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| Participating students were asked to share one thought for the future of AV俱乐部.聽Here's Tracy Thompson's thought. |
Weekends for most university students are seen as days of recuperation. Saturday mornings are a good time to catch up on sleep after a week鈥檚 worth of work. However there were more than 60 AV俱乐部 students who traded in their zzz鈥檚 for a day of adventure in and around the city of Halifax recently.
"Oftentimes, students live within a quite narrow bubble. Many first years seem to think Halifax's borders end at Quinpool Road, so this student union initiative has been undertaken to showcase the real diversity and liveliness of our community beyond campus"聽says Jamie Arron,聽one of the initiative's co-organizers.
The morning started off with a reception hosted by Mayor Peter Kelly at the HRM City Hall. From there, students had five optional field trips, each with a predetermined agenda and with a particular set of challenges and opportunities to see Halifax through a different lens.
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David Verbeek's thought. |
Some of the field trips included visiting Pier 21, meeting with a former resident of Africville and participating in a Bollywood workshop on campus. Themes and topics explored included economic activity, urban development, cultural understanding, sustainability in rural communities and entrepreneurship. In the evening, everyone reconvened to enjoy dinner and entertainment during a boat cruise around the Halifax harbor.
Sounds like a blast, but the whole intent of Fax to the Max is more than fun and games. It鈥檚 a part of the student leadership initiative called Launchpoint, organized through the AV俱乐部 Student Union, for students to connect, brainstorm, discuss, and, of course, socialize. Organizers for the event include Jamie Arron, Neil Bailey, Andrew Bateman and Julia Feltham.
鈥淲hat we wanted to happen was to see Dal students who otherwise wouldn鈥檛 have known each other be connected through the program and possibly building a network of students who have ideas and projects on how to change the campus,鈥� says Kayla Kurin, DSU鈥檚 Vice-President Internal. 鈥淲e especially encourage first and second years students to come out and participate because they are the ones who will have to take the lead once senior undergraduates leave.鈥�
鈥淭here needs to be more student advocacy, a stronger student voice, and more student involvement,鈥� says Katie Merwin, a fourth-year history major at the University of King鈥檚 College. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much I learned today, and it gave me a better understanding of the city and hearing its problems and issues first-hand. Not a lot of students are aware that this is going on, and there seems to be a disconnect with students and the community.鈥�
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Pershing Sun's message for Metro Transit. |
鈥淭he reason why I wanted to participate was because I wanted to get an idea of different diversities and see different cultures, something you really don鈥檛 get living in a small town (Amherst, N.S.),鈥� says Terri LeBlanc, a second-year student in social anthropology. 鈥淭oday was a real eye-opener, and I think there should be more open events and more information about things like this.
鈥淚 find there鈥檚 a lack of community and openness among students at Dal,鈥� she continues. 鈥淢ost just think about school and parties, but I鈥檇 rather be involved. I think if you don鈥檛 get involved, your degree that you鈥檙e paying for means nothing.鈥�
The next event of the Dal student leadership initiative happens January 22, 2011 in the McInnes Room. For more information, visit the website for .