Video: Women’s basketball

Reporter Rachelle took a video camera to last weekend’s women’s Eagles basketball game. The result is a video essay with some highlights from the game, and visual detail on those who led the Eagles to their win over Quest. (Video is large.)

A Halloween treat

Chronicle reporters Amy Reid and Cori Alfreds walked a block from Kwantlen’s Surrey campus and got in the mood for Halloween, with a visit to Potters House of Horrors. Their video, featuring some truly terrifying scenes to get you in the mood for this evening:

Live animals, games and a blow-torch as Cloverdale celebrates

Bull-riding, Guitar Hero and a live pony were a few of the features at the Cloverdale campus Oct. 29, a day to celebrate of Kwantlen’s university status with an event called “Our Students, Our Community.”

All campuses have been asked to host a day to honor the new status and the campus culture, and Cloverdale went all out.

“The intent today is to send the message that we are a university,” said Lynn Doull, the administrative program assistant for trades and technology at the campus, “and to inspire enthusiasm in students and faculty.”

A wide hallway was lined with tables, and at each one a different program had a mini-presentation set up, with an instructor on hand to talk to anyone who had questions. Dexter, the pony, was stationed at the ferriers’ table.

A hockey tent was set up for anyone who wanted to play, and with the other festivities and free food, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

In a larger, open area, a local trio, Delta Blue, performed for the crowd. The band’s drummer, Bradley Paraninfi, attends the campus and offered to play. The members were eager and excited to put on the show.

In attendance, along with students and faculty, was President David Atkinson who was invited to an unveiling of a structure that was put together by students from the heavily-trade campus. Outside, a crowd gathered to watch Atkinson cut metal with a blowtorch, unlatching two swinging doors. After a few technical difficulties, Atkinson broke through and the crowd cheered.

“Those things have no problem cutting through human flesh!” commented Atkinson, a little alarmed after handling such a tool.

“I’ve spent all of my life in the rarified environment of ‘the university’. So when I come over here and someone hands me a welding torch – you saw how nervous I was.”

Working with Kwantlen, Atkinson said, has been a revelation.

For him, the day was “a matter of trying to celebrate community,” he said, “and this facility, perhaps more than any because the kind of education which is going on here, is extraordinary. It’s not the kind of education you would typically find in a university.”

All dressed up…

The Third Annual Halloween Costume Contest was a thriller. Students and faculty got creative with their costumes, dressing up as fonts, movie characters, princesses and the undead.

Three years ago the Halloween costume competition started in room 3090, with about a dozen people in attendance. The next year, it grew to about 30 people and the competitors and the audience could barely fit into the room.

“We just ran out of space because it became so popular,” said Linda Mossing, journalism program assistant. This year, the competition took place in the rotunda of the Richmond campus, where a Halloween cat-walk was set up, so people could watch from the winding staircase or from the main floor.

Thirty people entered the costume contest this year, among them 26-year-old, Ashley Letts, a public relations student, who dressed up as David Bowie in his role in the movie Labyrinth. “The past couple years have been really low-key for me on Halloween, so this year I decided to go for it,” said Letts. “I’ve been obsessed with Labyrinth since I was a little girl!”

Erin, Raimondo, 23, a PR student, found a dress at a vintage shop, and put together a porcelain doll outfit for the occasion.

The program assistants, who put on the costume competition, were the first ones to strut their stuff down the haunted, cob-web infested runway. They came as fonts this Halloween, from Old English to Century Gothic. Signs were taped to the front and back of their costumes, and when they lined up, the sign read “Happy Halloween!”

Awards were given out for Best Staff Pair, Best Staff Group, Most Creative, Best Consumer Costume, Scariest Costume, Best Student Group, Best Performance and Scariest Costume.

Naughty Nurse, Lucas Nightingale, 30, an interior design student, was uncertain about how to respond to his award for “Scariest Costume.” His friend, Sean Kirkby, 26, also an interior design student, responded for him. “Vinyl is always scary,” he said.

Once the show was over, a woman walked up to Nightingale in the crowd in the cafeteria and noticed his six-inch black high heels.

“I haven’t been able to feel my toes since about 10, so that’s probably not a good thing, but whatever,” he said. “It’s for the costume.”

Related story: Fashion student dresses staff for Parade of Lost Souls

Atrium tiles at Surrey campus a thank-you from potters

Ceramic tiles made by the Fraser Valley Potter’s Guild, Kwantlen staff, alumni and students are currently on display in the atrium at the Surrey campus, waiting to be mounted in the library.

David Lloyd, ceramics instructor and vice-president of Fraser Valley Potters’ Guild, was in charge of the project, which saw between 40 and 50 volunteers create 500 tiles.

According to Lloyd, the Fraser Valley Potters’ Guild, largely made up of Kwantlen students and alumni, donated clay and resources to Kwantlen Polytechnic University as a “thank-you” for allowing them to meet in the ceramics lab since the group was formed in the early ’70s.

Lloyd said it “took hundreds of hours of work,” from May until September, to complete the tiles. They kept going until they “used up all the clay and resources.”

Students and staff designed 30 tiles and made molds from the originals.

“Caring for molds is a whole piece of work in itself,” said Llyod. “So, we did most of the mold-making in May and April and started pressing the tiles through June into July. Then everything else became firing and glazing.”

The tiles are displayed temporarily on the floor of the atrium until they can be mounted in the library once renovations are complete.

KSA has answer to winter blues

As the crisp November air nips at your nose, you are reminded that winter is just around the corner, and with it, images of snow, family, friends and freedom from homework run through your head. With only six weeks of school left, the KSA wants to take students’ mind off of assignments, projects and exams by offering ski and snowboard trip packages during the holidays.

Three packages, courtesy of Destination Snow, are available from December to February, and all include two nights accommodation, two-day lift tickets (with night skiing at Big White Ski Resort), a round trip in a coach, discounted rentals, lessons, and daily mountain tours, among other things. Social activities will also be planned every evening at local pubs and nightclubs

Discounted prices are available only until tomorrow, when the $100 deposits are due. Full payments for the Dec. 5-7 Big White Ski Resort trip is due on Nov. 10, the Jan. 16-18 Big White trip is due Nov. 28 and the Feb 20-22 Sun Peaks Resort trip is due on Jan. 26. Early payment prices range from $265 to $335 for each package. Tickets can be purchased from any KSA office.

Probing the music scene

Chronicle journalists are wandering down some backroads and poking into the corners of Vancouver’s vibrant music scene to bring back stories of some music, and from some places and people, you may not have heard about. On newsstands Nov. 7.

Are you voting in the KSA by-election?

Five students at the Richmond campus, where a polling station was open in the rotunda from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, were asked if they were going to vote in this year’s KSA by-election. Langley students will be the last to cast their votes Thursday, Oct. 30.

Gary Wong, 20, taking ESL courses
“No, I don’t know the difference, which group and the different groups.”

Christine Tseng, 22, Public Relations
“No. I didn’t even know it was happening before I saw [the polling booths]. I wouldn’t know what I’m voting for.”

Alyssa Smith, 24, Public Relations
“I’m not planning on voting in the KSA by-elections because it’s so wrought with controversy and bad leadership and our fees are going nowhere. I just don’t really feel like I need to participate in something like that.”

Carling Hind, 21, Public Relations
“To be honest, to be perfectly honest, no. I don’t know enough about them and I also believe that it’s a little bit isolated, like every time I go to the KSA office its very group orientated and it feels like isolated from the group.”

Sean Kramer, 23, Business
“No, I just haven’t really thought about it.”

Kwantlen accepted by national universities association

Kwantlen’s battle for university accreditation finally ended last Thursday (Oct. 23) when the freshly inaugurated university was accepted as a member of the esteemed Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

The AUCC represents 92 of Canada’s universities, and university-degree level colleges, guaranteeing the quality of their diverse programs through a comprehensive evaluation process.

“This has been a long road for Kwantlen and we should all take a moment to celebrate this accomplishment,” wrote Kwantlen President David W. Atkinson in a notice announcing the acceptance.

Last April, the B.C. government announced it would be designating five existing schools universities, but that did not ensure their acceptance into the AUCC. This latest step should assure Kwantlen students that there is also substance behind the change.

Canada does not have a national accreditation system for higher education, but according to the AUCC website, “Membership in the Association coupled with the appropriate provincial legislation is generally accepted in lieu of institutional accreditation.”

The criteria for membership includes government by a senate, provision of a broad range of undergraduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, a proven record of scholarly activity and research, and graduate outcomes that meet or exceed high levels of quality.

The AUCC’s main services to members relate to public policy and advocacy, research and information sharing, and scholarships and international programs.

The University of the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island University, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and Kwantlen are all currently members of the AUCC, while Capilano University has not yet been accepted.

New health benefit pays for students’ nicotine replacement

The KSA has taken an initiative to promote healthier lifestyles for Kwantlen students by including a subsidized Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) in the Student Benefit plan.

The plan is in partnership with the B.C. Lung Association and targets post-secondary students who want to quit smoking. The partnership began with the association’s initiative to have a quit smoking program offered to Kwantlen students.

“The KSA recognized this was something important and we should have (it) in place in our student benefits program,” said Eddie Lee, the Student Health (SHIP) program coordinator. “It kind of worked hand-in-hand that this program is in place with B.C. Lung because with this new benefit package place, we can really serve the students a whole lot better.”

Lee feels that even without B.C. Lung Associations’s initiative, the KSA would have started an NRT plan.

Students can now receive up to $500 for NRTs, including nicotine gum, lozenges, patches, sprays and prescription medicines.

“I can’t say one works better then the other, but I do think we cover all the basis, and we can give students as many options, or tools they need,” said Lee.

Students will be re-reimbursed for over-the-counter NRTs by taking their receipts to the KSA and filling out a claims form. For prescription medicines, students must take their medical card to the pharmacy and they will be automatically covered.

Lee said that creating a smoke-free campus is not the primary goal of the program, but that it is a matter of helping students who want to quit smoking by making resources available.

“We recognize especially with Kwantlen, and with having a trades campus, statistically we have a higher percentage of smoking,” said Lee. “By being part of this initiative, I think we have the resources to help build a successful program here.”

The Student Benefit package (health and hental insurance) costs students $179 a year, although they can opt out if they are already covered by extended medical elsewhere.

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