 16, March 30 and April 6. Email positivespace@viu.ca or Sheena.Robinson@viu.ca for location details.

Indigenous Women’s Circle

A place for Indigenous female students and staff to connect on Wednesdays, 3 pm at Shq’apthut (Building 170). March 8: Women’s Day celebration. April 12: term wrap-up. For more info, email Sheena.Robinson@viu.ca.

Read the Nav 📱

Do you want to learn more about VIU and the community from a student perspective? Visit The Navigator Student Press, VIU’s fully student-run online news magazine. Read, watch and listen to the stories that matter to you as students!

ImpAct-Cimate Challenge 🌎

Colleges and Institutes Canada is asking everyone on every campus across Canada to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are looking for creative solutions and offering big incentives. Share your ideas until May 31 and you could receive money to turn ideas into reality. Students and employees are welcome to participate.  

Supports & services

Do the group work projects! 👫

You know all those group work projects that you do in your classes? According to VIU alum Alexis Gardner, who now works as Senior Mentoring and Outreach Coordinator with Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada, group work projects build some important employability skills. Read more career tips and advice from Alexis, as told to Career Peer Facilitator Chelsea Marsolais, on the #VIUBlog.

Mini career fairs

VIU’s Centre for Experiential Learning is hosting pop-up mini career fairs in the main cafeteria (Building 300) on Wednesdays in March.

• On March 15, come check out on-campus employment and volunteer opportunities from 11 am to 1 pm. More info.
• On March 22, you’ll find a range of employers looking for summer students, again from 11 am to 1 pm.

Students can either drop-by these events, or register on the CareerVIU events calendar through their student account to receive more information.

Updates from Financial Aid 💰

Did you know you have access to hundreds of scholarships, just by filling out your Scholarship, Award and Bursary profile in your student record? Complete the profile by midnight on March 30. More info and instructions. External scholarship opportunities: 

• The 2023 Ike Barber Transfer Scholarship Program offers more than 100 scholarships of $5,000 each. Learn more. 

Are you leaving your rental accommodation soon? 🏠 

• know when and how to give notice 
• leave your accommodation correctly cleaned 
• book a move-out inspection 
• know about move-out times and forwarding addresses 
• ask for a reference 

Make sure you follow a few simple steps to end your tenancy well and help ensure the return of your full deposit. Read this VIU blog post for more details. Visit Off-Campus Housing, email housing@viu.ca or book a meeting. 

The library can help with research 📖

It’s getting to that time of the semester. Hang in there! VIU Library has got your back. We have many different options for getting help with research and assignments: one-on-one Zoom appointments with a librarian, live chat, email and phone. But don’t forget, you can also come and see us in person at the service desk!

Research Ethics Board info session

This online workshop is for anyone who wants to do research that involves human participants. The session covers key concepts and the application and review processes. Join on March 16 from 12 to 1 pm via Zoom.

Summer session ☀️

You are now able to register for classes during summer session. Need help deciding? Reach out to the Advising team for help.

Tips from IT on avoiding online fraud

The Oscars may be coming up but that is no reason to roll out the red carpet for fraud. The majority of frauds can be prevented by being aware of the methods used by fraudsters and spotting them early. STOP, THINK, then ACT.
🏆 Avoid Search Engine Ad Malware! A new type of scam that is becoming increasingly popular. 
🏆 Mass Marketing Fraud is on the rise. Fraud committed using mass media like telephone, mail, Internet and email.
🏆 Tricks of the trade: What’s in a fraudster’s toolbox? What’s in yours?
Feeling confident? Give the 2023 Fraud Prevention quiz a go!

Career Centre hiring fair

Job seekers of all ages are welcome to come to a hiring fair on March 16 from 12 to 4 pm at Ballenas Secondary School. Hosted by the Parksville WorkBC Centre.

Are you a tenant?

The Residential Tenancy Branch wants to learn from users about how they find and use tenancy information. They’re hoping to meet with:

• VIU students who are just starting out as tenants, or who have been tenants for a while.
• Those who help connect students with tenancy info.
• Landlords, property managers and other folks who deal with tenancies about how they find and use tenancy information.

They’re hoping to meet with people online, by phone or potentially in-person in March. If you’re interested, fill in the form.

Foundations for Success

Are you planning to start a program in health care, early childhood education, computer science, information technology or engineering this year? Foundations for Success 107 is a tuition-free, three-credit course being offered through Pathways to Post Secondary this May/June. In this stepping-stone class, you will develop study skills and resilience strategies while working on a field-specific project alongside a mentor from the program you hope to enter. Get a head start on your program of choice! Please direct any questions regarding eligibility to Roberta.Jenkins@viu.ca.

Mark your calendars

CREATE 2023

CREATE 2023 is less than a month away! We have space in some events and welcome your research and creativity. Communication skills, community building and prizes to be won! Register HERE for all events.

• 3-minute SLAM: Present your project in three minutes. This is the “elevator pitch” of CREATE. Great for projects that are in the proposal stage all the way to completion stage. Want to know more? Check out the SLAM webpage.
• Short Film Fest: Short films are a great way to share knowledge with a larger audience and developing this skill can be super useful. Have a short film idea you have been working on? Come share it with your VIU community. Short Film Fest webpage.
• Photography: The VIU Student Lens is a photography exhibition for all students. Share your favourite shot of your VIU experience in 2022-23 with a 50-word caption – this could be school or extra-curricular based. Photography Exhibit webpage.

Indigenous Speakers Series

Join us at the Indigenous Speakers Series on March 20 at 6:30 pm. Wilson Williams (Sxwíxwtn) will share the story of the Squamish Nation’s fight to have their traditional lands in downtown Vancouver returned to the Nation. This free event will be recorded and used for an episode of CBC Radio’s Ideas. Ideas host Nahlah Ayed will emcee the event. Register on Eventbrite.

From the Earth

From the Earth is doing a pop-up concert at the Malaspina Theatre on March 14 starting at 4:30 pm. The band, which includes VIU staff member Mike Bauche, would love to share their music with the VIU community staff and students and are doing a pay what you can event with a recommended contribution of $10.

Transgender Day of Visibility: Call for creative submissions

March 31 is Transgender Day of Visibility. The Positive Space Alliance and VIUFA Women’s and Gender Equity committee are organizing an event to mark this important day at VIU’s Nanaimo campus. Join us in the Malaspina Theatre Lobby (Building 310) from 12 to 1:30 pm. We want to celebrate voices from the transgender and non-binary communities through the sharing of creative works about gender expression and identity that have resonated or been impactful for you! What’s included?

• works that you have created (poetry, stories, visual art, etc), as well as works of others that have been influential to you.

In addition, please prepare a short description of the significance this work has had for you. Sign up to share a work by emailing PositiveSpace@viu.ca.
Please let us know if you would like to present your submission yourself or if you would like a member of the PSA to share on your behalf. We recognize that sharing works of this nature can be vulnerable and want to provide a safe way for all members of the community to participate.

She Kills Monsters

A dark comedy into the world of D&D role-playing and epic ’90s music, She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she comes to terms with the death of her teenage sister, Tilly. When she finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, she embarks on an adventure in this high-octane dramatic comedy laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres and ’90s pop culture. Running in the Malaspina Theatre at VIU from March 2 to 11. Buy tickets on Eventbrite. Want to attend but don’t have the money to purchase a ticket at this time? Simply use promo code VIUpromo to attend for free.

Deals

Did you know that as a VIU student you have access to exclusive discounts in your community and across the province? Download the Deals App, administered by the VIUSU and the BC Federation of Students, to learn more. Featured deal:

• James Street Games Room: 25% off all games, seven days a week.

Campus events

Stay on top of what's happening at VIU. Find ways to get involved: 

• Campus Events website
• VIU Students' Union app