Social Connection Support
Staying connected and involved in the Western community while you’re away from campus and practicing social distancing is important to your well-being.
Thrive Online: Your Virtual Western Community!
Visit Western's brand new student community blog site - Thrive Online. Thrive online is a space for Western students to tell your own stories in your own words. We know that being socially connected and able to share our learning is a vital part of being able to thrive, and we believe it can also happen when we’re online. We’ll be posting stories written by Western students that help us celebrate, engage, relate, entertain, and educate each other.
If you want to be part of building this space and sharing your voice, visit our Contributor Page to find out how to submit your own post!
Social Media
Social media is a great tool available that you can use to connect. It's important to focus on meaningful connection as opposed to "likes" though. Student Experience will be sharing strategies to stay connected, win some prizes, and generally have fun. Follow our accounts below and share your own stories using #WesternUThrive. Follow us at any of the accounts below to participate.
Wake Up Western
Wake Up Western Series - Episodes
Episode #1- An update from Jennie Massey
Episode #2- Kate's At-Home Bodyweight Workout
Episode #3- Suiting up for Success with Jeff
Episode #4- Grounding Exercise with Melissa
Episode #5- Staying Socially Connected with Alex & Brent
Episode #6- Tips for Maintaining Long-Term Goals with Alex
Episode #7- Virtual Interview Tips with Snježana
Episode #8- Taking Breaks with Lauren
Episode #9- Gardening with Lesley
Episode #10- Tips for Staying Healthy while Working from Home with Tulo
Episode #11- Meet Zeeta from the Indigenous Student Centre!
Episode #12- Meet our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Education Coordinator, Ladan!
Accounts to Follow:
Student Experience
University Students Council (USC)
Western Mustangs
Society of Graduate Students (SOGS)
Events
Western SE Digital Engagement
Western Student Experience is offering a variety of digital events, including Game Nights, Coffee and Chats with the Chaplain, Therapy Dogs Digital Hangouts, Movie Nights and more. Daily updates on Instagram!
IECS Virtual Programs
The International and Exchange Student Centre launched a series of virtual social programs to bring students together across global borders. Visit their website for more information.
E-Sports FREE Online Tournaments
Sport and Recreation is running free online E-Sports tournaments for current Western students. No experience necessary. Visit their website for more information and to sign-up.Online Ways To Beat Boredom
Social distancing can be really tough, but the good news is we have a lot of tools available now that can help. There are all kinds of ways you can connect and participate in activities just using your computer. Here are just a few suggestions:Virtual Music, TV, and Boardgames
Burton Cummings performs live! Join the former lead singer and keyboardist of The Guess Who as he performs live on Facebook here!
Try out music lessons with the Arkells.
Find a variety of classical concerts to suit your fancy!
Rufus Wainwright performs daily on Instagram! Have a private concert with Rufus as he performs one song a day from his catalogue on Instagram.
Team up to make the ultimate playlist! Just set any playlist to Spotify Collaborative and your friends will be able to add, delete and reorder the tracks.
Try your voice at karaoke or lip-sync competitions like Karafun, SingSnag, or Smule.
Try out Netflix Party--it's a Chrome Extension for watching Netflix remotely with friends that synchronizes video playback and adds a group chat function.
Check out these board game tournaments like Pogo, Tabletopia, and Poki.
Digital Museum Tours
British Museum, London
Guggenheim Museum, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Seoul
Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Toronto's Ripley's
