News

 

 

College to Sponsor Student Bloggers

Team will document the life of a first-year

JJ McCullough, OP Editor

 

 

 

A team of first-year Douglas
students from varying walks of life have
been given an ambitious assignment
from the College administration—
document the full experience of
being a new student on campus.

The initiative is part of a new public
relations program known as “Candid
Transitions” designed to highlight the
diversity of the Douglas student body
and encourage enrolment. The project is
being co-sponsored by two community
newspapers and the Pentax camera
company.

College administrators in the Office
of New Students have been taking
applications for the program since the
summer, and so far four students have
been selected, leaving only two spots
still vacant as of press time. Those
chosen so far represent a diversity of
ages, interests, experiences, and cultural
backgrounds, attributes purposely
chosen to represent the uniquely
eclectic nature of the Douglas student

body.

The participants will draft blog
essays on their experiences as new
students, which will then be posted on
the “Candid Transitions” website, and
occasionally in the pages of the Tri-
City News and the News Leader, based
in Burnaby and New Westminster. In
addition, Pentax will be supplying each
participant with a free digital camera,
with the hope that photography will also
play a large role in the students’ mini-
documentaries.

The first major update to the
website, showing off what the students
have produced so far, is expected
sometime next week, according to
program directors. Interested readers
should visit www.douglascollege.ca/
candidtransitions

 

Second Week of Welcome
Continues at Douglas

JJ McCullough, OP Editor

E.. the second consecutive week,
the Douglas College Student Union
hosted a variety of entertainment events
for new students as part of their official
“welcome week” festivities. Compared
to the previous week of welcome—
which saw the New West Douglas
concourse consumed with near-constant
activity —events of the second week
were noticeably less high-profile.

Of the various events, the most
popular was easily the DSU’s traditional
pancake breakfast, hosted at the DSU
lounge on September 12. Dozens of
students lined up for the free food,
which was prepared and served by DSU
board members for over three hours
straight. So successful was the event, in
fact, that a second pancake breakfast is
already being planned for October.

The DSU’s other second week
events, such as a “climate change
forum” hosted by the campus branch
of the Canadian Green Party and a
Monday night showing of Batman
Begins drew decidedly smaller crowds.
DSU officials blamed poor advertising
for the weak showing, claiming that a

4

better awareness campaign
would have likely improved
turnout. More successful

was the Wednesday night
showing of Conrad Schmidt’s
politically-charged anti-
Olympics documentary Five
Ring Circus. Co-hosted with
the Douglas College library,
the screening featured the
presence of Schmidt himself,
who led a discussion after the
show.

Thursday night once again
saw the DSU building packed,
as students crowded in to
view a high energy “battle of
the bands.” Two rock groups
(The Best Revenge and
Enlisted) and one rapper (MC
Gasface) squared off against
each other, with The Best
Revenge ultimately being
crowned the winner. Though
the event was largely orderly,
campus security did have to
be called at one point to escort
some unruly students off DSU
premises.

 

The members of Enlisted rock out at the DSU Battle of the Bands