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Wales field school early bird deadline looms

Instructor urges
students to sign up
by January 25 to
reduce program fee

By Dylan Hackett,
News Editor

rospective students of the

2013 Wales field school
are encouraged to apply for
the Wales Field School by this
Friday in order to shave off $100
from their program fee—a figure
ranging from $4,025-$4,600
depending on enrollment levels.
The Wales field school, which
runs out of the University of
Wales, Trinity Saint David in
Carmarthen, is usually the most
popular of the offerings from
the international office and is
running for the fifth year. The
final deadline for application is
March 1.

“Students should sign up
for the 2013 Wales Field School
because they can get nine to 12
credits in nine weeks in Europe.
It's awesome. The teachers
are amazing, the location
spectacular, and they are going
to make friends that last their
whole lives,” said field school

instructor Elizabeth Bachinsky.

The field school runs
through the summer semester
at intersession length. The
first three weeks are spent at
the New Westminster campus
studying themes in literature
with Brenna Gray, introduction
to writing poetry with Elizabeth
Bachinsky, and philosophy of
art with Darcy Cutler. Students
also have the option of taking a
Welsh social history class with
Trinity Saint David instructor
Conway Davies, worth three
credits at no extra charge.

“We try to frontload the
courses here at Douglas College
so we get most of the classroom
work done here in BC. When
we go to Wales we do a lot of
excursions. We will do a lot of
our teaching in art galleries, in
stately homes, and places we
visit,” explained Bachinsky.

With airfare and tuition,
the program is expected
to cost over $6,500, a steep
price for many students but
one that can be lessened by
applying for a student loan
extension or applying for a
number of international studies
scholarships, awards, and
bursaries available. The 2013
International Studies Award
worth $500 has the same March

1 deadline application as the
field school application.

After coursework is
finished, students in the field
school are taken on a visit to
London, where they fly home
or carry on their travels across
Europe.

“We spend three days at the
end of the program in London.
We go to Buckingham Palace,
we go to the Globe Theatre to
see a Shakespeare play, we go
to the West End and see a show,
and all kinds of walking tours
all included,” said Bachinsky.

“Everyone is really
welcoming and friendly
and they expressed a lot of
hospitality, especially when
you first arrive. We had a great
time hanging out with the
students that were there even
though there weren't as many
Welsh students but there were
definitely a lot of friendships
made,” said Kiera Floor, 2012
field school alumni.

 

Wales| Photo courtesy of www.douglas.bc.ca

‘No regrets: Douglas alumni and billionaire

Frank Giustra answers
questions from keen
student audience

By Dylan Hackett,
News Editor

ast Tuesday evening the

Douglas College Business
Association hosted Frank
Giustra, notable billionaire
and Douglas College alumni,
to trickle down his advice to a
packed auditorium of aspiring
business students, scholarship
recipients, and special guest
admirers. The event, billed as a
Douglas Dialogue, a format that
focuses on student engagement
with the featured guest allowed
for pre-selected questions
addressing Giustra’s career
path, philosophy, economic,
and political reflections and
predictions to be addressed in
a thorough and sincere manner.
Questions were fed through a

   

Frank Giustra | Photo courtesy of www.ceo.ca

familiar face for Giustra, Rod
Midgley, a Douglas economics
instructor.

Guistra explained to
students, question-by-question,
how he came from being a
lower-middle income high
school student with consistently
failing grades to the renowned
philanthropist and billionaire

he is today. Although he was
willing to share some college-
age decisions as advice—such
as his rigid saving of his
supermarket wages and full-
time work schedule, Giustra
was also hesitant to consider his
route to riches as a blueprint for
success.

Giustra humbly told the

room that he was “Not the guy
to ask about how to become a
billionaire,” an assurance that
was in step with his repeated
mantra of not taking career
advice from old people.

“Don't take the advice of
old people... Lots of people
would give me advice and |
would just nod. I knew what I
wanted,” advised Giustra. “Tf
you don’t already have your
vision of what you want to be,
go out there and try things. Find
something you absolutely love.
Life is so short, you have no idea
how short it is.”

Giustra began his time at
Douglas in the late ‘70s studying
music classes. This path of study
did not earn him his billionaire
status—the world’s only
billionaire musician being Bono
of U2.

“T did a full semester in
music until I realized that I
have zero talent. I did another
semester in general courses and
then I had this epiphany that I
wanted to be a rich stockbroker.

A finance diploma seemed
like the appropriate course of
action,” explained Giustra.
Giustra was adamant in
explaining the nuances of being
a billionaire, giving caution to
the room’s business-hopefuls
not to tie wealth to identity.
He also explained the onset of
diminishing returns into large-
scale wealth gain. Coming
from a lower-scale economic
upbringing, Giustra made clear
that money in the hands of
working poor and low income
folks is spent more than by those
with millions and billions of
dollars on a sliding scale. He
almost humourously challenged
the whole of the audience to try
to spend a billion dollars.
“Going to your grave with
a fat wallet is not a goal. It is
absolutely a pointless exercise
because it achieves nothing. You
as a person will not be happy.
My goal is to use my wealth in
a way that makes things better
for those I leave behind,” said
Giustra.