The boys from Bartender One are back! In this video, Jay and Jeremy break down the Bartending Challenge, which you can check out at the Vendor Fair! Have what it takes to successfully complete the four challenges? Don't miss the Vendor Fair, which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, from 10am-4pm, right in front of the tower!

They might remember it for the frozen muffins on Saturday morning, being locked out of Pond Inlet, or facing off against some fierce hockey moms... but whatever moments they remember that went wrong, hopefully it turns into a good case of nostalgia for the 2011 SWAT volunteers that took the time out of their busy schedules (or their summer vacations) to make it out to the SWAT Retreat this year.

Eighty-three volunteers checked into Vallee residence that night and joined an excited SWAT Leader team in Thistle for introductions by the 2011-2012 BUSU Executive and Coordinators. The cheers were so loud and the enthusiasm was palpable! They then participated in ridiculous icebreakers involving Oreo cookies and facial muscles. These activities left everyone feeling closer to the SWAT leaders and to each other.

After an excellent speech by Sara Glover, the 2009-2010 Volunteer Coordinator, students were reminded of the reasons they started volunteering, the opportunities that would be presented to them throughout their experience, and they learned about Shinerama and Cystic Fibrosis Canada.

The night finished off with a bonfire at Alphie's Trough with s'mores, camp songs that got everybody dancing and a wonderful sing-along led by one of the very talented SWAT volunteers.

The next morning, bright and early, volunteers were woken up by the sound of their SWAT Leaders pounding on the doors of Vallee Residence. They met down in Pond Inlet for a jam-packed day of information sessions. Jayne Stewart, Vice President of Student Services, and Roland Erman, Special Events Coordinator, went through Orientation Week in detail for the volunteers before giving them an opportunity to sign up for the shifts they will be available to help with. Representatives from the Department of Residences, Accessibility, Career Services and Campus Security gave the volunteers information about their role during Orientation Week. We finished off the afternoon with special presentations by Todd Dow, who spoke about his family and their experience with Cystic Fibrosis in a way that really spoke to the students, and Drew Dudley, who gave an excellent about the importance of creating positive interactions with everyone you meet as a way of creating a tradition of community.

For most of our volunteers, that wasn't the end of the road! Busses took them to four different locations in the Niagara region for the annual "Shine the Falls" secondary fundraiser where they washed cars and had a barbecue. Volunteers raised an astounding $863 in 3 hours and that's only the beginning! During the retreat, volunteers created teams for online fundraising and have already raised over $150 in two days.

The retreat was only amazing because of the spirit and enthusiasm of the volunteers that attended it, and you can be sure to expect big things from this group throughout Code Red Orientation Week 2011.

The blog is back! In today's video, Instructors and Flair Bartenders Jay Patience and Jeremy Browes, from Bartender One, introduce themselves. They'll be at The Vendor Fair, Tower Party, Condom Poker and more! Interested in learning more about their Extreme Bartending Challenge? Be sure to check back on Friday!

The first of several O-Week commercials, produced by BrockTV. In this commercial, Roland, Chris, and Edmund show students what Shinerama is all about. Enjoy.

The final clue for Wednesday's concert before the big reveal tomorrow!

Make sure to check out this website for the reveal, as well as the full O-Week website launch!

In this video, Jayne introduces Friday's main event, the TNT Tours Beach Party, which will be held in Weatherstation Field.

Wednesday Concert Clue: This artist has over 300,000 fans on Facebook!

Wednesday Concert Clue: This artist has travelled the globe! Next clue tomorrow at 1 PM!

Hey Students!

In this update, we wanted to show you a preview of our brand new mobile site. The site is an optimized version of website, redesigned specificly for mobile phones. Current features include news, event information (including the FULL O-WEEK schedule), a campus map, contact information, and more!

If you have any ideas you'd like to see implemented, send me an email and I'll see what I can do - webcc@busu.net.

That's all for today!
-Jordan

Hey everyone!

To introduce myself, my name is Roland Erman and I’m the Special Events Coordinator for BUSU. So basically, along with Jayne (who you’ve seen in many videos already) I run Orientation Week.

Something I’m really excited for this year is our partnership with Brock TV to create some strong promotional videos around all our big events. This past Friday we shot our first one, which is used to promote Shinerama. The idea I had was to knock-off the Subaru commercials where the sumo wrestlers wash the cars. Unfortunately we ran into a situation where we were low on actors and I had to act. Hopefully, I won’t be needed in any of the other ones!

We are planning a number of other commercials with Brock TV, as well. They’ve done a great job on past promotions throughout the years, so it will be exciting to work with them on O-Week stuff… and beyond I am sure.

I know Jayne and myself will touch on this in later updates, but in terms of promotion and the prizing we have this year… it’s going to be wild! As the weeks roll on (only 4 ½ weeks left), we’ll keep updating you. It is certainly shaping up to be a very exciting week to kick off the year. We are going to be doing things this year that will set the bar very high for 2011/12!

See ya!
-Roland

In this video, S.W.A.T. leader Sarah introduces herself. Throughout Orientation Week, you'll see hundreds of volunteers, who will help you move in, help to make our events run smoothly, and answer any questions you may have! Just look out for those wearing shirts with the large "S.W.A.T." logo on them.

VPFA Wil is back with a few more tips for first year Badgers!

One of his tips is learning how to cook, so if you have any recipie's you'd like to share, add them to the comments of this video on YouTube!

In this video, Jayne wants to share some concert information. Don't forget, this year we'll be having TWO big ticket concerts, and we'll be announcing full details about those starting on August 12th! Thanks for checking in and we'll have more tomorrow.

In this video, Jayne's back, and she's giving you the scoop on this year's Vendor Fair.

In this video, Vice-Presient Finance and Administration, Will Parent, shares his top five tips for first years, in a series we're calling University 101! Tomorrow, Jayne's back to give you guys a sneak peak on some of the awesome stuff we'll have going on at Vendor Fair!

Hey Students,

As you probably already know, Brock's O-Week has traditionally always had a big ticket concert on the Wednesday of Orientation week. This year, we're changing things up a bit. For O-Week 2011: Code Red, we are, for the first time EVER, having two big ticket concerts. They will be held on the Wednesday and the Saturday of Orientation Week. The details on who is performing are still being ironed out, but in the past we've had huge artists such as Billy Talent, K-Os, Alexisonfire, Metric, Three Days Grace and many more, and this year will be even bigger and better! Both concert tickets are likely to be between $30-$40 depending on who is coming, and you can get into both, as well all other Orientation Week events, without having to pay cover or buy advanced tickets, by purchasing an Access Gold.

Get excited Badgers! Oweek 2011: Code Red is going to be legend-wait-for-it-DARY.

Hey Students!

We just wanted to give you a quick update about this year's upcoming Orientation Week, Code Red. This is our temporary site, where we will be posting one update per day, about one particular aspect of O-Week. The full web site, along with the full schedule, will launch on Friday, August 12th. Until that date, our daily posts will include videos, pictures and more as we prepare for the biggest Orientation Week Brock has ever seen!

Have a question or topic you'd like us to touch on in one of these posts? No problem! Send an email to webcc@busu.net and we'll do our best to cover it in one of the updates.

Talk to you guys later,
Your 2011-12 BUSU Staff