A medal-winning season in photos

In late October, the Kwantlen Eagles women’s soccer team made university history, making it to the provincial playoffs for the first time and then winning bronze in the toughly-fought finals. Jessica Rolli, who covered the women through the season, provides a photographic look back at some of the play that led to the team’s success.

Badminton battle

The whir of birdies and squeaking shoes echoed through Capilano University’s gymnasium Saturday afternoon, as local universities badminton teams swung-it-out during the first rounds of a two-day tournament.

Peter Hawn and Tony Lee of Kwantlen defeated Langara’s Terrence Tung and Danny Luu in the men’s double to clinch a spot in the finals which begin Sunday at Capilano University.

“We’re doing pretty good as a team,” said Lee. “We’ve so far won all the team events – although we haven’t played Douglas yet.” The players looked confident and relaxed, ready for the next round which will consist of winners from today’s game.

Like their male counterparts, Tuyen Pham and Michelle Zhang of Kwantlen blew past Capilano in the ladies doubles, effortlessly advancing to tomorrows finals.

In other events, women’s single player Grace Wang is favoured to win against Sandy Neil of Langara, in a match that will be held in the late hours of Saturday.

From the looks of things, Kwantlen may be poised to win most of the events in this two-day tournament.

From Richmond’s Remembrance Day ceremonies

Coverage of Richmond’s Nov. 11 Remembrance Day ceremonies, by Sandy Buemann and Joseph Gloria.

Budding philosophers get together

Kwantlen students who can’t get enough of their philosophy class, may have the opportunity to dig further into the world of philosophical ideas.

The Philosophy Club is a student run-organization that focuses on using philosophical ideas to analyze current issues and encourage advanced critical thinking.

The club was created two years ago and has previously held meetings at both the Richmond and Surrey campuses. In past sessions, students would attend weekly meetings that for discussions, analysis of situations and debates on underlying questions.

Cole Griffin, is this year’s president of the Philosophy Club, and is attempting to launch a new series of sessions.

Philosophy professor Puqun Li said the club would show films relevant to philosophical ideas to stimulate discussion. Club coordinator Sean Bradshaw would provide students with handouts that will guide them through the topics addressed in the films.

The club has also invited guest speakers to attend the sessions, including other philosophers and a variety of professors from other disciplines.

“Philosophy wholeheartedly dives into what it is to be a human being, and the conflicts of the mind and spirit, as we struggle through life,” Bradshaw said.

Debate topics that are expected to arise during the sessions are questions regarding religion, the similarities and differences in truth in science and religion, and the search for the source of moral consciousness.

Those who are interested in learning more about the philosophy club, or are willing to help get the club off the ground, can e-mail philosophyinfilm@gmail.com.

Flu shots

Flu shots will be offered to students and staff during the last week of November at all Kwantlen campuses. The cost is $5 for students and $10 for staff (the regular price is $16.50). 

Shots will be available at:

• Richmond- Nov. 24 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Langley- Nov. 25 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Cloverdale- Nov. 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Surrey- Dec. 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

To get a shot, make an appointment at KSA Member Services.

Students gather to learn leadership skills

Some 120 people gathered to work on student development and work habits at the first Kwantlen Student Leadership Conference, held Saturday at the Surrey campus.

The day’s agenda included 15 workshops to help students stand out from the crowd, become professionals in the workplace and network with other students who are also on track to becoming leaders. 

“It’s been really good for personal growth,” said Scott Regamble, a 24-year-old Kwantlen business student. “I was really excited to hear Peter Legge speak, that’s what sold me.”

Keynote speakers were Kwantlen president David Atkinson, and motivational and business speaker Peter Legge.

“You can get anything you want, if you give other people what they want,” said Legge, during the closing speech of the day. 

Along with his speech, Legge delivered a copy of his novel The Runway of Life to everyone in the audience. The audience also received a free lunch, sponsored by the KSA, and a coffee mug.

“I am here to find opportunities within the school community,” said Melissa Gomez, a 23-year-old business student from Kwantlen. Gomez also said that she preferred the Kwantlen Leadership conference to last year’s SFU Conference, because she found it more “inviting.”

Kurt Penner, Student Life and Development coordinator and instructor, was pleased with the turnout and said the conference was really “a gift to the students.” Penner hopes to make the leadership conference an annual event.

Wet days ‘time to get stuff done’ for some students

Meteorologists are forecasting more heavy rains resuming Monday and continuing through Remembrance Day and into Wednesday. 

In addition, there will be some strong winds tomorrow, starting from western Vancouver all the way through to the north, according to the local weather network.

Sean Kramer, a second-year business student at Kwantlen, thinks students should see these wet days as an opportunity to buckle down and catch up on late assignments. 

 “I don’t think it’s bad at all. I am just going to take it easy, finish up some chapters and finish hard for the remaining few weeks of the semester. I am kind of behind school a little bit, so I see the rainy days as the time to get stuff done, since I can’t really do much outside in the rain,” Kramer said.

According to Brian Crowe, an assistant engineer for City of Vancouver, the problem right now is fallen leaves clogging up sewers. “Leaves are always a problem at this time of the year, but we have street crews who do their best to clear the basins,” he said.  

Crowe added it would be helpful for the city and every one else, if folks would clear leaves in front of their houses and businesses to prevent clogged drains and flooding.

Kwantlen alum Askarian makes her mark during fashion week

Kwantlen alumni Pouneh Askarian emerged from the just-concluded Vancouver Fashion Week as one of the stand-out designers.

After attending Kwantlen, Tehran-born Askarian moved to London and graduated from University of the Arts London in 2006. She presented her graduation collection, which was inspired by Persian art.

Her latest collection seemed more influenced by Greek goddess Athena, as the models floated down the wooden runway with barely-there makeup and headbands tied around loosely-curled hair.

Askarian used flowing silk and chiffon fabrics in solid, neutral colours to create clothes that, according to her, “value the delicacy of the feminine shape.”

Highlighting the set was a group of loose dresses tied at the waist.

Vancouver Fashion Week ran from Nov. 4-9, with the shows taking place at a woodwork shop on Dunlevy and East Codova, and after-parties scattered throughout the city, from Granville to Gastown.

In its 15th season, VFW attracted fashionistas from Vancouver and from such as cities as Toronto and Los Angeles.

   

Two singers, two poets for second open mic event

With less than a dozen people in attendance, four of which were performers, the second Open Mic Night finally got underway an hour later than advertised at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus on Nov. 5.

Despite the lack of audience, Johann Holekzo, one of the performers, thinks that “Open Mic Night is a good opportunity if you have some words or tunes on your mind.”

Holekzo thinks that the event can be beneficial to the audience as well. He says it’s live entertainment, which is something that he enjoys more so than listening to his stereo.

“The audience doesn’t have to pay attention to the musician and it’s a good place for people to socialize,” Holekzo said.

Kari Michaels is the main organizer for Open Mic Night, along with the newly-elected Director of Events and Student Life, Vanessa Knight.

Michaels originally planned to have Open Mic Nights every week; the Nov. 5 show was the first one since the opening event in September.

One of the biggest problems with the event is getting enough performers to come out and play, which is why the event is held once in a while instead of weekly.

To encourage performers, Michaels and Knight had pizza to hand out to audience members as well as performers on Nov 5. Michaels also decided to open up the night with poets as well as singers. Two poets, one of them Michaels, read from their works.

KSA by-elections draw just over 200 student voters

Only 206 Kwantlen students hit the polls last week for the KSA by-election, accounting for roughly one per cent of the 17,000 registered at the school, down 21 per cent from last year’s general election turnout of 261 students.

Nathan Griffiths, Director of Operations for the KSA, said that the turnout was a disappointment. “It’s kind of sad,” he said, but added that, “ultimately, it comes down to where we put our resources and we can only do so much advertising.” He said that what the KSA always hopes for is more people running for each position, because that in turn leads to more campaigning and more student awareness.

Fred Schiffner, Chief Returning Officer of the by-election, disagreed. “I was disappointed more people didn’t vote. The KSA could have done a better job advertising. A lot of students wanted an explanation (at the polls); they didn’t know what they were voting for.”

Vanessa Knight won the only position not awarded by acclamation, and it was a tight race. Although she placed third in Richmond to competitors Ritesh Maisuria and Meirna Said, she was elected because of her strong showing in both Surrey and Langley.

Knight also swept the polls in Cloverdale, although only three people cast ballots at the trades and technology campus.

“I’m incredibly relieved I was elected, I definitely had doubts,” Knight said. “I’m excited to do some new awesome events and bring them to a university level.”

Five new campus representatives and four new campus officers were elected by acclamation to Surrey, Richmond and Langley, garnering 393 “yes” votes to 145 “no” votes altogether.

Griffiths said that the number of “no” votes stays fairly consistent throughout elections, but he isn’t sure of the reasons behind this. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why it’s that high.”

Schiffner said that this might have been due to confusion at the polls. He said some students didn’t read the ballot correctly and thought you could only choose one candidate instead of voting “yes” or “no,” while others left ballots blank or spoiled because they didn’t know the candidates they were voting for and weren’t prepared to offer “willy-nilly” support.

Liaisons for students of colour, mature students and students with disabilities were also elected by acclamation, garnering 496 “yes” votes to 96 “no” votes. “No” votes accounted for 16 per cent of the ballots.

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