My Time With V.I.S.A.: Coordinator, September 2009 – March 2010, Part II

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My Time With V.I.S.A.: Coordinator, September 2009 – March 2010, Part II

December 27, 2010 Pumudu Leave a comment Go to comments

Part I: http://pumudu.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/amazing-race-iso/

From its beginning, V.I.S.A. held our meetings, potlucks and all other events in the International Student Centre (I.S.C.). But as the group expanded, the I.S.C. offices could not provide enough space. A solution to this finally arrived in the summer of 2009 when the basement of Cody Hall was provided as a staging area for V.I.S.A. events at the behest of the International Student Advisor, Mr. Enrique Chacon.

The basement, while spacious was lacking in any colour or atmosphere. At that time, in a meeting with members of the University Community Church they suggested providing V.I.S.A. with paint and supplies to give a new look for the basement. In addition, Enrique and I suggested that we could paint a mural of flags in one side of the wall, as a mosaic to the diversity of the University of Windsor. The Church members enthusiastically supported the idea. After initially painting the entire basement (minus the wall reserved for the flags) in late September, we began painting the flags on October 04th, 2009. My aim was to have the wall completed by December 04, 2009. That would be the day of the V.I.S.A. potluck.

First few flags

A few more have been added

Mid-October

Undertaking this task was an enormous responsibility. As Coordinator, I personally directed completion of the project. We asked for volunteers through Facebook, and the through the International Student Listserve (WISEL) and we received a great response. We had many students coming in to paint not only the flag of their country, but the flags of other countries as well.

Late October

Mid-November

Despite most volunteers having full-time schedules, we had nearly 55 separate volunteers giving their time for this project. The wall was completed, bar a couple of spaces on December 03rd, 2009. In addition to painting the flags, we also put up rows of flags donated by the I.S.C., and also painted the University of Windsor logo and the V.I.S.A. logo on the basement as well.