This Week’s Campus Profile Is On The Two Young Men Who Run Warrior Tribe – Phenomenal Undergraduate Student’s Liam Stanfield and Adam Birch!
(Image Below – Left to Right: Adam Birch and Liam Stanfield at Black and Gold Day)
What year and program are you both in?
Liam: Well – start this off with a loaded question why don’t you. I started in Honours Biomedical Science and after my 3rd year, I decided I didn’t like it nor that culture anymore so I switched to Recreation and Leisure Services with an option in Parks. Much more in my wheelhouse. Adam has a similar story. He spent some time as a systems engineer, then in economics, then finally settling into his niche – Recreation and Sports Business. Adam will be done school in the summer and me next year.
What is Warrior Tribe?
Warrior Tribe is a club that we started about 3 years ago now in hopes to change the culture that has been set at UW. Through our time with it our vision and goals have changed minutely, but the major goal has always been to bring more spirit, passion and a change in culture to the school. All too many times we heard how UW has no spirit and no school pride. And you know what? The reports weren’t wrong. We lack in all of these things but it’s our hope that we can be the spark plug that changes this stereotype and spark a culture shift. We are a club but not a normal club. Currently our model is to get a group of students together, have some food and drinks (or what not) and go to a varsity sports game. When we go to those games we want to be those rowdy, fun fans that everyone looks at, laughs and thinks man I want to be with those guys. The 12th man (Seattle Seahawks), the 5th line (general hockey term), whatever you want to call it, we want to give the Warriors the advantage and let everyone else know that this is our house.
What inspired you to join?
Us personally, nothing. We started it. And we started it for a vast number of reasons. I’ve listed a few above but the take home point is we want to change the culture that’s been set. People treat Waterloo as a 9-5 job. You show up in 1st year, study your ass off for 4 years then leave in 4th year. You go to Laurier, you’re a Goldenhawk. Go to Western, you’re a Mustang. Queens, a Golden Gael. Waterloo? You’re a math student, a science, AHS, arts, engineer, or environment student. It is very rare that you hear someone refer to themselves as a Warrior. How often do you see the colours black and gold spread everywhere? Not as much as you do purple, pink, blue, teal, orange, and green. And don’t get me wrong, faculty pride is great. I’m proud to be an AHSSIE and so is everyone in their own faculty but the big picture is we must be proud to be Warriors too. One Waterloo. Waterloo United.
How has Warrior Tribe changed you?
Warrior Tribe has made us both more confident people (which may be good or bad, Liam has always been a bit cocky). Having confidence is important for this. You can’t walk into a meeting with the Athletic Director or the Associate Provost and not be confident in your message or your dreams. It’s also hard to get up in front of 6000 first year students, and play a game of Simon Says. But you learn how to handle this and other ‘large audience’ fears. Sometimes you don’t have a choice in it and you just get up and do it. Being part of the Tribe has given us lasting memories and friendships. The relationships that have formed in this club are awesome and will last for years to come. We’ve been so lucky to have an amazing team working with us, some from the beginning others joining in when they did. Not to mention the support we’ve gotten from upper administration, FEDS, and the Athletics Department as well. Everyone has loved this idea, and helped it grow to where it is today. On top of that it has taught us many practical life skills. Simple conversation, dealing with teammates, talking and spreading news to younger folks, sponsorship packages, etc. Although, It hasn’t been all roses. We’ve definitely had our struggles, but those have only made us stronger!
What is your favourite thing about Warrior Tribe?
My favourite thing is realizing how many people share our vision. Sometimes people just need that push to hop on board, and I think we can provide that. It’s put us in some amazing situations we hope others have felt the effects of and positively changed their stay at Waterloo. There’s a quote I love that goes, “Helping one person might not change the whole world, but it could change the world for that one person.” If we can help make one person’s day better somehow, then it’s a ripple effect. A pay it forward kind of thing. Just making Waterloo a better place.
What challenges have you faced in Warrior Tribe?
Too many. The biggest issue and challenge we’ve had is gaining student buy-in. It’s the age-old issue of trying to teach an old dog new tricks. Trying to get 4th, or 3rd, even 2nd year students to adopt this new philosophy is almost impossible. I’d say out of every 10 upper year students, 8 of them will say forget it I’m almost out of here. So our biggest focus is on first years, and prospective (future) students. If we can get them to come in thinking the way we do, then they’re going to pass that on to their friends who pass it onto next year’s students and so on. It’s not just students either. Breaking into Orientation Week was no easy task, and we had to knock down a lot of doors and cross a lot of boundaries that haven’t been crossed. People in key leadership roles don’t always see the issue because they’re not close enough to it. We as students see it first hand, on the ground. Our input is, I don’t want to say better or best, but closer to it. It’s also one of those things where students are more likely to listen to students as opposed to upper administration.
What is the future of Warrior Tribe?
Well something is in the works in which we can’t really comment on right now, but Warrior Tribe will be around for a long time. It’s getting to a place where longevity is inevitable. People have noticed us, and realized that this is something that the school needs. School spirit has been a part of both FED’s long term plan, but also the University’s so we came into the “market” at the right time. We aren’t pioneers in this field either, there have been others who have attempted to do what we have done but the issue was they graduated and no one was in place to take over. We’ve set ourselves up so that people will be in place to run the Tribe once Adam and I leave.
^ (Caption: Warrior Welcome)
How can students get involved?
Students can get involved in a multitude of ways. Our biggest forms of communication are through social media, Facebook (/thewarriortribe), Twitter (@thewarriortribe), and Instagram (warriortribe57). We are accessible by email as well (thewarriortribe57@gmail.com). Closer to the start of the new school year we will have a multitude of volunteer positions available on the LEADs system (leads.uwaterloo.ca). So there are a ton of ways to get involved and we are always looking for people to help out. Even just coming out to a game and cheering with us. Spreading the word, showing school spirit and pride. Wearing black and gold, supporting athletics and everything that embodies the University of Waterloo. Remembering that – we are all Warriors at the end of the day.
Who or what has been your biggest inspiration during your years here at UW?
I think our biggest motivation and inspiration has honestly been other schools. We often use Michigan as an example. How can the tiny town of Ann Arbor who has a population of 117,025 (2013) fill Michigan stadium (more commonly known as The Big House) which has a capacity of 109,901. They have a blind following. Now NCAA is very much different than CIS and almost everything about American universities are. The point remains that there is a void in our spirit, and our association as Warriors. That void and the want to make our mark and to take this school to the next level has really been a strong inspiration and driving force.
Where do you see yourself after graduation?
Liam: I hope to pursue a career in outdoor education of some sort. Ideally I’d love to do teachers college, specifically the OEE (Outdoor and Experiential Education) program at Queen’s. After that I’d love to work with children either teaching at the high school level (like a leadership/outdoor ed. Program) or working at an outdoor center.
Adam: I hope to work in the sports business industry. I love sports and I see myself thriving in that kind of atmosphere. I would like to work within a sports franchise either in operations or marketing. That behind the scenes aspect of a sports franchise really fascinates me and I hope I have a chance in the future to explore that world to its fullest.
What kind of impact do you hope to leave on the University of Waterloo community post-grad?
Well, I’m not going to lie. If Adam and I come back in 5-10 years and there isn’t a statue of us somewhere I’ll be pretty upset (Cue laughter). But for real we just hope to change the mindset. We want people to realize that, yes we are great at startups, and technology, and research, and studies, and yes we are the “Silicon Valley of Canada” – but we have spirit too. We are Warriors. We want people to look back on their 4, 5, 6 – or however many years they spend here, and have them be the most memorable years of their lives. We want them to think, “I learned so much, but damn did I ever have fun.” We just hope that this kind of thinking carries on past our time and that eventually we can get to a point where black and gold is everywhere, #PackThePAC and #CramColumbia aren’t just hashtags, but a reality.
^ (Caption: Classic Liam and Adam)