Elections Week, Wide Awake Wednesday, and JACD: Congress Weekly – August 26th & September 2nd, 2022
With Coordinator elections right around the corner and bright ideas for initiatives similar to Wide Awake Wednesday, Congress sat down on August 26th and September 2nd to plan even more riveting projects catering to the student population!
After the usual meeting formalities, reminders were given by the facilitator and Congress President, Max, about the importance of Congress’ integrity in their work, in light of the miscount in points for appointed candidates’ evaluations. It was dully rectified to ensure fairness in the elections process, but was a learning opportunity to stress their work’s importance as the first point of business.
Equal emphasis was placed on the upcoming Congress retreat, a team bonding activity that first-years will be briefed about in a meeting preceding it. As for general updates on the timeline, Max and Vice-President of Finance Katarina Bunakova notified the attendees of their meeting with the banking clerk administrating their affairs this week. It will ensure a smooth transition from the previous members to the current ones.
To note, Congress members were no longer required to attend the club planning session that took place this last Wednesday, August 31st. It had a successful turnout of more than 150 club executives! Cheesy pizza was graciously served by Katarina and Vice-President Luc Bojorquez-Lopez who were present to inform executives of the due processes of club affairs (all the details will soon be found on Congress’ website under the Club Affairs tab).
During the session, a sexual violence training was also led by Amanda Guay, our College’s social worker whose role is to ensure a safe space for students. Club executives were given guidance on how to properly be receptive to any students wanting to confide in them and the proper conduct to avoid cases of sexual violence in their circles. For any matter related to the topic, or if you’d like to sit down with Amanda, feel free to drop by her office at A-166 or send her a MIO.
Max and Coordinator of Social Activities Jamie-Ly Costa Nelson also briefed everyone on the feedback given after the Welcome Back event (that the News Blitz covered in its recent article) and Wide Awake Wednesday. Both were an incredible success; the Wide Awake Wednesday booth even ran out of coffee altogether. After all, who doesn’t like free food?
In response, Katarina suggested serving hot cocoa during the colder season, which could start as early as mid-October. Trudy Ste-Croix, the Student Services Representative who was attending, even suggested naming it Warm Up Wednesday. Genius!
Coordinator of Social Justice Matthew Home added that, from an environmentalist and sustainable perspective, students could even bring their own reusable cups.
On September 2nd, Matthew also gave further updates on how the planning for Orange Shirt Day was going: he hopes to implement permanent changes to the College after the event to promote reconciliation, and as for the event itself, the statue art display and the possibility of having pins is still being discussed.
Coordinator of Student Advocacy David Thomas Li shared the idea of having FAQ-styled posts on Instagram that would share bite-sized IPESA-related information to students. A provincial elections promotion campaign is also in the works; it would hopefully mean hanging up posters or flyers with information on voting registration around the College. It was previously done during the last election year and could be very instructive since a majority of the student population is over eighteen.
Jamie also brought up the idea of having a mixed martial arts workshop sometime during an AP period and is still waiting on a confirmation for the date and who will be facilitating the activity.
As for events planned for next week, students should stay on the lookout for Student Affairs’ Free Pancake Morning on September 7th and Join-A-Club Day on September 6th. Club executives will be able to fill out their Grant Request Form, found on Congress’ website, starting September 9th and will have until September 16th to submit both a digital and a hard copy. If you’d like to know more about a few of the clubs that will be present on the 6th, the News Blitz conducted a series of short interviews with their executives, which you can find under our Mari’s Club Mosaic tab.
Elections are also set to end this Sunday at 11:59 PM, for which the results will be announced on Monday.
Stay on the lookout!
