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Student Community & Leadership Development
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Join, Register or Create an Organization

YU Connect

The Hub for all Co-Curricular Activity at York! 

YU Connect is York University’s online system for getting involved and tracking your out-of-classroom experience in a revolutionary way. It provides students with a directory to find clubs and match opportunities to their self-selected interests. YU Connect is also a platform for creating a record of a student’s co-curricular involvement throughout their time at York.

Initially targeted and accessible to those who run and are members of York’s 350+ Recognized Student Organizations as well as Student Community & Leadership Development’s numerous peer groups, YU Connect provides a number of benefits:

For Students

  • Find campus resources and involvement opportunities that match your interests
  • Join organizations and sign-up to participate in events and programs
  • Document your involvement and learning outside of the classroom through a Co-Curricular Record
  1. Go to yuconnect.yorku.ca and click on Login.
  2. Login to the system through your Passport York account. Note: The YU Connect system is only available to community members with an active Passport York Account.
  3. Fill out a personal profile and add things like your name, contact information and profile picture.  You will also acknowledge that you agree to the terms and agreements related to the YU Connect system.
  4. Select a set of interests. Interests help link you to clubs, organizations and opportunities that will come up throughout the year. Ensure you go through each folder so you don’t miss anything.
  5. Use the navigation tools to rank your interests according to what you’d most like to hear about. Don’t forget to include your Faculty and College affiliation.

There are several ways to navigate the YU Connect system in order to find organizations that match your interests and needs.

The easiest way is to manage your interests. Interests are tags that are used by both organizations and individuals. When a student and an organization tag the same interest, the student will be recommended that organization in the sidebar of their homepage. Interests can be changed and ranked at any time in order to match your changing tastes and moods and is by far the easiest way to get news and suggestions about events or organizations on campus that you might like to be a part of.

You can go to the Organizations tab at the top of the page and you will find a few different ways to find organizations. You can perform a keyword search, search alphabetically by name or go to the categories tab and search by the type of organization. If you’re having trouble finding something you are interested in, sometimes using these tools can be a helpful way to find the right spot for you.

You can also check the bulletin board on your home page. The bulletin board has an up-to-date stream of events happening on campus and is updated in real time. By checking out the different events on campus and looking at the host organization you might find an organization you never considered before.

  1. Click on the Organizations tab at the top of the page and select the group you wish to join.
  2. Click the Join Organization on the right side of that organization’s home page.  The request will then be sent to the organization for approval. You will receive a message in your YU Connect inbox on whether your request has been accepted or denied.

Note: Some organizations are limited in their membership and you will not be able to join (i.e. residences).

Yes. To permanently leave the organization, follow these steps:

  1. Select My Organizations at the top of the page.
  2. Select the organization you want to leave. Click the Leave Organization button that appears on the right side of the window when the organization is selected.
  3. Click the Leave Organization button that appears in green in a new screen in a new screen and confirm you want to leave.  This will now remove you from the organization’s membership list.

If you have a passion or idea that is not represented in any of the existing student organizations, you are welcome to create a new one.  Keep in mind that you cannot create more than one organization per year nor can you be the signing officer for more than one organization at a given time.  To apply to start a new organization, follow these steps:

  1. Select Organization on the menu bar.
  2. Click Register a New Organization on the left side of the screen.
  3. Complete the six steps in the application process and review your submission.
  4. Click Submit.

Note: This option is open every year from May - September.

Yes, Collegiate Link, the software that powers YU Connect has a useful and detailed resource for help.

For Student Organization Leaders

  • Communicate with current and prospective members
  • Create organization specific pages that link and push to social media
  • One platform for student organization processes and membership management

All club registration for Student Community & Leadership Development (SCLD) will be done on the YU Connect system.  If you are renewing your organization, a link will appear below it.  Click on the button and complete the application process.

A Primary Contact is the representative of the organization who takes overall responsibility for its operations (i.e. President/Chair).  This individual will register the organization, assign executive positions, and provide various levels of access to the YU Connect page for the members.  They are the only ones permitted to complete the Club registration process.

To make the transition easier for student organizations, we have pre-populated YU Connect to have the following information already entered for clubs:

  • Organization Objective(s)
  • Current Constitution
  • Executive Position List
  • External Website Link (if available)

Yes, Collegiate Link, the software that powers YU Connect, has a useful and detailed resource for help. You can also contact us at yuengage@yorku.ca or yuconn@yorku.ca.

YU Connect Terms

Interests

One aspect of YU Connect that sets it apart from other applications is the concept of interests. Individual Users and Organizations can tag interests that serve as a matching service.   In addition, the user can rank their interests from most important to least important to filter what opportunities should take priority when appearing on the student’s home page.

Categories

One of the tremendous things about student organizations at York University is the breadth and depth of the student experience that they define. To that end, organizations are allowed to select categories. These categories are searchable so users can identify appropriate affiliations.

Co-Curricular Record

Wondering what a Co-Curricular Record is? The Co-Curricular Record is a formatted listing of all of the co-curricular opportunities that you have participated in and the organizations that you have joined while at your institution. Note: We have been very clear that this is not a transcript and should not be confused as such.  At York University, a transcript is a very specific record of academic achievements and is governed by the Senate.

Below are some common questions about the Co-Curricular Record on YU Connect. Read on to find out how to start documenting activity in your Co-Curricular Record and how it can help you in applying to graduate school and jobs!

This record is not only a great way of keeping track of all co-curricular activities you’ve been involved in throughout your years at York, but also for reflecting back on what you gained from each experience and the skills you developed. The information you keep on your Co-Curricular Record can help you identify and articulate your skills, abilities, interests and accomplishments. This is all vital raw data you can use when crafting documents such as your resume and cover letter or for preparing for interviews when you start looking for work.  You can also use the record to assist you in gathering information to use when crafting a personal statement should you choose to pursue graduate studies or professional careers.

You may also choose to include the document in your portfolio.  For information about how to target your application packages for employers or further studies, be sure to take advantage of the Career Centre’s online and in-person programs, services and resources at yorku.ca/careers.

Once active, the Co-Curricular Record can be accessed through clicking on your name in the top right hand corner of the screen in the YU Connect system.  Click on the Co-Curricular Record tab which will bring you to a page that lists the organizations you are involved in and have joined on the system, the service hours you have completed and any reflections you’ve submitted.

Yes. You can edit the record in two ways: firstly, by providing reflections on your experience and secondly by selecting which experiences you wish to have on your record.

To provide a reflection, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Membership History tab. You will be brought to a page which shows a  Current Memberships tab. Click that.
  2. Click on the organization you wish to edit.
  3. Click on the icon beside the word Reflection. A textbox will appear where you can write your reflective piece.

Always be sure to write a reflection which emphasizes the experiences you had and the skills you gained.

To remove a membership from your record, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Current Memberships tab.
  2. You will see a list of your current involvement.
  3. Click on a membership and select “leave organization”.

A good reflection piece should not only include the duties associated with a particular activity, but should also go into some detail about the particular skills or accomplishments you developed by participating in that activity.  Think about including answers to some of the following questions:

  •  What specifically did you do when you participated in this activity?
  • How did you ensure you would get good results?
  • What principles, theories, policies, style or standards, if any, did you apply?
  • What style or personal qualities did you bring to the activity?
  • What were the positive results of your participation?

Here are some examples of duty-focused reflections and accomplishment-focused reflections.  Note how the accomplishment-focused reflection paints a clearer picture of the value of your participation in an activity:

Duty-focused reflection:  “I was the vice president of the club and developed good communication skills and organizational skills.”

Accomplishment-focused reflection:  “I was the vice president of a club of 75 members and enhanced my organizational skills by planning and coordinating a number of panels and inviting speakers on campus.  I developed communication skills by liaising with club members, faculty and administrative staff, as well as by practicing public speaking while delivering introductions at the panels I coordinated.  Through these presentations, club members increased their knowledge of environmental issues and gained renewed enthusiasm for planning volunteer green projects in the local community. ”

Or…

Duty-focused reflection:  “I volunteered as an events coordinator”

Accomplishment-focused reflection:  “I applied cross-cultural communication and anti-discrimination principles while organizing and promoting social and cultural activities for the club, such as art and film exhibitions as well as historical and religious holiday celebrations.  Each of the events I coordinated attracted over 100 participants, and promoted equity, sensitivity and social justice.”

This depends on the type of involvement.  For membership to a particular student organization, this is dependent on the internal constitutional framework of each organization.  For instance, the student organization may require that you attend three meetings before you are considered a member.

For officer positions, we ask that student organization validate these positions twice: once after elections are held at the beginning of the year to ensure that the information is accurate for their term and once at the end of the school year to ensure that all officers complete their terms.

Most employers value co-curricular and extra-curricular experience. Participation in activities outside of academics makes for a well-rounded individual and demonstrates a number of qualities that help make students valuable additions to an organization. These qualities—or transferable skills—include communication, critical thinking, time management, creativity and organizational skills. While most employers will not ask to see the document itself, they will expect a successful job candidate to be able to identify and articulate these qualities in an interview—and to be able to give examples of where these skills were developed and how they were effectively used.

The Career Centre will help you use your Co-Curricular Record as raw material for your resume, cover letter, grad school application interview package.  If you aren’t sure how to identify and articulate your skills and experience, or you need support writing an accomplishment-focused reflection for your co-curricular record, the Career Centre offers workshops and individual appointments that can help.  Our Identifying Skills and Accomplishments workshop can help you identify the skills you developed through participation in an activity so you can include them on your Co-Curricular Record and our Resume Writing workshop can assist you in crafting an effective accomplishment statement to use as a reflection on your co-curricular record and on your resume and cover letter.  You can register for Career Centre workshops and activities online at yorku.ca/careers.

Here is a sample Co-Curricular Record: CCR-Letter