Students turn out for speed dating at Kwantlen

Speed dating took place at the Grassroots Cafe at the Surrey campus on Oct. 21. (Photo by Sarah Casimong)

With a busy school schedule, who has time to meet a potential boyfriend or girlfriend? Speed dating might be the easiest and fastest way for students to get a date.

The KSA’s speed dating event took place on Oct. 21 at the Grassroots Cafe at the Surrey campus. Female and male students went out to participate, to meet new people and maybe even get a date. It turned out to be so popular that the Kwantlen Student Association had to put a few names on a waiting list for future events.

“There’ll be another one [next semester],” said Reena Bali, director of events. “We might do two because the demand for this one is pretty high, like a waiting list.”

However, some KSA members had to fill in for the registrants who got cold feet and never showed up.

Nathan Griffiths takes part in speed dating at Kwantlen's Grassroots Cafe on Oct. 21. Each table was occupied by a couple who had five minutes to talk before the men moved to the next table. (Photo by Sarah Casimong)

“There was supposed to be 20 [participants]. Twenty guys, 20 girls, but only half showed up. We’re thinking for next year to maybe do a $5 deposit. There were a lot of people on the waiting list that wanted to [come] but we weren’t able to tell them because we thought everyone was going to show up,” Bali said.

The event started with an ice-breaker activity before participants took to the tables to start off five-minute conversations. After five minutes were up, the men would move to meet another woman at the next table.

The speed dating event started at 4 p.m. at the Grassroots Cafe. Participants signed in to get their assigned numbers and name tags before playing an ice breaker. (Photo by Sarah Casimong)

Before the event started, some students opened up right before their first experience with speed dating.

“I don’t think [I'm nervous]; I’ll find out,” said Imtiaz Khan, an accounting student, before the event. “I just want to try it out. I’ve never tried this speed dating, so yeah, [this is] just for fun.”

Manpreet Uppal, a third-year nursing student, was also excited and nervous.

“This is just for fun, to do something different. I’ve never done it before. I wanted to do it last year, but I think it didn’t go with my school schedule and today it did. I am nervous now,” she said.

The next speed dating event is scheduled for Feb. 10, 2011. For more information, visit the KSA website.

RELATED: A personal take on the speed-dating experience.

Fashion isn’t all glamour

Andee Jasper, third-year Kwantlen fashion design student, models examples of her work. Photo by: Lucas Meneses-Skoda

Fashion is not all glitter and glamour at Kwantlen. Andee Jasper, a third-year fashion design student, has learned that becoming a fashion designer isn’t as easy as it was fantasizing about.

“Coming into the program was an eye-shocker. It’s marketing… You don’t just make a pretty gown and put it on a model and take a picture and think you’re a designer,” said the 20-year-old Jasper.

“It’s one thing for me to be like, ‘Oh that dress is pretty, lets make it,’ and its another thing for me to be like, ‘How can my target market wear this, and where’s she going to wear it to, and how much is she willing to pay.’”

Kwantlen’s Bachelor of Design, Fashion & Technology program is the only one of its kind in western Canada and has become known as a prominent stepping-stone to get eager students into the industry.

“Kwantlen is known for their niche markets… and that’s why we get jobs and that’s why we start our own businesses,” she said.

Jasper defines a niche market as: “finding a really small market, like a specific target market and selling your clothes to those types of people.”

Throughout the four-year degree program, fashion students acquire the marketing and production that lead to The Show, which is put on by all fourth-year students at the River Rock Casino Resort Theatre and which attracts hundreds of employers in the Vancouver fashion scene.

“Everything we learn goes into fourth year,” Jasper said.

“I think a lot of people who like fashion, its typically what they think, like, ‘Oh its so easy, I can draw and I can sew and make things like pretty things.’ But its like no… reality hits you and you’re like ‘shit.’ You get to do pattern-making and things from all aspects, so its eye-opening that way… the amount of work that goes into producing garments.”

Jasper’s career goal is to start her own clothing line, common to many aspiring fashion designers, but from her experience at Kwantlen, has understood that it won’t happen right out of university.

“I know the amount of work that goes into it… so I’ll slowly build up to it,” she said.

For now, Jasper continues to work hard, spending almost her entire days at the Richmond Campus in the design classrooms or the computer lab, and preparing for her internship next semester.

“It seems like a lot of hard work, and yeah, it’s really tedious sometimes, but you’re still doing what you love.”

Men’s soccer team only looking forward

Kwantlen men's soccer coach Ajit Braitch. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

Despite only picking up a single point this season, Kwantlen men’s soccer coach, Ajit Braich, says that there are a lot of positives his team can take away after his first year in charge.

The Eagles finished at the bottom of their division with a -34 goal difference. But Braich, who has spent over 25 years coaching professionally, has his eyes and mind on the future.

“It was a difficult season. I didn’t realize we’d lose by as many goals, but we are such a young team. However, with the signs that we left on the field, with other schools, the coaching staff and the athletic directors, is that we are on the right road and we are trying to build a program over two or three years,” said Braich.

With majority of the roster consisting of first-year students, the men’s team was labelled inexperienced. The average age of the team was just over 19 years, and the team was in the midst of a shift.

“It was just a matter of these young players growing up from a youth mentality to an adult mentality player-wise. That was the biggest thing. I think every game they got better and went further with that transition,” said Braich.

However, the head coach is scouting for some experience to add some depth into his squad.

“We’re looking to recruit better players and experienced players out there who aren’t getting playing time with other schools. I’m hoping we’ve painted a picture were people want to come to Kwantlen. That was my intent. We want to bring some players back, but we don’t want to stop recruiting,” said Braich.

The main cause of concern this season was the Eagles back line, which conceded 51 goals over the 12-game season.

“We are going to definitely recruit two or three defenders. That was one of our drawbacks. We didn’t have defenders in depth. So I had to stick with what I had. That is a priority,” said Braich.

With the 2010 BCCAA Provincial Championship being hosted by Kwantlen, the men’s coach said it was a shame they couldn’t make the cut.

“They could have showcased their abilities in front of a home crowd. So that was disappointing, knowing that we were at home. But having said that, it was almost a brand new year for us. We had very little to build on from last year,” said Braich.

“The primary goal now is to start looking to get those Ws by hard work and not just ability. It’s not just ability that will get those. We’ve got to learn how to grind results or keep results and next year’s goal could be that we make the provincials.”

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