For the fifth year in a row, I’m writing a year-in-review post (see 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016). I couldn’t have even told you I’d been writing on this blog for five years if you’d asked me. While the format has changed a little bit over the years (although I’m not really sure why), I continue to believe in the magic of spending time reflecting on the year, and reliving your best memories.
As 2017 comes to an end, here are my top 10 memories, experiences, and achievements from 2017:
1. Janet Croziers Galore
My brother got married this fall, and we officially welcomed a second Janet Crozier to the family (Janet is also my mother’s name)! The ceremony was beautiful, and I swear I didn’t cry. Because they chose to get married in Mexico, their wedding also meant I got to spend a week in the sun with my family- including a couple aunts I hadn’t seen in years!
2. Garlic Fingers Please
My vacation in Calgary was highlighted by a visit to Blowers & Grafton with Michael and Layne. East coast food (garlic fingers! fried pepperoni!) with two east coast friends- it doesn’t get much better!
3. Mountain Climbing
I legitimately climbed a mountain, and I (somewhat) legitimately almost died. When I went to Canmore, AB in October, Hayley came to visit so we could go on a nice 2-3 hour hike. Almost 3 hours later, we reached the top of the mountain, and thought we were dying (at least, I did). It was freezing, but once we made it back down and into warmth, so, so worth it.
But I’m still never letting Hayley choose a hiking route unsupervised again.
4. Summer Newsletter Success
In 2016, I started a summer newsletter for incoming students off the side of my desk. In 2017, Laura, our intern, and I set out to be strategic and engaging with this newsletter. It worked, and it was amazing to see the response. Over 300 people clicked through to our ‘phone a friend’ article, with fun Queen’s phone backgrounds AND advice from upper-year students, and over 1400 students clicked through to our fun ‘ace your academics’ facebook album.
5. I Staycationed
I learned the magic of the rental car in 2017. I had vacation days in March, but no real place to go, so I staycationed with a car rental. Not only was I able to do 8000 errands in only a couple hours, but I visited Lemoine Point (twice) and went hiking at Rock Dunder.
6. Farewell to Queen’s
If you missed the big news, I was offered a new job in late October, and am in the process of moving to Victoria to design an online orientation program for UVic. Hopefully there will be more about this in the 2018 year-end review!
7. Beach Bummin’ Around
As good as that March car rental was, renting a car that can take you to the beach on a hot summer day is also pretty good. During another rental-car-staycation in the summer, I visited Sandbanks, spent multiple glorious afternoons at the beach, went to a sand castle competition in Cobourg, and stopped by “The Big Apple”. It was heaven on a beach.
8. SOARin’ Attendance
In 2014, about 1800 students and guests registered for SOAR, our summer orientation program. Same with 2015. Same with 2016. In 2017, we blew this number out of the water, and had over 2400 students and guests register. It’s amazing what a strategy and the participation of campus partners can do!
9. Crushin’ It
Back in June, I participated in the Cannonball Crush, an obstacle course race at Fort Henry, with a few of my friends. It may have taken us 50+ minutes to run the 5K obstacle race (there were long line-ups at some obstacles!), I may have come super close to fainting along the way, and it’s possible I all but ruined a pair of shoes, but it was so. much. fun.
10. The Work Crew
2017 would not have been the same without the wonderful crew in the Student Experience Office. In my 2016 year-in-review, I talked about how I had spent three months as the sole office employee; we grew to four in 2017, along with an abundance of student staff. From hamburger lunches, to Little Caesar’s adventures, to colouring sessions in the office, I could not have asked for better co-workers to spend time with, support, and be supported by.
