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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Shawn Mendes makes an appearance at our office

May 24, 2019

Our boss, Megan, was gone for one full day. Naturally, our summer student team of five creative individuals had to spice things up in the office. We sat around our table wondering what we can do for fun in order to prank Megan. After a few minutes of brainstorming, we decided to bring Megan’s celebrity crush to the office.

Unfortunately, our time was limited and we could not get Shawn Mendes to come to our office. But 20 pictures of Shawn makes up for it, right? So, we printed off 20 small pictures of Shawn Mendes’ head and one photoshopped picture of Shawn and Megan together. We hid these pictures in books, on office supplies, on the wall, and in many more spots around the room. Step 2 of our fun: sit back, act normal and wait for Megan to come back.

Photoshopped image of our boss with Shawn Mendes
One of the hidden cutouts of Shawn Mendes' face

Photo of Shawn used in this graphic was taken by  
@Raph_PN on Flickr
and is licensed under the 
Creative Commons
 Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

 

We all arrived in the office before Megan the next day. Things started off like any other day, until Megan tried turning on her computer. Our first Shawn picture was found when Megan moved her computer mouse and noticed that Shawn’s head was covering the bottom. After a good laugh, we all went back to work. About five minutes later, Megan was telling our team a story when Shawn head number two caught the corner of her eye. A tiny little Shawn picture was hidden on the corner of our whiteboard. Megan caught on, and the scavenger hunt began.

From there, Megan went on an intense search for pictures of her celebrity crush. Before lunch, she found 17 of the 20 Shawn heads. Some were in plain sight, like the Shawn on her key chain, which she didn’t find right away despite using her keys that day. Others were a little more hidden, and discovered by flipping the office upside down until Shawn appeared.

After Megan telling us we were all fired (jokingly of course), we were all able to have a long laugh about our sha(w)nanigans. The next day, Megan was able to bring her Shawn count to 19. However, one Shawn picture still remains hidden to this day. Check out Megan's Instagram story below of her searching for Shawn: