Pipe Major Terry Lee retires after 36 years

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October 7, 2013

After 36 years, the SFU Pipe Band has a new leader.

Terry Lee, who was been the band’s pipe major since 1977, is retiring, leaving the position in the hands of piper Alan Bevan. Bevan, who along with his wife Bonnie has been involved with the band since 1995, was formerly the pipe major of a competing band, the Abbotsford Police Pipe Band, but always had his eye on the SFU band.

“It’s great. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do from when I first heard the band play when I was really young,” said Bevan. “I’d always aspired to play with the band. I finally got the opportunity and have never looked back.”

In his years with the band, Bevan has been involved with the tuning team, whose job it is to ensure that all the sets of bagpipes are in tune and moving at the same rate.

The changing of the guard comes on the heels of the band placing fourth in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow this past August, a result that Lee described at the time as, “Not what we came for, but we’re in the prizes.” The SFU pipe band has six championship wins under their belt, but were overcome by bad weather on the day of this year’s competition.

Bevan described his reaction to the results as “kind of mixed feelings.”

Lee is not leaving the band entirely, but will remain involved with tuning, music construction, and band administration.

“We had a very strong season locally, and we’re always working on improving and I think we made some gains in a number of areas,” he continued. Bevan pointed specifically to a new medley that the band worked on for the past year that actually beat the current world champions on the day of the qualifier round.

“We felt really good, we had a strong performance,” said Bevan. “It’s always a bit of a risk when you take a new competition set out, because you don’t know how it’s going to go over with the Scottish judges, and we only get one crack at them.”

Bevan has already taken over the pipe major position, though the band is currently on a break. They’ll resume practising later this month.

Lee is not leaving the band entirely, but will remain involved with tuning, music construction, and band administration, something that Bevan described as an “unusual transition.”

“Usually when a pipe major steps down he actually leaves the band or he just doesn’t have anything more to do with leadership,” Bevan explained; “In our case Terry is going to be very involved. I find that quite comforting that I’m going to have access to all that experience.”

Once band practices resume, Bevan plans to make some music changes, but to mainly keep the band on the same trajectory that they are presently on.

“I forsee it being a very smooth transition,” said Bevan, “not a lot of bumps. Hopefully. I really don’t think there [would be a reason for that]; the band’s not really rebuilding. It’s not broken and I’m certainly not going to try to fix it.”

LGBTQ to expand to twelve letters by 2016

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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NEW YORK — LGBTQ, the initialism which currently encompasses those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning, is set to increase its letters more than two-fold by the year 2016, so say some prominent queer-activists.

Originally founded in the 1980s as “LGB,” the initials eventually added “T” in the early nineties and the increasingly popular “Q” in the last decade. Now, many believe that serious letter expansions are on the way.

“The original three worked well for us in the old days but, at that time, we were really just trying to avoid being called other three-letter words” explained Carol Krantz, a Brooklyn queer-rights activist. “Now that we’re getting more accepted, though, we’ve got a chance to really complicate this term.”

Although it’s unclear what the letters will represent, possible expansions that have been floated around include “I,” “W,” “R,” “P,” another “Q,” a third “Q,” and “H.”

“Of course we’d love to get a “Z” or an “X” involved but those are probably more long-term projects,” Krantz said as she searched for more colours to add to her rainbow flag. “Ideally, I’d like to see it eventually be a 30 or 32 letter-word that includes all people but getting to 12 is a good step, it shows that we mean business.”

With their sights on 2016, Krantz and the few other people who are with her on her quest to make LGBTQIWRPQQH a reality, have serious hopes that someday they will have a term that truly incorporates all people, hopefully without ever having to resort to just calling them “people.”

Hatman and Falcon: Introducing Atlas

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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Game Over

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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The record-breaking release of Grand Theft Auto V has sent ripples of controversy through the media. Its explicit content has shocked and appalled many, but entertained thousands more.

Mainstream media has pinpointed problematic elements of the game such as prostitution, torture, and racial profiling. It seems that people like it: selling over $1 billion worth in the first week of sales, GTA V is breaking entertainment records worldwide.

Unlike mature gamers, the younger demographic will likely take the game’s graphic content at face value.

Anyone who has dabbled in products developed by Rockstar Games shouldn’t be surprised by these features; explicit content has been a mainstay in many of their ongoing series, often portrayed in a satirical manner that is as rude as it is intelligent.

It’s these cultural nuances, ones that an adult audience will pick up on, that can soar over the heads of the younger demographic of gamers.

Unlike mature gamers, who can form informed opinions on the game’s subject matter, the younger demographic will likely take the graphic content at face value. A pre-teen brain just cannot compute the cynical messages being presented to them underneath the flurry of violence and profanity. All that’s left is the message that cruelty is funny, and an acceptable form of humour.

Even if your sibling or child understands the difference between reality and video games, they will still relay the lessons they have learned from pop-media among friends — and behind adults backs. Kids don’t have the ability to read between the lines of the game’s satire, and its humour will be lost on younger players.

Given its popularity, I find myself wondering how many parents have purchased their little elementary school prodigies GTA V. Maybe they’ve done so because a friend has it, or because they believe their kids know the difference between right and wrong. But parents might think twice if the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) helped inform them on a deeper level.

Games are typically given ratings by at least three trained “raters.” These are adults with prior experience with children, such as teachers or parents. Testing games is part of their job, but full playthroughs are not required; heck, even playing the title at hand isn’t required.

While assessing games, the professionals analyze the most extreme content the game has to offer, taking into consideration themes such as violence, coarse language, sexuality, and drug reference or use.

WEB-GTA5-3

Beyond these things, the raters will also look at the game as a whole, taking into account the frequency of the more explicit content. Given the nature of video games, they will also review the interactivity, rewards systems, and the degree of control that the player is given.

Unfortunately, today’s rating system isn’t properly addressing the spectrum of content that is present in the modern game space. The ESRB has six official ratings for released games: Early Childhood, Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature, and Adults Only. Anything that displays violence with blood exists in the Teen to Adults Only range.

With all the content being analyzed, it’s amazing that the more extreme themes are usually found in one of two categories: Teen and Mature. The most extreme rating a title can acquire is the AO rating. At the moment, a game with this rating is denied sale at large retailers, such as Walmart or Future Shop.

This results in most violent games being lumped into the M rating. The spectrum of content represented in the M rating is huge, from the light-hearted sword fighting of Fable to the crushing-skulls-in-with-scissor-adorned-sticks combat of The Last of Us. But it’s not just the violence and language that needs to be taken into consideration, it’s the themes that drive these titles.

The Last of Us is an incredibly adult experience, as it tackles themes of humanity, parenting, rape, and constantly questions what actions are justifiable when it comes down to survival. It’s inconceivable that a title such as this is lumped into the same category as Fable, a game about saving a fairytale land from an evil wizard.

AO needs to truly embody its title, and redefine what it means to be an Adult Only game.

Sure, Fable has its share of violence. But its content and themes can be easily comprehended by adolescents, as they are presented in a stylized and cartoonish fashion. How can two extremes coexist within one rating?

It’s because of examples like these that ESRB needs to rethink the AO rating — not only as a way of communicating to parents the graphic content being represented, but also the more complex themes at hand. If it were easier for parents to distinguish between games with violence and games for adults, they might think twice about buying little Johnny the latest FPS bloodbath.

The AO rating shouldn’t be reserved for explicit sexual content, and should include games that are truly made for an adult audience that is hungry for advanced themes in this entertainment medium.

AO needs to truly embody its title, and redefine what it means to be an Adult Only game. Lift the ban on these AO titles, allow them to be sold in larger stores, and let these titles have a rating that truly represents the content inside their boxes.

Clan play to first loss of the season

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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Alan Koch, head coach of SFU’s men’s soccer team, will be the first to tell you how little rankings and pre-game hype mean to any given game. His Clan worked hard to climb the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) rankings, from the third spot entering last season to first place late last week. But, after a dominant 8–0 start to the season, including a pair of victories at home last week over two South Dakota-based schools, the Clan finally suffered their first defeat.

Things were going fantastically for the Clan — they hadn’t just been winning games, but trouncing their opponents. In their conference home opener, SFU trumped the South Dakota School of Mines, a school in their first year of Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play, 5–0 a score that, given the balance of play, could’ve been even more lopsided.

“The chemistry is really coming along,” said midfielder Adam Staschuk post-game, as five different players found the back of the net for the Clan. “Everyone is starting to buy into the system. We are all getting more comfortable with it and it showed tonight.”

That comfort showed in their second game of the week: SFU shut out the University of Mary Marauders 6–0 in the Clan’s second home game of the week.

“A lot of guys got to play tonight and it really showed our depth,” said Alexander Kleefeldt, a transfer from Germany in his first season with the Clan, after the match. He also tallied the second and sixth goals of the game for the Clan.

“In the first half we should have kept possession a little bit more. The result is good but I still think we can play better, keep possession more and keep our opposition down.

“It was good to score two goals but I think I could have done a better job on the defensive end. The next road trip is going to be difficult so we need to step it up and work hard to be prepared,” he finished.

Until the start of that road trip, the Clan had faced little adversity, save for a pair of come-from-behind victories on the road earlier in the season. But there was no doubt that the Clan were in for their biggest test of the season on the road against Seattle Pacific University — arguably SFU’s biggest rival since entering the GNAC.

Seattle Pacific opened the scoring early, before junior midfielder Chris Bargholz tied the game at one apiece in the 23rd minute. The score would stay the same until late in the second half when the Falcons would scrape ahead 2–1 in the 79th minute — a deficit the Clan could not overcome; the game would finish with a 2–1 score for SPU.

Call it an upset if you want, but Koch will tell you his squad beat themselves.

“Tonight we didn’t score on the chances that we created and this allowed SPU to grow more and more confident as the match progressed,” he said after the Thursday night game.

“Big games are won and lost by little things. We made some unnecessary mistakes tonight that really hurt us.”

Despite the loss, the Clan are still set up well to compete for a GNAC title. The loss drops the Clan’s record to 8–1, still very much good enough for first in the conference, while second-place SPU improves to 6–1–1. And the Clan still lead the conference in goals by a shockingly wide margin: 33 for SFU compared to 14 for Western Washington, second in that category. The Clan have all the tools to get back on track.

“We need to regroup and increase our collective focus ahead of our next match against Saint Martin’s,” said Koch. “This conference championship is going to be a dogfight to the end.”

Experts and educators should be valued equally

By

Peak Web

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October 7, 2013

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At SFU, it’s difficult to register for courses that fit one’s schedule and align with one’s degree path, let alone one’s own interests. What’s more, many students are made to feel that their efforts are for naught, upon realizing their professor seems more interested in returning to their lab than actually teaching their class. If you’re unable to switch schedules, these weekly lectures become four months of frustration at having a teacher whose expertise does not translate into the ability to communicate the material.

Of course, professors all have their own strengths: some are happier to discuss with a small group than a full lecture hall, while others are better able to communicate material orally than through email or syllabi. In the end, however, some professors are simply better researchers than they are teachers.

At an institution responsible for both pursuing research and educating students, the two functions need to be valued equally. Yes, students should recognize the benefits of learning in close proximity with experts in their fields, and yes, SFU is a research university, but that label is twofold.

This is not to say research isn’t a crucial component of a university — the fact that it employs active researchers and scholars is one of its distinguishing features. SFU turns out innovative studies every week, from diagnosing skin cancer, to unlocking the key to evolution, to analysing how stereotypes affect one’s housing options. This research puts SFU on the academic map, the benefits of which can be seen in the millions of dollars the university is given towards future projects.

No one wants to be taught by someone who does not want to be there.

The issue arises when a professor’s research skills are valued more than his or her teaching abilities. In some departments at SFU, professors are reviewed every two years regarding their research. If they aren’t making a certain amount of progress, they can lose merits, which sometimes results in them being given more classes to teach.

The problem with this formula is that increased teaching responsibilities are framed as a punishment to these professors. Moreover, by giving classes to researchers who are struggling or who would prefer to be behind a desk, animosity and tension is created, which is, in turn, felt by students — no one wants to be taught by someone who does not want to be there.

SFU reviews a professor’s teaching skills through course evaluations at the end of a semester and by vetting professors when they are first hired and when they apply for tenure. Yet, many students are still made to endure disinterested lecturers and incompetent instructors. Even if a professor is engaging and expresses excitement about their topic, poor communication skills can leave students with more questions than answers.

One of the most difficult problems to address is the evaluation of an individual’s teaching skills. Course evaluations can be made irrelevant by students who argue that a lot of readings and tough marking equates to bad teaching. Since this is not the case, this process of evaluation clearly isn’t entirely reliable, meaning SFU needs to develop a better way of assessing its teaching staff.

All things considered, many researchers possess expertise that is thought to be invaluable to a university, and one could not expect the university to turn away the next Einstein because he has trouble lecturing in large lecture halls. That said, 300 students should not be subjected to his lectures.

The balance between being an educator and being an expert is vital to the university as a haven for innovation, as well as an institution fostering future experts. If SFU truly values these points equally, perhaps the students, as well as the professors, will see their efforts in the classroom better recognised.

SFU swept by UBC rival

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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To say the SFU and UBC hockey teams do not like each other would be an understatement. The two clubs met in the Third Annual University Hockey Classic, a home and home series over the weekend, which featured plenty of high flying action and bone-crushing hits. Unfortunately for SFU, their crosstown rivals would sweep the two-game series in convincing fashion.

The first game took place at UBC’s home rink, the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. SFU potted the first goal of the night, when Nick Sandor converted a pass from Jono Ceci. Although UBC controlled most of the period, outshooting the Clan 12-7, it was the away team heading to the locker rooms up by a 1-0 score.

The second period however, was a different story. The Thunderbirds struck just 17 seconds into the frame when Dillon Wagner broke in off a textbook breakout and fired a top corner rocket. Wagner’s goal was the first of five in a ten-minute span for UBC as SFU couldn’t find their legs and were constantly second to the puck and losing battles along the boards. SFU eventually began moving their feet and finished off the latter half of the period strong.

The Clan’s Aaron Enns scored one of the prettier goals you’ll see all season to begin the third, breaking in one-on-one with a T-Bird defenseman, turning him inside out and finishing with a slick backhand. Enns’ effort was much too little too late however, as a sloppy 10-minute stretch resulted in a 6-2 victory for UBC.

The bad blood spilled over into Saturday when both teams took to the ice at Bill Copeland Sports Centre, SFU’s home rink. After almost every whistle, a scrum ensued between the two sides, but the scoreboard reflected the previous game; UBC flew around the ice, winning most of the battles along the boards.

UBC scored the first goal of the night 5:34 into the first period, off of a good transition, which resulted in an easy tap in for Scott Macdonald. The T-Birds found no problems skating through the neutral zone as their second goal came off a two-on-one. The away team added a short-handed goal late to take a 3-0 lead after one.

SFU was caught flat-footed in the middle frame for the second straight night and UBC was rewarded with a Greg Fraser goal from a sharp angle.

The rough stuff really started to pick up late as the scrums became more and more violent. It cost SFU: on UBC’s fifth goal, SFU’s Jesse Mysiorek went in for a big hit, but his attempt resulted in a two on one chance down low, which
found the puck in the back of the Clan’s net. SFU’s Enns scored his second goal in two nights on the power play late in the frame.

The lone win for the Clan over the weekend was a fight Trevor Esau took handedly, delivering huge haymakers on UBC’s Ilan Cumberburch.

The third period ended without any additional scoring, with UBC heading home pocketing a decisive 5-1 victory.

The SFU hockey team heads to Boston next weekend to take on NCAA Div. I opponents and will look to bounce back from a tough weekend. This is a team still looking to find chemistry after adding 14 new players, and once they do, SFU will be back to winning hockey games.

Youth tackle BC economy at Community Summit

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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On Saturday, Sept. 28, SFU Surrey played host to “Our Future, Our Voice,” the first event of the week-long 2013 Community Summit: Charting BC’s Economic Future, hosted by SFU Public Square. The day-long forum invited youth between 16 and 25 years old to participate in roundtable and panel discussions, and weigh in on the economic future of the province.

Of the 90 students who attended SFU Public Square’s second annual youth forum, many weighed in on the event through Twitter under #OurVoiceBC, which was projected on a screen in front of the main theatre for the entire duration of the event.

Participants were encouraged to tweet questions to the three panelists — BC education minister Peter Fassbender, Surrey councillor Barinda Rasode, and NDP MP Jenni Sims — who would be speaking at the end of the day.

The youth engagement factor played a large role in shaping the design of the event, said organizer Jackie Pichette, Research and Communications Officer with SFU Public Square. Pichette facilitated “idea jams” over the past two months where young people were asked to design a youth forum that they would want to attend.

Twitter was a unanimously desired element, as were smaller break-out groups where participants would be able to meet people currently in job industries they were interested in entering into after graduation. In response, the event featured small roundtable dialogues held over lunch, where community and industry representatives from law enforcement, media, tech, construction, and other sectors, were open to questioning.

Only a handful of attendees were post-secondary students, with the overwhelming majority being from high schools across the Lower Mainland. This turnout which surprised Pichette, who said that at last year’s youth forum, there was a more even mix of university and high school students.

There was no way I was making a panel with more men than women.”

– Jackie Pichette,
Research and Communications Officer, SFU Public Square

For many of the attendees it was their first time being able to engage with politicians in such a direct manner. “I didn’t know anything about this forum when I decided to attend, but now I’m excited for the opportunity to ask actual politicians some questions,” said Sunaina Paudel, a grade 12 student at Johnston Heights Secondary, who heard about the event through her student leadership group.

Other attendees had a more developed interest in politics. Amie Johnson, a third-year political science student at SFU, works for the city of Surrey as a child and youth engagement assistant. She facilitated one of the 100 Community Conversations that had happened in the past two months, which were events also hosted by SFU Public Square. “I hope to run for office in the municipal government someday, so this is important to me,” she said.

The event began with a morning icebreaker, followed by SFU professor Matt Hern, founder of Car Free Day and Purple Thistle Centre who spoke on the GDP as a poor measure of the economy.

The final segment of the day was the panel, moderated by ex-CTV reporter Kai Nagata. There was friendly tension between the three panelists, all of whom represented different opinions along the political spectrum. Youth-centric issues, such as education and jobs, dominated the discussion, though gender and race also featured prominently.

“You’re in the minority here,” Rasode and Sims joked to Fassbender in reference to one participant’s tweet, which noted that women of colour outnumbered white men on the panel.

“There was no way I was making a panel with more men than women,” said Pichette.

On education, Rasode spoke to the importance of including students and teachers in the discussion rather than keeping the dialogue behind closed doors among elected representatives — a statement partially directed at Sims, the former president of the BC Teacher’s Federation.

When asked about employment opportunities in the province, Fassbender said that many BC jobs simply were not located in Vancouver, but in the interior province, like Dawson Creek. “You ladies can go up there and buy a truck, and not have to sell drugs,” he said to appeal to young women in the audience.

He also talked about managing resources more sustainably, rather than shutting down the operations altogether, though he did not mention renewable sources, a sentiment that proved unpopular among the live tweeters. In response, Sims said that economic and environmental sustainability should not be seen as two separate entities.

The panel proved to be popular with attendees, who were allowed to direct questions at the attendees for the last half hour of the session.

Tweets from #OurVoiceBC

Amie Johnson@Amie_R_Johnson

Fassbender: Thoughts about Can being only OECD country without national education strategy/department? #ourvoicebc #sfupublicsquare

Amanda L-O@AmandaLillicO

#Ourvoicebc Mr. Fassbender, how does your party expect to tackle the overcrowding in Surrey schools issue?

Cory Ashworth@coryashworth

Great time at SFU Surrey Campus – met some amazing future minds #OurVoiceBC pic.twitter.com/KP79CDYfL5

Andrew Jones@andrewtrevjones

There is an inherent contradiction between “environmental responsibility” and fossil fuel exploitation. #OurVoiceBC

Brandon Yan@pre_planner

Asked if anyone wanted to work on an LNG fracking rig. No one raised their hand #ourvoiceBC

Japreet Lehal@JapreetLehal

#OurVoiceBC #sfups Ms.Rasode: wouldn’t some form of ward system lead to greater neighbourhood representation & civic engagement in long run?

Kent Rockwell@krockwel

If students are our future. Why are BC teachers paid less than other provinces? How does this affect the state of BC Ed? #ourvoicebc

Janet Webber@jdubcon77

If you walk home after this event, it’s the worst thing you could do for the BC economy. No economic transaction – Matt Hern #OurVoiceBC

Leanna Milburn@lalaleanna

What is the City of Surrey doing to make Surrey a place where young people will want to live and work long-term? #OurVoiceBC

Ugandans lend hand to combat American obesity epidemic

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

0

YKAMPALA — In an effort to raise awareness about the rising rate of obesity in America, citizens of Uganda are showing solidarity by refraining from any sort of physical activity for 30 straight hours; an event known as the ‘30 Hour No Sweat.’

A Ugandan spokesman for the charity told the press, “It’s all about making people in Uganda aware of the terrible issues that are taking place globally.”

“Right now a lot of people are suffering in America from a lack of having to do any sort of physical activity at all and having too much food intake, and we need to raise this issue on Uganda’s moral conscience,” added the group’s spokesman.

Organizers of the charity say that the issues of low self-esteem and feeling uncomfortable in most standard-size chairs in cars, movie theatres, and airplanes are big concerns for the Ugandan charity.

“Some Americans want to go on vacation, but they don’t feel like it because the seats on most airplanes are slightly uncomfortable, and they are worried about people staring while they eat their in-flight meal. Something has to be done.”

Some are even taking their solidarity with American social issues to the extreme by also partaking in the overeating of fatty, high-calorie foods and sugary soft drinks. “We want to show Americans that they are not alone in their pain,” said the spokesman.

The Ugandan charity will be raising money to build gyms in the state of Mississippi, where the obesity rate amongst adults is currently 31.7 per cent.

Sorority Story

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

5

“I think it was a fluke,” laughs Maeghan Hermansson, as she explains how she became president of Kappa Beta Gamma, one of the few Greek letter organizations at SFU. “My older brother, who is in the fraternity at the University of Victoria, got me in touch with [their sorority]. At the time, I thought, ‘oh, Kappa seems like a good fit for SFU.’”

Maeghan claims she was “super shy in high school.” Coming from a graduating class of only 130 people, community has always been a large part of her education. When it came to university, SFU was the only fit for Maeghan. “I missed the city,” she admits.

As someone who enjoys helping people, she knew that the school’s Health Science department would feed her desire to do so. “A big thing for me is the ability to learn how policy works, taking classes on mental health [and] infectious diseases,” she explains. “It’s just kind of cool to put all of the aspects together instead of just looking at the one principle.”

Maeghan understands that there are many ways to help people, which is why creating the Alpha Gamma chapter of KBG was so important to her. “It’s so frightening to not know anybody . . . you make friends in class, but after the semester is over you don’t really see them anymore.” Maeghan wanted to change that. She understands that “joining a sorority isn’t for everybody,” but she admits that doing so helps “you break out of your shell.”

It takes one person to start something, but it takes so many more than that to finish it.”

– Maeghan Hermansson

Overall she believes it is “nice to have that support system around you for all the things you do.” She found it hard when people around her would talk about transferring to a different school — they would tell her that they wanted to go and “have a blast at UVic.” She couldn’t help but think, “You could have a blast here!”

It’s the we that stands out most as Maeghan speaks of the sorority, one that she played a founding role in. “We are Kappa Beta Gamma,” she begins. “We also go by KBG. [There are] 17 active chapters, and we are currently expanding in the States and in Canada.” The sorority itself was founded in 1917 at Marquette University in Marquette, Milwaukee, with the aim to promote leadership skills for young women.

There were originally just 12 members, but KBG has since expanded immensely, and has had an impact in the lives of many female SFU students. “We have girls from White Rock, Ladner, Coquitlam, and North Vancouver. We have girls that are international students . . . It doesn’t really matter where you come from, as long as you see yourself staying at SFU.”

Maeghan saw an opportunity for SFU to develop a better community around campus. Starting the organization wasn’t easy, and although Maeghan would “say [she] did a lot of the leg work” in the beginning, she would not have been able to do it without the help and support of the other girls. As she puts it, “It takes one person to start something, but it takes so many more than that to finish it.”

So, the question remains: what exactly does Kappa Beta Gamma do? The president wants to put a stop to the idea that it’s just about socializing. “Yes, it is a social thing, you do make a lot of friends. But you also make professional connections.” Meaghan herself has been offered internships as a result of her involvement with the sorority. Volunteering is also an extremely important goal for these young ladies, who meet regularly each semester to have a “brainstorming session” to make sure everyone is on the same page.

“Right now our goal is to get more involved in the community. We work with School Building Schools. We have done a lot of volunteering with them . . . We were involved with Relay for Life last year with a bunch of other Greek letter organizations at SFU, as well as getting involved with the Special Olympics,” she says. “It’s so nice to see people of all abilities getting involved and having fun. Everybody is laughing and having a good time, which is great.”

For Maeghan, the job has its own rewards. “I love helping people make friends,” she smiles. “We actually have a house full of girls who live together, who met through the sorority, girls that went through rush this semester. Whether they found out that [our sorority] was for them or not, they met friends, and that’s a huge opportunity for everybody. Sometimes, it just takes that push to help make friends.”

Lee is not leaving the band entirely, but will remain involved with tuning, music construction, and band administration.

Unlike mature gamers, the younger demographic will likely take the game’s graphic content at face value.

AO needs to truly embody its title, and redefine what it means to be an Adult Only game.

No one wants to be taught by someone who does not want to be there.

There was no way I was making a panel with more men than women.”

– Jackie Pichette, Research and Communications Officer, SFU Public Square

Tweets from #OurVoiceBC

It takes one person to start something, but it takes so many more than that to finish it.”

– Maeghan Hermansson

– Jackie Pichette,
Research and Communications Officer, SFU Public Square