Welcome Incoming Graduate Planners!

Congratulations on joining one of Canada’s leading and most innovative planning programs. Your Association of Graduate Planners (AGP) is thrilled to introduce you to the University of Waterloo’s graduate planning program. We are confident that your experience within the Faculty of Environment will be both enjoyable and enriching and we are committed to making it the best experience possible.

The AGP is your representative student body, the student voice that interacts on behalf of graduate planners with the U of W planning administration, OPPI, and CIP; works on funding opportunities to support student life; and last, but not least, organizes events and activities for planning students to kick back, get to know one another, and have a good time.

First we would like to get you prepared for “Master’s Frosh Week” starting September 7^th, 2010. The AGP and the Environmental Graduate Student Association will be holding important introductory sessions, socials, TA workshop and your mandatory milestone component during this week.

We would also like to introduce to you some exciting events that will be occurring in 2010/2011. Most importantly, the AGP led a successful bid to host the Canadian Association of Planning Students (CAPS) annual conference, here at the University of Waterloo in February 2011. The theme for this year’s conference is “Resilience: Planning for Dynamic Futures.” The three day conference brings together planning students from across the country; creating an opportunity for students to showcase their research, learn about modern planning issues and opportunities from leading professionals in the field, and mingle with hundreds of fellow planning students. This is truly an exciting opportunity for the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo to shine, and we need your help to make this event a great and lasting success.

There will be many opportunities for you to become involved this year from joining the AGP Executive to volunteering at and in preparing the CAPS conference. Check out the CAPS website (http://caps-aceau.org/) for conference developments and take a look at the AGP website (https://uwagp.wordpress.com/) to “meet” the AGP executive, find out what is new in the world of Waterloo planning.

On behalf of the AGP, we would to once congratulate you on your decision to attend the University of Waterloo, and we welcome you to the School of Planning Community. Please contact either of us if you have any questions at all. We look forward to meeting you in the September. See you at the Grad House!

On behalf of your AGP Executive,

Warm regards,

Kathryn Randle      &       Brad Bradford

2010 Co-Presidents
Executive Council
Association of Graduate Planners
University of Waterloo

krandle@uwaterloo.ca, bbradford@uwaterloo.ca

Thank you for the generosity

Like so many others who attended a most enjoyable Charity Ball arranged by the Association of Graduate Planners (AGP) and the Environmental Graduate Student Association (EGSA) at Tyrone Restaurant and Ultralounge Uptown Waterloo March 10^th, 2010, I received a ‘thank you’ letter from Habitat for Humanity the other day.

The disastrous January 12 earthquake in Haiti displaced or made homeless an estimated 1.2 million people. Our Charity Ball raised $2,970 in support of Habitat for Humanity’s continued efforts in the rebuilding of Haiti.

Charity Ball organizing involves students organizing, delegating responsibility and collaborating to set out a vision, securing the venue, marketing, scheduling the itinerary, ticket sales, inquiring and collecting donations and hosting at the night of.

Moreover, it requires a community of social interaction, individual passion and local supporting institutions and businesses – the easily underestimated power of generosity.

To all who participated: we wish to express a heartfelt “thank you”, and we hope arranging the Charity Ball will be a continued tradition for the AGP and the EGSA at the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment for years to come.