“STUSU wraps-up 2010″ Transcript

[VO]: The St. Thomas University Students’ Union held their 36th annual general meeting on Thursday in the Holy Cross Conference Room on the St. Thomas University campus. The union is obligated to hold an AGM before the end of each academic year so that the membership of the union, the student body, has the opportunity to hear the final reports from the out-going executive members as well as the report on the union’s financial statements and other relevant business. In order for the financial reports and other business to be discussed, 51% per cent of the union membership must be present at the meeting. Since the meeting was not attended by that amount, the meeting was simply an informal event for discussion, reflection and recognition.

After the out-going executive gave their personal reports, several awards were given out recognizing students both on and off the representative council for the work they had done throughout the school year. A new award was created this year to honour Duncan Gallant, one of the current Board of Governors representatives who has held a union position for all five years he has attended St. Thomas. Melissa Bastarache, the union’s student advocate was the first recipient of the award. Gallant says he’s humbled by the award being named and is also grateful for what the school has given him over the years.

[Clip – Gallant]: “St. Thomas has made me, you know, what I am today. Which I hope is, you know, is a better and more understanding individual than what I was five years ago. When you come straight out of high school you think you’re pretty hot stuff or pretty full of yourself and high school doesn’t really give people the opportunity to understand different perspectives and really understand why reasonable people can disagree on issues.”

[VO]: Out-going president Mark Henick has also a student at St. Thomas for five years and says that everyone should have a goal to give something back to the school. He hopes his contribution to the union and the STU community has helped inspire others to do just that.

[Clip – Henick]: “Well I’ve always hoped to model behaviour for other people to get them involved, and to show them that anybody from any background, from any experience can do this. That it’s not just an elite little clique of friends, that it can be anybody. And how transformative the experience can be for anybody.”

[VO]: Mark has no regrets about the time he has spent on the union but says he sees the mistakes he’s made in the past as learning experiences for how to do things differently in the future. Mark noted a number of accomplishments during his time on the union but does mention one that really stands out in his mind.

[Clip – Henick]: “The work that we did over the labour dispute, I’m always going to be proud of what we did there. For taking an active role in voicing the concerns of the students, I think. I’ll always remember that as a defining moment in my SU career.”

[Stand-up close]: “There are still some positions that need to be filled on the union, and there will be new faces. But there are still some people staying from this years’ council. Mark says he looks forward to seeing what this group can accomplish with the cohesion they already have. For STU Journalism, I’m Stew Corbett.”

Short URL: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/?p=6101

Posted by Stew Corbett on Apr 16, 2010. Filed under Transcripts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.