Good day everyone, and welcome back to a new episode of, “What’s going on at BU?” Wow! It feels like just yesterday, we all were talking about how new faces, and personalities were going to feature in this year’s edition of Brandon University’s students, and how the question, “How was your summer?” was the hottest ask on campus, and now, I am already writing tests, barely meeting deadlines, and, like it or not, midterms are slowly waiting to make their annoying presence known. Time flies, it really does. Not so long ago, the sun was smiting our skins, smiling even as late as 9 pm, but now, it’s going to bed early, the leaves on trees are falling and soon, those white cold flaky little balls will begin to follow suit. Side note: I am not a fan of the winter.
Anyway, we’re not here to talk about my perfectly reasonable dislike for snow but rather, about what has been going on at our dear Brandon University… Namely, Club Day!
Club Day was a significant day for me as well as a lot of other students looking to get acquainted with various clubs in the university and get associated with ones they felt were good fits for them, ones they felt would be learning opportunities for them, ones that made them think, “Why not?! Let’s give this a try”, and ones who offered them cupcakes and candy. Full disclosure: I kind of also sold my sign-up rights for some candy.
Club Day was held in the Mingling Area — the open space in the KDC building, right in front of our favourite place to chill and have a quick bite, Bailey’s. It was held on the 26th of September. I remember getting mentally prepped up the day before, because it was going to be a very important day for me and a lot of people. It’s now been almost a year since I started writing for the school’s newspaper, the Quill, and Club Day was a day to get to talk about the newspaper and get students to see how great it has been for myself, Lily (our Editor-In-Chief), and the rest of the team, writing for the newspaper. Club Day was sort of the D-day.
Story time guys! Before I begin though, I’d love to say that Lily is awesome, and you’ll see why very soon. Okay so, the day before Club Day, I had been gargling an idea for the day in my head, but I just couldn’t narrow it down. That same day, I went to work at Staples, and while passing by one of the aisles, the gargling idea lit up. Unfortunately, by the time the idea lit up, it was too late and the store was closed, so I concluded that I would awake as early as possible the next morning and rush back to Staples. So that day after work, I left Staples and headed straight to Walmart to get some cookies and cupcakes.
Fast forward to the next morning. I had calculated it all in my head. Club Day was to start by 10 a.m., so the plan was that I would wake up by 8:30 a.m., take a quick bath, get to Staples by 9 a.m. - probably be their first customer - rush to the correct aisle, get what I wanted, and take a cab home. Have you ever heard of the phrase “Man plans, God laughs”? That day was a perfect example of that phrase. To start with, I awoke at 9:30 a.m., and unless I was secretly working with STAR labs as The Flash, there was no way in the world that I was going to take a bath, rush to Staples, rush back, and then actually bring my little idea to reality in thirty minutes. So I just hoped in my heart that Lily would be able to set the table up in time before I arrived. Anyway, I was finally done with everything by around 10:30 a.m., and dashed to school like I was actually working as The Flash for STAR labs. Ladies and gentlemen, by the time I had arrived, everything was set up and Lily was already getting people signed up to write for the newspaper. Thumbs up Lily!
Anyway, we had everything set up, and our team was ready to sign up and give free cupcakes to those interested in writing, taking pictures, making comics, calligraphy, drawing, or even just giving us their ideas. It started off slowly, but after some time, after a lot of people realized how awesome it would be writing for the school’s newspaper, we actually ran out of sign-up papers! But it wasn’t just us - Brandon University students seemed to be really interested in the various clubs, so much so that the Mingling Area was packed. In no time at all, we ran out of cupcakes - and then I popped out the cookies, which had an even shorter lifespan than the cupcakes! There and then, a thought started hovering over our heads - why don’t we go around and take a look at the other clubs, because a lot of students were interested in the other clubs as well? So myself and Blessing (a junior reporter for the Quill) went from table to table enquiring about the various clubs that were present in the mingling area, and boy oh boy do we have some amazing clubs here at BU.
We began with one of the latest clubs: BURA. BURA, an acronym for Brandon University’s Reading Association, is a club that premiered this semester and is out to help Brandon University students instil a reading culture into themselves. The founder, Janine Campbell (who is also a good friend of mine) says she founded this club because she has an insurmountable love for reading, and she would love to spread that love and passion to other Brandon University Students. Janine Campbell is currently a student at Brandon University pursuing a major in Business administration and has an ever-growing interest in Literature. Below is a picture of her - feel free to say hi in the halls and ask her about her book club, she’ll be happy to converse with you. She told me and Blessing that she would be hosting events in conjunction with book-reading sessions, such as silent reading, poetry nights, and a rainbow picnic.
We also got to talking about the book the club would be reading this semester - Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. God, even the title gives me chills. She said she hasn’t read the book yet because she wants to share the experience with her fellow readers. I don't want to spoil the book, but I read the back and it seems like it’s got a “Halloween-ey” vibe to it, so I think Janine Campbell has got a real treat for us here!
Onto the next table Blessing and I went like a couple of same-feathered birds. And behold, we perched on another amazing club: The Knitting and Crocheting Club. I want to start by saying that the founder, Esther Pringle is one talented human being. She recently founded this club after igniting a passion for knitting and crocheting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Esther has crotched some amazing things. Immediately after the pandemic, she thought, “Hey! Why don’t I make this a club?” So yeah, it’s a club now, and I signed up because I would give anything to be able to crochet the way Esther does. She holds meetings once every week (Mondays from 1:40-2:30) and even has her own crochet business on Instagram - @crittercornerco. So hey guys, the winter is coming, so why not get some comfy knitted sweaters from Esther?
Okay, on and on Blessing I went, from branch to branch, trying to figure out what kind of fruits each club bore. And such lucky birds we were because we found yet another amazing one: The Anthropological Society. I’ll be honest, before now, I didn’t know what Anthropology entailed. I think I stayed away from it because it sounds like Biology, and if you knew me, you’d know I have a long-standing rivalry with Biology. So we got talking with Thannalee Munro and Charlotte about the Society, and I was amazed at how broad the field of Anthropology is. This club has existed since 2018, managed to stand the test of the pandemic and now they are looking to enlighten people on what Anthropology entails. They had one meeting on the 2nd of October in Room 104 of Clark Hall and will have even more during the year to keep enlightening people on the field of Anthropology.
Blessing and I were getting tired, but thank God we didn’t call it quits before we happened upon the Biological Society. You remember how I told you all I didn’t like Biology? Well, after my conversation with the president, Jackie, I was tempted to join the Biological Society, because this society’s got plans.
In fact, Jackie and I happened to have a proper interview where she explained to me what the Biological Society is about.
I started by asking her what her society is about and she responded: “Fun fact, 2023 officially marks the 10th anniversary of the BU Biological Society. However, our roots trace back to 1975 when the club was named the Brandon University Zoological Society - at the time, botany and zoology were offered as separate programs.”
So this society has been around for 10 years now, which was a “wow” moment for me. And she explains how far back the roots of the society go. So far back, I wouldn’t have been able to interview whoever was president then.
Then, we talked about what her plans were as the president of this club: “As a part of the executives this year, our main initiatives are to foster academic motivation as well as peer connection within the Biology department. We are planning to achieve these goals through tutored study sessions, textbook access, guest speakers (profs, career professionals), student-led presentations, course advising, academic resources and advice, etc. In terms of non-academic related activities, we plan on hosting a few hikes, movie nights as well as fundraisers, and community volunteering opportunities - which is a great way to connect with the community while bonding with your peers! This year, we hope to help members develop professional skills that they could then use to advance in their respective careers.”
Like I said, Jackie’s got plans.
I also asked her about the inspiration surrounding her joining the society, to which she said, “Coming out of online school, I knew I wanted to be more active within the BU community and the Biological Society was a great place to start. I never once regretted that decision, I met lots of amazing people and was able to share my love for biology with them.”
I went ahead to asked her what she loved most about the club, she answered: “Biology can be a challenging academic subject to follow (and those course requirements certainly don’t make it any easier) and it can be easy to lose focus or motivation in the midst of it all. However, when you are actively seeking out opportunities to enhance your academic journey, it makes it all the better. We want Bio Club members to understand that it does in fact, get better: the Biological Society is a great place to find your footing in the department, it will allow you to connect with your professors, connect with peers who share the same experiences, introduce you to many fields within the subject of Biology, and much more! Through our 2023/2024 academic agenda, we hope to help our members maintain and grow their passion within the department. Many branches stem from within the field of Biology, including but not limited to molecular cell biology, conservation biology, botany, zoology, mycology, and many more. We currently (and previously) have members who are advancing into many different graduate programs such as med school, vet school, the MELS program, as well as other master's programs at different institutions. This is what I have always loved about the Biology club: Our interests lie in many different alleys, but we are united by the training and challenges that are not experienced elsewhere but in the Biology department of BU.”
You know, I get the feeling that if I was part of this Biological society while in high school, then maybe I wouldn’t be in such rivalry with Biology. It was a great conversation with Jackie, and I hope she pulls off these big goals. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll have a not-so-rivalry-like notion toward biology.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, and I also like to believe it ends at that thousandth mile. Blessing and I felt like we had reached that thousandth mile so we called it quits - and besides, Club Day was almost over. I would like to shout out the awesome clubs that didn’t make it into this article - the Geology Club, BUGESS, Psychology Club, Physics and Astronomy Club, Politics Society, and so many more. If you are interested in something, there is probably a club for it at BU! I would also love to give a shout-out to everyone who contributed toward the setting up and signing up of members for the school’s newspaper. Y’all are awesome!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is always something going on at Brandon University. Always! My name is Charles Adamu and as always, it’s been an honour updating ya’ll on what’s going on at Brandon University, and I can’t wait to write to every one of you again on “What’s going on at BU?”
