Seeking a club? Tough luck

By: VERONICA BLAKE
Published in The Courier. February 25, 2010

The renovation of the student centre has encountered numerous delays and the lack of organized clubs on campus leaves students with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

There’s little reason for students to spend any additional time outside of their classes at the Centre for Creative Communications. The campus does not have a single, official club. The Centennial College Student Association Incorporated (CCSAI) is needed to make a club official. Vice-President at the CCC campus, Carl Anthony John would like to see students getting more involved with college life.

“Here at the creative campus for centennial college we really have the core base in place,” John said. “Clubs create a liveliness on campus.”

Any student can create a club. Packages are available at any CCSAI office or online. But this requires students to be proactive. If students want clubs, then they will have to create their own.

“It takes our students a little bit of initiative,” John said. “The opportunities are available. The funds are available. The people and resources are available to make any club here on campus possible.”

John envisions that clubs on campus should supplement students program learning. Its also a great way for students to give back to their campus community, and the community at large.

Students have a lot going on already, with their regular course load and projects, part time jobs and relationships. It may be asking too much of students to tell them to create their own clubs. Book and magazine publishing student Katie McHale is not a joiner.

“We just come and the we leave,” McHale said. “There’s so much going on with our actual classes… I can’t think about taking anything else on right now.”

There’s also a problem with communication. Without a student centre, students are cut off from the CCSAI and many are ignorant that opportunities actually exist.

“I don’t know where to find out what things are going on,” McHale said.

John would like to see students spend more time on campus.

“Students are in and out of the building really quickly, showing up for classes and then they’re basically out of here,” John said.

*Editor's note* I guess this was a follow-up to my pressing student-centre expose. I was starting to worry that College Politics would become my beat. And then I never wrote anything for The Courier ever again. Oh, except for my G20 story, that I really should bed working on now. 

Need debt relief? Then vote liberal.

By: VERONICA BLAKE
Published in The Courier. February 25, 2010

Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff considered the idea of wiping out student debt in exchange for one year of volunteer work.

Ignatieff recently rapped up a cross-country tour of University campuses. His student-debt idea is not part of his platform, but it was discussed in an online question and answer session. For the most part, Centennial College students have some form of debt, whether it be from OSAP, bank loans, credit card-debt or begging and borrowing from parents.

Jennifer Romano, 25, is in her first year of the fast-track journalism program on the CCC campus. Before Centennial, she completed a four-year degree at Ryerson University. She expects to graduate with $30,000 of debt.

“I still have such a high debt...cause I still...believe somehow the government is going to pay for part of it,” Romano said. “There’s no way I can pay it off.”

Liberal Omar Ha-Redeye supports Ignatieff’s idea. He thinks that the idea makes sense financially.

“Banks have found that many of these loans default,” Ha-Redeye said. “Canadian students are already finding themselves in a difficult situation, burdened by crippling debt and frustrated that they cannot apply their education in the ways they would want.”

Beginning in the 1999 school year, Ontario high school students were required to complete a mandatory 40 hours of community service in order to receive their diploma. Ignatieff’s volunteerism for debt-relief idea would take this a significant step further.

First-year student Cecilia Olmos, 29 attended the Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico before coming to Centennial. As part of the curriculum, the students would perform social services. She travelled around Mexico providing food and clothing to the poor. Olmos valued this experience.

“It really touched my heart,” Olmos said. “I reinforced my values as a person, that we should help anybody that needs help.”

In addition to the financial benefits for students, volunteer work can be a rewarding and satisfying experience. Omar Ha-Redeye likes an alternative approach to debt-relief that marries financial help with giving back to society.

“Canadian volunteerism has been steadily on the decline and when the youth do volunteer, it’s not necessarily for altruistic reasons,” Ha-Redeye said. “This generation is under enormous pressure to succeed financially and the social burdens placed on the youth are far greater than before.”

The potential college strike further complicates matters. Ashtonbee student, Sashell Mills, 21 dreads the possibility of a strike. She won’t be able to pick up any extra hours at her part-time job, and worries that if the semester is extended into the summer like the York University strike, she’ll miss out on summer job opportunities.

“I’ll mooch off my dad, that’s all I can do,” Mills said. “I’m scared... of paying (OSAP) back.”

*Editor's note* Ahh, this is the infamous article that I procrastinated oh-so-much on. To the point where I actually begun this fateful blog to aid in my procrastination. I got this idea from an article I saw in The Star about Ignatieff's crazy plans for student debt. And thought that it would make a good feature for the student paper. I like when I can write about politics, especially when it's an issue that matters. My debt is very close to my heart.

The wait is over! New student lounge set for re-opening.

By: VERONICA BLAKE
Published in The Courier. January 28, 2010.

After eight months without a lounge, students at the CCC campus will finally have a place to relax and hang out.

The lounge closed for renovations June 2009. After several delays, the revamped student-space will reopen early February.

Third-year film student Alessia Peluso, 25, expressed her anger over the lounge closure.

“It’s been under construction for so long,” Peluso said. “We paid for it and we get nothing.”

The Centennial College Student Association Incorporated runs the lounge. The lounge will house the CCSAI offices, where students can get information on the services that the association offers. As well, students can play video games, watch television or simply take a much needed breather from busy school life.

Melissa Feeney is the communications coordinator for the CCSAI and has been involved with the project.

“The lounge really was in need of a face-lift,” Feeney said. “It looked a bit dated…we’re looking for a more modern, professional finish.”

The CCSAI is planning numerous events for the month of February, to coincide with the lounge grand opening. Students can expect to see video-game tournaments, pizza days and extensive Olympic coverage in the new-and-improved lounge. Carl Anthony John is the CCSAI’s vice-president of the CCC campus, and is excited about the opening.

“A lot of food. A lot of fun. A lot of friends,” John said. “All the f’s really. Except for the naughty one… Well, actually, sexy bingo. That’s an event we’ll be doing.”

Without a lounge, students have been forced to get creative in where they spend their down time on campus.

“The piano…has been abused over the last few months,” John said. “The library…got these really cool beanbag chairs. The cafeteria’s never been so busy. And unfortunately…students go to class, and then they just go home.”

First-year corporate communications and public relations student Kylee Berensci is eager to use the space.

“It probably will be a comfortable place…to sit in,” Berensci said. “It sounds a lot better than the caf.”

It’s been a long eight months, but generally students seem excited to have a place of their own.

“(We want students) to know that the wait was absolutely worth it,” John said.

*Editor's note* This was my very first published article. I took it very seriously. I know it's certainly not groundbreaking, but I was really proud of it at the time. In the end, the grand re-opening was pushed back another month, making my story redundant. Good thing that no one really reads the Courier. Ohh.. sad-face.

New semester, new me...

So what do ya think of the redesign? Pretty damn sexy if I do say so myself. 2 1/2 hours of dicking around and not liking anything, followed by an hour of solid work. Don't get excited, all I did was customize the template and back ground, then tweaked the settings. I wasn't messing around with HTML. Some new features include my Twitter feed, links to other websites that I've worked on or have featured my work, and a welcome message (with the much-needed disclaimer!) Also, there's a search option, and now you can follow and subscribe! So please do! I would like to have a rough idea of who's reading this thing. This is my audition for the Web Editor position at The Courier, Centennial College's student paper. I have grand plans for that site. GRAND. Everyone cross your fingers, toes and eyes for me. Another new feature is the jumps.