• Introduce Yourself, Your Role • The Student Life Department helps to support you in your transition to the college community, and to connect you with meaningful opportunities to get involved on campus. • Introduce the Respect Campaign, an initiative part of the Student Life Department. • Our tagline is “Be the difference”, and the message behind that is that every interaction you have with someone has the opportunity to make an impact. It has the opportunity to Be the difference.

RESPECTFUL WELCOMING INCLUSIVE A COMMUNITY! At Conestoga, we are… • At Conestoga, we are committed to having an environment that is… • Respectful • Welcoming • Inclusive To Everyone • Together, we are a community. Our words, behaviours and actions make a difference in having a community that are all of these things. 2

Our Objectives Help to reinforce positive behaviours on campus Provide awareness on the impact of disrespect Give you the tools to act as respectful leaders and role models Encourage discussions about respect • For us, there are many reasons why we promote Respect at Conestoga. • We want to help to reinforce the positive behaviours on campus. Generally, all of our interactions on campus are positive, and so we want to encourage that. • We want to provide awareness on the impact of disrespect. Sometimes we are not aware of the impact we may have on others, and so we hope to encourage you to think about it more openly. • We want to give you the tools to act as respectful leaders and role models. We all lead by our everyday actions. The way we act is being seen by others and can become the “norm” in a classroom, cafeteria, Library or elsewhere. • We want to encourage discussions about respect. Respect is important to who we are at Conestoga and so keeping it as a reminder through our everyday interactions is an important way we can create a respectful environment for everyone. 3

We all agree and disagree civilly ‘Be the difference’ at Conestoga . . . What We Expect We all agree and disagree civilly We consider the needs and rights of all members in our community We don’t allow disrespect • So, to do all of those things, we need to remember to “Be the difference”. In order to do that, we need to remember… • That we all agree and disagree in a civil manner. Sometimes we may hear opinions that we may not agree with. It’s important to say that while we may not agree, we still have the ability to agree to disagree in a respectful way. • We consider the needs and rights of all members in our community. We have a very diverse campus with students coming to Conestoga with a wide range of challenges, experiences, perspectives and needs. We need to consider how we may impact on those we are learning with, and consider what their needs and rights are. • We don’t allow disrespect in our community. Today we’ll discuss what some of the strategies are to be able to confront disrespect in a positive and constructive way. 4

What Does It Mean to YOU to ‘Be the difference’? Brainstorm examples that demonstrate respect… In the Classroom On Campus (Cafeterias, Hallways) In Society ACTIVITY • We’ve shared a little bit about what Respect and “Being the difference” means to us and what we expect, but we’d like to hear from you. • When you hear the words “Be the difference”, what does it mean to you? • We will have you get into four teams. In your team, we what you to brainstorm examples that demonstrate respect in the classroom, on-campus and in-society. DE-BRIEF: • These are all really great examples of how we can “Be the difference” in our community. • Are there any of the ideas that were shared that anybody disagrees with? Yes? No? • (Once you reach consensus that everyone is satisfied): If that’s the case, do you think this is something we can all agree with in how we plan to work together as a program for the remainder of our time at Conestoga? 5

Respect Video What does Respect look like for others in Conestoga’s community… • We are going to take the time now to watch a Respect video. • This video captures the stories of Conestoga students and what some of their challenges, experiences, perspectives and needs are being in various situations. • You will hear stories from students who are… (share examples of some of the demographics). • I want you to think about what you can take away from the stories in the videos, and how they may relate to you as a student. We will spend a few minutes after the video talking about it. 6

Following the Video . . . What did you take away from the stories in the video? • Now that we have seen the video, what did you take away from the stories in the video? Prompts if little response: • What did you like about it? • What stories interested you? • From the stories shared in the video, what challenges do you think we often don’t hear about? Prompts if little response: • Do you feel like we hear much about the struggles of International students or Newcomers to Canada? Students with various disabilities? 7

ASSUMPTIONS KNOWLEDGE UNDERSTANDING RESPECT The things we sometimes think we know about people… KNOWLEDGE We hear their stories, we learn about statistics… UNDERSTANDING We begin to empathize, sympathize, relate and understand the experiences of others… • It is so important that we are aware of the different challenges others may be experiencing on a day-to-day basis. By having more awareness, it will really help to challenge our … • Assumptions: There are things we sometimes think we know about people. This can be a human natural thing for most of us, so it’s okay to have assumptions. It’s important that we don’t act upon our assumptions until we develop… • Knowledge: And that’s what I hope the video has been able to develop for you. When we hear the stories of our peers or when we learn about statistics, we begin to develop more knowledge. And once we have knowledge, we are able to develop a better level of… • Understanding: We may be able to empathize with someone, or relate to them. We may be able to sympathize with someone’s challenge if it’s particularly difficult. And once we strengthen our understanding for others, that’s when we can strengthen our… • Respect for others too. We always have respect for an individual because they are a human and all individuals deserve basic respect. However, we develop a stronger level of respect for someone over time based on what we may know about them or the relationship we develop with them. Once we know that, we then need to put it into ACTION with our interactions with others. All of those things you brainstormed with how to “Be the difference” are ways you can put it into action. RESPECT We strengthen our levels of respect for others! 8

The Re‘spectrum’ UNCONSCIOUS RESPECT CONSCIOUS DISRESPECT • Giving eye contact to someone • Saying “Thank You” or “Sorry” CONSCIOUS DISRESPECT • Derogatory Comments • Not paying attention in class CONSCIOUS RESPECT • Active listening • Putting your hand up in class • When we think about “levels of Respect” we have for someone, it’s important to understand that there is a spectrum that exists for when it comes to respect or disrespect. The first part of the spectrum is… • Conscious Disrespect: These are intentional actions that we know are not respectful but we choose to do them anyways. Examples of these could be derogatory comments made towards someone, or even not paying attention in class. You know you should be focused and paying attention to your teacher, but maybe you don’t feel motivated to do so. • Unconscious Disrespect: These are actions you do that are not respectful, but you do them without realizing sometimes. Examples could be not holding a door open for someone—it’s not like you intend to slam the door in someone’s face when walking through a door behind you, but it may accidentally happen. Another may be not being aware of your body language and how others may be perceiving it to be. • Unconscious Respect: On the positives, we do also have unintentional behaviours that are respectful. Giving eye contact to someone can be an example of that, where you aren’t thinking about giving contact, but you just do it without thinking. Within Canadian culture, we are also notorious for saying “Thank You” or “Sorry” excessively—for some of us, we may do this without even thinking. • Conscious Respect: Lastly, we have actions that we know are respectful and we do them intentionally. In a class, it may be through actively listening to ensure you understand the material you’re learning. Or maybe it’s by putting up your hand in class. These are things you tell yourself to do, and as a result they are showing respect. ACTIVITY: We are going to now get you back into the same groups you were in when you brainstormed “Be the difference”. • Each group is going to be assigned one of these pieces of the Respectrum. • Brainstorm as many examples of actions or behaviours that would fall under the category. Think about examples relevant to your classroom, the campus as a whole, and society in general. • You will have five minutes to brainstorm as many as you can, and we will then share them as a group. DE-BRIEF: • (Each group will share what they’ve brainstormed. Once each group is complete, ask the entire class…): if there are any examples you think may also fit into another category, and why. • Now that we have a clear understanding of the differences of respect, it is important that we think about these when we encounter disrespect. Sometimes, an individual may be doing something that is disrespectful, and they may not be aware of it. • We will want to ask clarifying questions to learn more, which takes us into… UNCONSCIOUS DISRESPECT • Not holding a door open for someone • Body Language 9

How Do I Get Involved? Find us on Facebook! Visit the Student Life Department to learn how you can get involved! Doon Campus: Room 2A101-2, Student Life Centre Cambridge Campus: Room A1103-1 Waterloo Campus: Room 1C04 Guelph Campus: Room A5 Visit us online at www.conestogac.on.ca/studentLife Find us on Facebook! • While that wraps up today’s presentation, I want to encourage you to think about how you can stay connected and get involved with both the Respect Campaign and the Student Life Office. • We offer a number of different volunteer opportunities throughout the year. These are great ways to be able to develop your leadership skills, meet new friends, and build experience for your resume and portfolio. We also offer leadership workshops throughout the year that can go on your College transcripts. • For more information, you can visit our website or drop into our Office to see us at anytime. Or if you’re on Facebook, you can “Like Us” there. 10

How Do I Get Involved? www.conestogac.on.ca/respect To learn more about Respect and to get involved as a Respect Rep, visit us at www.conestogac.on.ca/respect Find us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/RespectConestoga • With the Respect Campaign, you can also get involved with us (at Doon Campus) by becoming a Respect Rep. They help with creating events and activities to promote the Respect message on campus. • To find out more, you can visit us in Student Life or check out the Respect website and our Facebook Fan Page to learn more. 11