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voting
a, Student Life

Youth voting made easy at McGill

by Sam Pinto on

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Youth participation within the Canadian political sphere is currently experiencing a drought. In the 2011 federal election, the voter turnout for the ages 18-24 was a measly 38.8 per cent, while the 25-34 demographic was at 45.1 per cent, respectively the lowest and second lowest among all age demographics. While some publications claim that poor rates of youth voter turnout are due to apathy, a report by Elections Canada found that access barriers—ranging from being busy with work and school, living away from their home riding, or not knowing where to vote—were the biggest reasons for why youth turnout was so low. Below is a guide to overcoming some of those access barriers to allow eligible voters to participate in the upcoming federal election.

Registering to vote

An individual cannot vote if they are not registered with Elections Canada. Fortunately, over 92 per cent of Canadians are already registered within National Register of Electors, which obtains its information from sources such as the Canada Revenue Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and provincial driver’s licence agencies. This means that if you have a driver’s licence, a passport, or pay your taxes, you’re most likely registered. If not, you can register to vote online through Elections Canada.

When you arrive at the polling station, you’ll be asked for several options to prove your identity and your primary address. You can show a driver’s licence or a provincial ID card. If you have none of those pieces, you must show two pieces of ID from a long list of options that includes a passport, a birth certificate, a health card, or even a personal cheque. At least one of these pieces of ID must show proof of address.

 

 

Where to vote

On Election Day and advanced voting days, polling stations will be open for citizens to cast their ballot for every riding across the country. While the locations of poll stations have not been released yet, you can find out what riding you’re in by simply typing your postal code into Election Canada’s Voter Information Service.

For the first time, Elections Canada is opening offices on university campusees across the country to make it even easier for students to vote. There will be three offices at McGill, one in Carrefour Sherbrooke, one at La-Plaza-Diplomate (Ace Bar), and one at Memorial Hall. At these offices, students can vote regardless of where their riding is. This means that even if your primary address is in British Columbia, your vote will count in your home riding.

 

 

When to vote

Election Day is officially on Thursday, Oct. 19, but for students who might be busy that day, there are other options available. Advanced polls are open from Friday Oct. 9 to12, which is conveniently Thanksgiving weekend. They will therefore have the option to vote in their own riding if you are going home for the weekend.

While the campus offices are only open from Oct. 5 to 8, their hours are quite convenient. They operate from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., allowing for much flexibility when accommodating students’ schedules.

 

 

Other resources

Students at Concordia University have developed a free app called VoteNote, which provides users with all the information they need to vote. Users can identify their riding using GPS functions, see a list of the materials needed to register, and view information about all the running candidates. VoteNote can even set up an Uber to get you to the polling station. If you are unsure for whom you want to vote in this election, you can use CBC’s “Vote Compass” to learn where you sit on the political spectrum. This quiz will ask you a series of questions on a variety of political issues to help determine which political party you side with.

Lastly, student-related issues such as education and affordable housing have not been at the forefront of this election so far. An organization called YouthVote is seeking to change that by pushing political parties to make youth issues a larger priority, which could increase civic participation amongst young people. For students who want to learn more about youth issues and want to help bring them to the forefront of politicians’ minds, getting involved with YouthVote is an excellent start.

This article was corrected on September 15, 2015. The Tribune regrets these errors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a, Men's Varsity, Sports

Fall 2015 team previews: Part 1

by Mayaz Alam, Morgan Alexander, Zikomo Smith, Elie Waitzer on

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  • Martlet Rugby

    2014 was a rebuilding year for the Martlet rugby team. Fresh off of a RSEQ Championship the year before, the team lost notable players including CIS Player-of-the-Year Brianna Miller. This season, the squad looks to build off of last year’s appearance in the RSEQ semifinals, when they fell to the Ottawa Gee Gees, and challenge for an RSEQ title once again.

    The Martlets will return two All-Conference players in prop Audrey Marcotte and centre Caroline Suchorski. Last season, Suchorski was the offensive anchor for the team and led the RSEQ in scoring, tallying 91 points in seven games. Star wing Deanna Foster also returns to the squad after missing last season with a knee injury. During her sophomore season, Foster was an All-Star at the CIS National Championships; she will likely partner with Suchorski to make a formidable one-two scoring punch. The Martlets started off their season with a 29-12 loss against the Laval Rouge et Or on Sept. 7. 

     

  • Redmen Baseball

    The reigning ‘Tribune Team-of-the-Year’ kicked off the 2015 season Sunday with high expectations. The defending CCBA champions posted a 21-9 record last year during the regular season and won four out of five games at Nationals.

    Tournament MVP Tyler Welence and Robert Sedin, two of McGill’s four CCBA All-Stars, are returning this year at shortstop and third base, respectively. Welence led the CCBA in batting average (.458), and was second in base percentage (.544) and runs scored (18). Sedin led the league in slugging percentage (.721).

    The two will lead a youthful Redmen roster. Thirteen of the 24 spots are occupied by players in their first year of eligibility. This will present a new challenge to the Redman who lost five players to graduation last year.

    McGill’s fiercest competition for the crown will come from rival Concordia, who were the runners-up in last year’s tournament. McGill have split their first two games of the season, both against Carleton. They hope to bounce back next week against the Montreal Carabins.

     

  • Redmen Football

    For the first time in over a decade things are looking up for McGill football. While the Redmen were winless last year, the team won its season-opener for the first time in 15 years against Bishop’s University by a whopping 10-3. The victory marks the first CIS win for new Head Coach Ronald Hillaire, who took on the position in February following Clint Uttley’s resignation.

    The Redmen lineup has gone through a complete overhaul this year. Eleven starters from last year are off the team, including running back Jean-Philippe Paquette and quarterback Dallon Kuprowski. Two-time Vanier Cup winner Benoit Groulx will join Hilaire and the coaching team as the team’s new offensive coordinator

    In the victory over Bishop’s, first-year kicker Justin Lavelle tied up the game in the second quarter with a 14-yard field goal. Slotback Louis Brouteille was the star of the match, scoring a 33-yard touchdown with 4:32 remaining after a strategic pass-and-run play. It’s too soon to say whether the victory will be indicative of a winning season, but Hilaire’s revamped squad certainly looks more confident on the field after going through a tumultuous season last year. 

     

  • Redmen Lacrosse

    What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. If that’s really true, then the Redmen lacrosse team is posed to come back more vengeful than ever this season. After going undefeated at home and against conference opponents during the regular season, the Redmen fell to the Guelph Gryphons in the CUFLA Baggataway Cup Final for the second straight year. Last year’s loss will be felt for a long time after the Redmen scored seven unanswered goals in the closing minutes of the game but fell short of a miraculous comeback.

    With 14 seniors returning to the squad, regular season dominance should be routine for Redmen lacrosse. Three-time All-Star Connor Goodwin, newly named co-captains Anders Bjella and Rufus Frost, and junior attackman Spencer Bromley lead the most prolific offence in the conference. On defence, veteran Paul Rakoczy will be a steady presence in the backfield, and will help mentor blue-chip defensive recruit Brendan Mullen.

    Most importantly, the Redmen must keep faith in goaltender William Waesche. The junior was named 2014’s best goalie and McGill’s MVP after going a perfect 9-0 and posting a league-best 4.83 GAA. The Redmen are the deepest team in the conference—just give them one more shot at Guelph.

     

a, Features

Coach like a girl

by Morgan Alexander on

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After nearly a decade of research and policy drafting with the Canadian government, Sport Canada introduced its Policy on Women in Sport in 1986. This policy aimed to support women financially in athletics, while also promoting a societal shift in the way women are perceived in the male-dominated world of sports. It arrived in the wake of Title IX, an educational amendment in the United States focused on increasing opportunities for women by making gender-based discrimination illegal in educational institutions, including athletics. The combination of these policies, both Title IX and Sport Canada’s policy, represented a clear goal: Increase the amount of female coaches and opportunities for female athletes. However, its impact on female coaches and athletes deviated, with the former falling significantly.  

 

 

[history timeline – title ix, policy on women in sport, mcgill hires first female head coach, things of this nature]

 

 

For female athletes, the Sport Canada Policy, now replaced by Actively Engaged: A Policy on Sport for Women and Girls (2009), had a noticeably positive effect. In fact, the present number of inter-university teams for men and women in Canada are roughly equal. For coaches, however, the numbers are far less motivating. Although the amount of coaching positions available has rapidly increased over the past half-century, the percentage of female coaches has plummeted from 60 per cent in the ’60s, to less than 20 per cent today. This data is perplexing for obvious reasons: If there are significantly more high-level female athletes and therefore more coaching opportunities, one would reasonably suspect an increase in the number of female coaches. It is inevitable, then, to wonder: Why are there fewer female coaches, despite the increased opportunities for women to coach?  

 

“Coaching isn’t traditionally a female-friendly job,” said Jill Barker, assistant director of Athletics at the Macdonald Campus. “The hours suck. It’s a lot of hours during family time, after-school hours, dinner hours, weekends, travel, and recruiting. It’s almost like politics where there’s not a lot of female politicians; you could put parallels between the two professions.”

 

Jennifer Brenning, director of athletics at Carleton University, echoed this sentiment. Brenning has worked in university athletics for 25 years, and witnessed the impact coaching can have on someone’s personal life—particularly as women move from community sport into professional athletics. The beginning of a coaching career is very much volunteer-oriented. It takes a lot of time and certainly heavy commitment, and most coaches working in the community have a full time job while they’re doing this.

 

These community volunteer coaches are vital, because they serve not only to maintain teams that receive little to no outside funding, but they also motivate young girls to participate in sports with confidence.

 

“My coach was a female too, and she was so tough,” said Margaret Lan Shen, head coach of varsity men’s and women’s badminton at McGill. “She was a very good coach and she was always in my mind. She was like my second mom.”

 

In fact,  when Shen eventually became a coach herself, her parents commented on how similar her coaching techniques were to her previous coach.

 

 

(Photo

 

 

The first drop-off point in the amount of female coaches occurs at the high school and CEGEP level, which require more commitment, training, and money. The stakes are higher for athletics in high school, because a conference victory could mean a university scholarship, increased funding for a sport, or new donors interested in supporting the athletics programs. As a result of the heavy time commitment required to gain the experience necessary to coach in these high-level positions, the balance shifts from women to men. Ironically, the reason for this trend away from gender equity stems from Title IX.

 

According to Barker, the few women’s teams that existed prior to Title IX had female coaches, and the men’s teams had male coaches. Once Title IX came into effect, female athletics boomed, introducing more interest in the athletes and, as a result, more money. The coaching positions that were previously part-time or volunteer-based became full-time paid positions, requiring coaches to have significant experience before taking these positions. Since men were playing high-level athletics longer and tended to have the experience required, they took the new salaried positions—leaving less opportunities for female coaches.

 

At the university level, female coaches nearly disappear. According to a 2013 report by the Centre for Sport Policy Studies, there are 742 head coaches within the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) overseeing 965 club and varsity teams. Although half of these are women’s teams, 83 per cent of the coaches are male. In fact, only two female coaches were coaching male teams in 2013. McGill University has a similar breakdown, with an equal amount of male and female varsity teams, consisting of 19 male coaches/three female coaches.

 

To some, these statistics may insinuate that the Sport Canada policies instituted by the Canadian government and the CIS had no effect, or that women are being directly discriminated against by their employers. But university athletic directors across Canada claim that despite what the numbers show, there are attempts among athletic directors to actively and directly recruit female coaches, as was discussed at the June CIS AGM panel discussion on women in sport, in June 2011.

 

“When I search for coaches, I would like to hire a female coach to coach our women’s program and get more women involved in coaching. That’s absolutely a priority,” Brenning said.

 

Despite this goal, Brenning found that in the last two hiring processes for Carleton University, of the 60 applicants they received for a single coaching position, only four or five of the applicants were female.

 

 

(Photo)

 


 

McGill Athletics follows the Senate’s guidelines on equity in hiring, and has consistent practices when searching for potential head coaches. According to Interim Executive Director of Athletics, Philip Quintal, and Assistant Director of Athletics, Geoffrey Phillips, the search for head coaches follows a clear standard: The job listing is put out on public forums for potential coaches, specific people may be contacted if they have a connection with the university or fit the criteria exceptionally well, rounds of interviews are conducted, and the decision is finalized following extensive meetings and recommendations.

 

Lisen Moore, the manager of Varsity Sports at McGill, believes she has seen progress towards equality in university athletics.

 

“I think that Canadian Sport has done a tremendous job in including opportunities for women to start their families and still remain as competitive athletes and competitive coaches,” Moore said. “University of Manitoba was a bit groundbreaking back in the ’90s, maybe, when Coleen DuFresne—who’s now the athletic director at the University of Manitoba—had her son. She was allowed to take him to the office; she was allowed to take him on the road as she was bringing him up—those are things that you see a little bit more now.”

 

Numerous other Canadian universities have also made claims that with every search for a head coach, the amount of male applicants increasingly outnumber the amount of female applicants. Therefore, the reason for the low number of female coaches does not seem to lie with the institutions. Instead, it appears to be institutional.

 

 

(Photo)

 

 

Multiple studies and interviews published in the Canadian Journal for Women in Coaching reveal that many potential female coaches felt that the male-dominated environment of coaching, the family-unfriendly hours, and perceived lack of funding and opportunities for advancement kept them from pursuing opportunities in coaching.

 

Coaches and administrators interviewed both for this piece, and for numerous journals and institutions which focused on women in coaching, insinuated that family commitment is what prevented women from entering coaching.

 

“There are a lot of individuals who, after being offered a coaching position, would say, ‘This looks like a great opportunity, but not at this point in my life,’” Moore said. “The interesting stat, for me, would be: How many female coaches are married, and how many of them have chosen to focus on a career rather than focus on a family?”

 

Of course, this fear isn’t limited only to women. Geoffrey Phillips, assistant director of McGill Sports Program, Athletics & Recreation, said that he moved from coaching into administration due to concerns regarding his ability to juggle his work-life balance.

 

“I thought I was going to be a coach myself, and when I got to a certain point—I coached a little bit at McGill with the women’s hockey team—I go ‘This is a lot; this is very demanding,’” he said. “I saw myself having a family and didn’t necessarily see that lifestyle blending well.”

 

These are legitimate concerns; and often young athletes, who may have been interested in coaching in university, will balk at the opportunity when they realize the time commitment required, regardless of gender. While men also carry the weight of family commitments, it is mostly women planning on becoming pregnant who need to consider that without institutional support, coaching seriously throughout their 30s and 40s may simply be impossible. This pressure may have a long-term effect, keeping women from getting the necessary experience in the formative years of professional coaching, therefore allowing men to advance beyond them.

 

“Outside of our sport, [the gender divide] really is quite an issue,” Lindsay Duncan, head coach of synchronized swimming, and the only varsity sport at McGill where all the coaches and players are women, said. “Men are [not necessarily] favoured over women when it comes down to the actual moment of hiring a man versus a woman in most circumstances [….] I think that it happens sort of earlier than that, so men are more likely to grow up thinking of coaching as a potential career opportunity than women are.”

 

In essence, Duncan doesn’t believe that the divide happens at the level of institutions—it happens much earlier than that.

 

 

In order to be hired as a head coach at a university, candidates have to complete necessary certification and need significant amount of experience, both of which require hours of work and dedication, usually without a high salary. At the university level, however, the potential salary can be a significant reward. While public sector salaries are private information in Quebec and McGill doesn’t release broad salary information for athletics, multiple head coaches at comparable universities like the University of Toronto make well over the median income for the average Canadian. The high salary is justified by the amount of money brought into the universities, which directly correlates with  how successful a given program is. The university wants a successful coach just as much as athletes do—which explains why every single person interviewed for this piece had the exact same sentiment about hiring practices.

 

“You want the best coach.”

 

It’s all about selecting the most qualified candidate, and this practice should be consistently encouraged. It would be backwards progress to hire a woman to a head coach position if there was a male candidate that was clearly more qualified. University officials seem to understand that there is a benefit to having a female coach on a female team, which likely accounts for the 2013 statistics showing a slight increase in the amount of female assistant coaches when compared to female head coaches.

 

For example, Alyssa Cecere is an assistant coach with the McGill Martlets and a former Marlet herself.

 

“She’s done a great job in getting the experience and background that’s needed for a coach, and I think she’s a real good example of a player who has gotten into coaching,” said Peter Smith, head coach of McGill Martlets.

 

Efforts like these are necessary to help women who lack the experience to be a head coach progress within their institution, but they are not enough. There are three female head coaches at McGill, and out of the 30 varsity teams, only 13 have female assistant coaches.

 

 

[bar graph showing amount of head coaches/assistant coaches/administrators, men v women, McGill v Canada]

 

 

University-level varsity teams thrive on competition and constant push to excel. The athletes aspire to be the best players, the coaches aspire to lead championship teams, and the administration aspires to manage consistently successful and lucrative programs. The current university athletics atmosphere demands coaches who are well-qualified, experienced, competitive, demanding, and willing to sacrifice for their team.

“It’s very hard—you’re in a man’s world even if you’re coaching women,” says Rachèle Béliveau, head coach of Martlets volleyball at McGill. “You have to be strong mentally to be in this competitive world. It’s always traveling towards excellence all your life.”

 

Despite the fact that university athletics is a male-dominated field, there are clear signs that the institutions are self-aware and striving towards equity. At the administrative level, 2013 data showed that 24 per cent of athletic directors in Canada were female along with 50 per cent of assistant athletic directors, which are undeniable improvements. To say that there isn’t a concerted effort focused on encouraging women to get involved in university athletics in some capacity would be false, but realizations that many past efforts to support women in these fields have failed is apparent.

 

McGill is currently in search of a new executive director of Athletics and Recreation, and the person chosen will be instrumental in dictating the course the athletics department takes towards tackling the consistent problem of the lack of female coaches. It’s too soon to say whether there will be a wave of women looking for coaching positions. But until that time comes, instituting coach development programs and policies aimed to support women with families and encourage female athletes t o pursue these careers can only benefit the university, staff, and its students.

a, Science & Technology

The summer slide

by Clare Lyle on

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Summer marks a pause in the academic year. It’s a time for students to recharge after a hectic semester and forget about school for a few months. Unfortunately, this can also mean forgetting a sizable chunk of the previous year’s work.

This phenomenon, known as the “summer slide,” is well-documented in elementary and high school students. According to a literature review from researchers at Duke University, students coming back to school in September experience a one-to-three month setback in reading ability. This setback varied with their socioeconomic status—with lower-income students experiencing a greater setback than those who came from high-income families. This means that their three months of summer holidays undid between one to three months of coursework. 

“A conservative estimate of lost instructional time is approximately two months, or roughly 22 per cent of the school year,” stated a report from the National Summer Learning Association. “It’s common for teachers to spend at least a month re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer. That month of re-teaching eliminates a month that could have been spent on teaching new information and skills.”

Although the scientific literature is fairly sparse when it comes to university students’ return from their summer holidays, a number of studies exist that instead have examined how the brain creates and stores memories, along with how it forgets them.

Memory can be divided into roughly two different categories: Procedural and declarative. Declarative memories are the brain’s way of storing facts and concepts. Names, dates, and ideas are all forms of declarative memory. Procedural memory is related to skills that require practice, like riding a bike, skiing, or driving a car. 

These two types of memory are treated differently by the brain. Declarative memories, for example, tend to be forgotten more quickly than procedural memories. An MIT study showed that although sleep improved both types of memories, early-stage sleep—when individuals spend less time in the REM stage—tended to prove more beneficial for recalling word-pair lists. Later-stage sleep, which contains more of the REM stage, helped participants recall mirror-tracing skills. A different study, also from MIT, found that short naps where the participant didn’t enter into the REM phase helped consolidate declarative memory, whereas procedural memory was uneffected.

For a university student trying to avoid forgetting biology notes after the summer, the best study strategy might be to simply take a nap—after reviewing their notes, of course.

But what else can students do in the upcoming semester to keep their course material from being forgotten quite so quickly? Neuroscientists and psychologists have explored a broad range of options, with a number of studies attempting to discover the exact effects of how study methods and lifestyle factors affect memories.

One effective study method is called spaced repetition. Multiple studies over the past few decades have indicated that spacing out review sessions helps individuals improve recall. In one study by researchers from Villanova University, participants were asked to memorize a set of pictures in two sessions. Groups whose sessions were spaced further apart tended to perform better when performing recognition tests later, in one case improving their accuracy on a written test from 76 per cent to 89 per cent.

This means cramming a semester’s worth of material into the night before an exam is not a good idea, if science is anything to go on. In addition to causing an undue amount of stress and a number of sleepless nights, the practice also hinders recall. The better solution is to spread out study sessions over the course of several days, taking advantage of spaced repetition.  

In short, the scientific literature supports common sense on this front: If you want to remember what you learn in class, you need to crack open a book every once in a while.

Kalmunity performing
a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Peer Review: Kalmunity

by Hailey MacKinnon on

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The self-dubbed “vibe collective,” Kalmunity, is a musical group who perform improvised shows twice a week in Montreal. Their unique form of “live, organic music” falls into place naturally; nothing is rehearsed beforehand, and there are no limitations for the sounds, themes, or collaborations that can be produced on stage, making their performance is an experience as much as a show.

Kalmunity, a play on the words “calm” and “unity,” was a project formed by Jahsun, a Montreal artist, in 2003. He had noticed a lack of platforms for different forms of black music to come together within the Montreal music scene. To remedy this, the Montreal native invited artists to come together on one stage and give live, improvised music a show. The result was a melange of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, afro-beat, and rap, among others.

“Music is one language,” Jahsun claimed. “That’s what we show by mixing it all together, it all is one world of expression.”

A typical Kalmunity song will start up with one musician playing solo, and other instruments slowly chiming in one by one. While the music is going, vocalists will participate in a huddle where those who are inspired can step forward. These huddles make sure that the themes to be explored align within reasonable boundaries so as to create a succinct piece of music. Once the vocalists finish the huddle, they take turns at the microphone, either alone or in groups, while the instrumentalists simultaneously listen and adapt. 

“It’s about adding to the puzzle,” Jashun said, “Sometimes, two people come together, and it’s not necessarily intentional; but if you’re open enough to listen to that clash of sound, it will inspire another sound. And from that you can build.”

Akin to the way their sound is produced, there is no formal process in becoming a member of the collective. While each performance usually features 12 to 15 members, the entire collective has reached 70 members specializing in different forms of art. Vocalists have the freedom to perform in whatever language they best express themselves in, which ends up ranging from French, to English, to Creole.

While the group is diverse in origin, talent, and language, they share a common reverence for music that sits outside the mainstream. They pride themselves on not being bound by a three minute limit or a repeated pattern, and in telling stories that diverge from common themes of money, sex, alcohol, and clubs. This elusive musical quality, which they refer to as an “unsterilized” sound, landed them a slot in the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 2009 and 2012. This allowed them to spread their messages to larger crowds than ever before.

“There’s something really contagious about a community of 12 to 15 people really just trying to be honest on stage, as opposed to entertaining people,” said Jahsun, “I think that it relates to the human spirit directly. So I hope [the audience] feels inspired for whatever they’re doing, that they feel a certain energy that helps them carry on in a more positive way.”

The desire to spread the value of organic music also inspired Kalumnity to establish bimonthly workshops. Through these, artists and musicians are able to bring in their instruments or pieces of art. They then receive hands-on instruction from three to four collective members in order to learn to do what Kalmunity does on stage.

“We really critique how the communication can be better, not necessarily the art,” said Jahsun, “We’re not there to teach how to be a better poet or a better musician per se, but in a way we are, because the tips we’re giving will help you become a better artist.”

In typical Kalmunity fashion, the future for the collective remains unplanned. Jahsun wants Kalmunity to thrive, whether it be by continuing their performances and workshops, or by potentially putting smaller, diverse EPs in the works. 

“I just want to be able to ensure that there’s always a space for black music to be explored creatively,” Jashun said. “I also see us as becoming a bigger resource to Montreal itself [… Kalmunity is] local, [we’ve] got a certain quality that is a high standard of quality, but also a certain quality that is Montreal.”

No matter what the future holds, Kalmunity—the self-characterized music collective and church of sorts—will continue to “vibe on” into their 13th year of celebrating black music and live, improvised performances.

You can learn more about Kalmunity on their website and Facebook page. You can also catch them performing at Les Bobards on Tuesday nights or at Café Resonance on Sunday nights.

a, Science & Technology, Student Research

McGill 101: How to get career experience in the sciences

by Chloe Nevitt on

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Deciding what to do after graduation is hard for all undergraduates. While some are blessed with the secure knowledge of what their future holds, for most, that’s not the case. For Science students, the most common choices are graduate or medical school. While undergraduate studies, for the most part, provide all the necessary skills and information to pursue both of these choices, it fails in one important area—real work experience in either of these positions. To acquire this, students must look further.

So you want to be a doctor?

Many people have always coveted having a “Dr.” before their name. However, without having done any real medical work, it’s impossible to know if the choice is right. During university, a number of options exist to give students an idea about the realities of medical work. The easiest choice is volunteering—hospitals will always need people to sweep floors, cart meals around, and empty bedpans. Although unglamorous, this choice exposes students to career options in medicine, as well as the general process by which most procedures are undertaken.

“I got the job by filling out the application, as well as [having] two reference letters,” U2 Environment student Lydia Kaprelian, who has been volunteering at St. Mary’s Hospital since January, explained. “I work in the recycling department and find new lives for products and streamlining the recycling process in the hospital.”

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) currently has over 2,000 volunteers and also offers its volunteers workshops and seminars about healthcare. Other volunteering opportunities exist at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH), l’Hopital Hotel Dieu, and the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

For those overwhelmed by the thought of working in a hospital, shadowing a doctor is another choice. Unfortunately, most hospitals in Montreal don’t offer a shadowing program. Researching private practitioners by their area of specialty is probably the best option for students who want to get a feel of the day-to-day responsibilities of a doctor. At McGill, Medical Direction offers lists of possible shadowing opportunities for new students. It may take a couple of hits before finding someone to agree, but it’s not impossible. For this, parents are a useful tool; often they have friends (or friends of friends) who are doctors that may be willing to participate in a shadowing program.

McGill is also host to its own Student Emergency Response Team (M-SERT). M-SERT is an entirely student-run volunteer service that provides emergency first aid services to McGill University and Montreal communities.

“I personally noticed some changes [in myself],” M-SERT Director of Finance Katherine Li explained.  “As a member of M-SERT you’re looking out for everyone, there’s absolutely no prejudice. Everyone is someone that you care for and you want to help; once you gain this mentality, it’s really hard to lose.”

Those on M-SERT not only help their peers, but also obtain Canadian Red Cross Emergency First Responder certification. It’s important to understand what medical work is like before embarking on an expensive, long, and difficult medical journey. 

“I’ve learned how to apply knowledge from school in the real world,” explained U3 Nursing student Soyoon Jin, who has spent time volunteering at the Montreal General Hospital, Royal Victoria Hospital, and the JGH. “[You] interact with others as individual human beings, not [just] as an illness you have to identify.”

 

So you want to go to graduate school?

If the sight of blood makes you queasy, but you have a passion for details, discovery, and experimentation, then working in a lab might be right for you. There’s a wide range of research being conducted within a single field, so its important to figure out what type of work you want to do within a particular field before even making a decision about which professors to contact. Participating in undergraduate research is a more competitive process than getting medical volunteer experience, so the best professors to contact are the one’s whose classes you’ve taken. That way, the professor has an idea about  your capabilities from your grade, and knows you’re somewhat interested in their research. 

Contacting professors can be tricky. During the school year, professors are busy reading and writing grants, teaching classes, and running their labs. Consequently, they have very little time for taking on prospective undergraduate students, which means that it is important for students to distinguish themselves from the crowd. There is a happy medium between emailing as many professors as possible and emailing labs with research areas of specific interest. 

E-mails to professors should include reasons beyond “I’m interested in your work.” Students should read publications by the professor’s group and determine precisely what about their work is interesting to talk about. This helps the professor weed out those who will actually commit because of interest versus those just looking for a CV booster. 

McGill’s summer undergraduate research policy prevents unpaid students from working in  a lab. For students, this means they should apply for funding. Funding can be obtained in a variety of ways. For Canadian students, The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada offers Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) to citizens and permanent residents of Canada. For all other students, McGill has Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA), funded by private donors and awarded on the basis of academic merit, as well as work-study programs. Once the school year starts, however, students are eligible to work on a volunteer basis in labs.

This article is a part of our McGill 101 issue, which aims to ease your transition and answer questions you have about McGill and Montreal.

a, Student Life, Student of the Week

Student of the week: Peter Maccario

by Hailey MacKinnon on

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U3 Management student Peter Maccario is involved in a variety of endeavours that speak to his passion for leadership, his curiosity about the world around him, and a commitment to equality and peacebuilding.

This summer, Maccario won the McGill’s Li Ka Shing Study Award. Consequently, the recipient spent 20 days in China: Ten days studying at Shantou University and 10 days of travel between Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Maccario had already been to China twice before, where he had taken Mandarin courses in Beijing, but this trip differed in that he was able to experience life in smaller areas like Shantou. It was here that he gained insight into Chinese management structure and their companies’ unique products.

“I think that was the most interesting thing—learning how [Chinese businesses] manage their companies and the relations have within them,” Maccario said. “China and Canada are completely different in terms of corporate structure [including] how [managers] talk to each other and how everything is delegated.”

 In addition to travelling around China, Maccario spent over a month visiting Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar and Cambodia. His favourite? Myanmar, by far. Myanmar has only recently opened its doors to tourism, which, according to Maccario, made it an especially unique experience. 

“No one was there, and there’s not that many hotels set up so you see the same people in different areas,” he explained. “You almost become friends with everyone you’re travelling with since it’s a very small group.”

Another highlight of Myanmar, and of his travels in general, was learning about each country’s rich history. Maccario has always been interested in learning about different cultures and histories. In fact, he considers it a crucial element when travelling to foreign lands. He was able to learn from tour guides and from monks themselves—who taught him not only about the country’s past, but about the current state of government and military affairs.

“Everyone should have the experience of understanding the culture and the history, because that’s so rooted in the country, and if you don’t get that, it’s like you’re missing a portion of that country that you’re visiting,” he said. 

Maccario’s desire to understand different cultures and the minds of the people within them is also key reason he chose marketing as a major. He is interested in understanding why people choose to consume certain things, and why they buy certain products rather than others. The answers to these questions are often rooted in understanding different cultural meanings, symbols and traditions.

“A lot of the time I’d go into China and think ‘That’s terrible advertising, I would never buy that’ but you never know, the Chinese population might love that,” he said, laughing. “So I think that’s so interesting to understand where the differences come from […] how do you appeal to this person, and why is it so different from Canadian culture?”

After his travels abroad, Maccario, a marketing major, returned home to an advertising job in Toronto—a dream position. His role was account intern, which entailed working in logistics, such as scheduling, budgets and briefs. A highlight of this position was when he was given the role of project manager for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Twitter contest which used the hashtag #practicesafework. Maccario was responsible for helping to post tweets, and talking with clients and partners. In the future, however, Maccario wants to take on more of a strategy-based role rather than project management. 

“I like to develop from the beginning and have a hand in everything, and that’s what strategy does,” he said. “Rather than just passing it along to [different people] and making sure it gets completed, where you don’t really have so much to say in the creative process [….]”

Maccario’s passion for developing an overarching strategy and taking on more of a leadership role inspired him to apply for the role of co-president of one of the biggest clubs on campus, Right to Play. This club seeks to empower underprivileged children through games, sports, and play. Having served as Vice-President Events and Vice-President Finance in the past, Maccario decided to apply for this position so that he could gain experience manning a whole team and learning how to negotiate with others and delegate responsibilities.

“[Right to Play] is a very eclectic, diverse team, all from different faculties and personality types, so it is a fun aspect to learn how to work with different people and help them become empowered […] as the organization does,” says Maccario. 

In the future, Maccario hopes to allow his socially-conscious side to continue to inspire him along with his passion for advertising and marketing. 

“What I hope to achieve is to keep [doing] responsible advertising and working for companies that I believe in, whether that’s more sustainable companies or not-for-profit companies that need advertising.” he said. “That way I can combine my Right To Play experience and advertising experience—I think that’s worth a million.”

 

If you would like to nominate a student for Student of the Week, email us at [email protected]

a, Student Life

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle at McGill

by Karina Alibhai on

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Everybody has probably heard of the infamous ‘freshman 15’—it is a dangerous and inevitable consequence of unhealthy college behaviour; however, there are ways to avoid an unhealthy weight gain. Determination, willpower and a healthy mindset can make staying healthy at McGill a habit, not a task, and McGill campus services can help with that.

Staying active on campus

1. A membership for the fitness centre costs $32 a semester—a much cheaper fee than most gyms—and provides access to a variety of workout machines and weights.

2. The McGill Gym also offers fitness classes like yoga, Zumba, and boot camps, for those who get bored of running on treadmills and want to exercise in a fun and social environment.

3. Students can join intramural sports teams, individually or in groups, from a selection of more than 10 sports. Intramurals are a great way to get active and hang out with friends at the same time.

4. Student’ Society of McGill (SSMU) offers mini-courses including dance and fitness classes.  Mini-courses not only help students stay in shape, but also allow them to walk away with a new skill—like knowing how to salsa or swing dance. Committing to one of these activities, which happen only once or twice a week, is a manageable way to maintain an active lifestyle.

5. Join a club! There are a variety of sport and physical activity-based clubs offered at McGill by SSMU. Examples include McGill Muggle Quidditch Club and the SSMU Boxing Club.

6. Take advantage of other free or cheap workout classes around McGill. Fit For a Cause offers $2 fitness classes with all proceeds going to a local charity. During finals, Healthy McGill offer free yoga classes. There are also fitness centres around the McGill area that offer free introductory classes, for example Moksha Yoga on Saint-Laurent and Spin Energie on Parc.

7. Walk as much as you can. McGill is located on a hill, so while you may hate walking up to Stewart Biology Building, your legs will thank you. Prioritizing walking can also include taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and going on walks as study breaks.  

Eating healthy on campus

8. It is tempting (and cheap) to live off of bake sales and samosa sales around campus, but there are many healthy alternatives to choose. The Student-Run Cafe in the SSMU Building offers vegan and gluten-free meals, while Midnight Kitchen serves free (or by donation) vegan lunches daily. Other options include delicious salad bars at all residence dining halls, healthy smoothies at Liquid Nutrition, and salad bowls at Quesada as an alternative to burritos.

9. Buying fresh food is made easier through the McGill Farmer’s Market, which offers delicious, local, and seasonal produce on McTavish Street during the fall season, They also offer the option to pre-order vegetable baskets and pick them up on campus, meaning you won’t even need to head to the store to acquire healthy groceries. 10. See a dietician. It is always okay to ask for help, especially when it is regarding health. McGill Student Health Services offers dietary help and has a dietician on campus. Book an appointment to address any questions or concerns you may have, or just to make sure you are on the right track.

a, Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Summer research briefs: Brain power

by Chloe Nevitt on

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Molding memories

Some people find it hard to remember what they had for lunch yesterday, while others can remember every detail of the house they grew up in. Understanding how memories are retained and recalled has always intrigued researchers, especially when seeking therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Researchers speculate that the lifespan of the connections that exist between neurons, called synapses, helps determine how long a memory lasts. These connections will strengthen or weaken—known as synaptic plasticity—in response to increases or decreases in neuronal activity. When the synapse’s strength decreases, the memory disappears.

To test this, researchers from Stanford University examined changes in the hippocampus—the area in the brain responsible for consolidating memories—in mice over long periods of time. Published on June 22 in Nature, results showed that the synapses of the mice they were studying lasted around 30 days—approximately the same amount of time that memories in the hippocampus are retained. By using an imaging technique known as advanced fiber optic fluorescence microendoscopy. Associate Professor in the biological sciences and applied physics departments, Mark Schnitzer was able to monitor the formation and destruction of synapses. These images were then compared with behavioral changes in the mice—such as losing the ability to navigate a maze—to confirm that the synapse damage resulted in the loss of memory.

Delusional or Sleep-deprived?

Evolutionarily speaking, the ability to defend oneself from predators was an important skill. In order to do this, the brain needed to be able to distinguish between friend and foe. This means being able to detect and interpret emotional facial cues. By using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), scientists from University of California Berkeley have shown that this ability is dulled by lack of sleep. Considering that 30 per cent of Canadian adults are sleep deprived, according to the World Association of Sleep Medicine’s 2011 report, it’s worth wondering if the resulting deficit could affect our everyday interactions.

“Recognizing the emotional expressions of someone else changes everything about whether or not you decide to interact with them, and in return, whether they interact with you,” said professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and senior author of the study, Matthew Walker, to MedicalXpress.

The study involved showing the participants photos of people with both friendly and threatening expressions, and then asking the participants to interpret the emotion. This was done twice, once under normal conditions, and then again after being awake for 24 hours.

“They failed our emotional Rorschach test,” Walker explained. “Insufficient sleep removes the rose tint to our emotional world, causing an overestimation of threat.”

During the study, the scientists also measured the heart rates of the participants and showed that there was no change in heart rate to signals typically perceived as being distressful. Consequently, most faces appear to be threatening, even when they’re not.

DNA degeneration

In order to access the genetic information stored in DNA, it must be unwound from its normal double-helix resting state. This process is continuously occurring in the brain—DNA is unwound and wound back up again every time we have a new memory, according to a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

“Cells physiologically break their DNA to allow certain important genes to be expressed,” neuroscience professor Li-Huei Tsai explained in an MIT news release. “In the case of neurons, they need to break their DNA [… to] pave the way for the transcriptional program that supports learning and memory. ”  

To create new memories, new DNA must be made. This process, as people age, will become faulty and can lead to mutations. By pinpointing the specific areas of error, the amount of problems can be minimized.

This finding—recently published by Tsai’s team in Cell—can lead to a deeper understanding of how neuronal damage accumulates in the brain, and more importantly, how to cure it. Particularly, as people age, the body’s ability to properly control its memory system degenerates and leaves its cells vulnerable to errors in its genetic code; these mutations can be extremely deleterious and could be implicated in Alzheimer’s.

“During aging, and particularly with some genetic conditions, the efficiency of the DNA repair system is compromised, leading to the accumulation of damage,” Tsai stated. 

Past studies have already shown that mice with Alzheimer’s have higher levels of DNA damage known as double strand breaks, where there are gaps in the sequence caused by improper replication. The team studied the enzymes responsible for this damage, as well as why certain memory genes relied on a faulty mechanism to function. Their results showed that this system allows the cells to respond as fast as possible to external stimuli, a response most likely developed to quickly adapt to one’s surroundings.

Open Air Pub McGill
a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

More than just cheap beer: A backstage look at four of OAP’s finest performers

by Morgan Alexander, Christopher Lutes, Jack Neal on

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Zoo Legacy

 

Zoo Legacy is undeniable an anomaly. Part hip-hop, a little bit of indie, a sprinkle of rock, all mixed together to form a sound that can only be described as collaborative, but certainly not disjointed.

“When we began, it was really a rock group with a rapper,” lead singer Nick Pouponneau wrote in an e-mail to the Tribune. “Over time we’ve worked so hard together to make what is our sound. It’s not a mix between two genres, it’s our sound.”

The group, formed in 2011, hails from Ottawa. One member, keyboardist Samuel Goss, is a McGill alumnus who “still rocks the Redmen hoodie.” Having been together for five years, the group maintains an eclectic mix of musical influences—ranging from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Notorious B.I.G.­—that allows for diversity and adaptability in their sound.

“Lyrically, I think we fall somewhere in between the party, easy-going, get turnt style and handling more heavy themes,” wrote Pouponneau. “Putting together the two styles hasn’t been too difficult because we build from the ground up. We’re not an indie band with a rapper or a rapper with a backing band; we’re true to our process and our sound.”

That process reflects the palpable joy that Zoo Legacy has for their music. Reflecting on the songwriting process, Pouponneau creates a beat to match the instrumentation before formalizing the lyrics, tuning, and then, “voila, you have a banger!”

Their on-stage presence is equally as positive and electric. OAP veterans, Zoo Legacy closed the first week with all the fanfare you would expect of a band that has opened for Lauryn Hill at Ottawa’s Bluesfest. When preparing for the performance, Pouponneau spoke of the opportunity with graciousness and excitement.

“It’s always such a great vibe, there’s always so much love,” Pouponneau mused. “I feel like this show is going to be that same feeling but on a bigger scale, more people to jam with, more energy which we definitely feed off of. It’s going to be an experience!”

Their performance was exactly that; high energy, fun vibes, and heavy on pumping up the crowd. This type of performance is typical of Zoo Legacy, who likes to stay close to the album sound while still focusing on building a connection with the audience.

“The one thing we always try to emphasize is giving the crowd as much energy and feeling as possible; whether it be a sexy, slow jam or a party record, we want people to walk away with a connection,” Pouponneau wrote. “We make sure everyone is having a good time because we don’t ever take for granted how blessed we are to be able to rock a crowd.”

Zoo Legacy released their third EP, Departures in June. You can check it out on spotify.

Cult Classic

 

Springing from the experimental art pop and shoegaze scenes of the ’80s and ’90s, dream pop has become a major influence for young artists on campuses across the country. One of these disciples is Cult Classic. The McGill band—who started from humble beginnings in the basement of Gardner Hall­—took to the stage at OAP last week.

“All of our members only got back four days before [OAP],” Chris Steward, singer and lead guitarist, said. “So it was like, five hours of practice a day for four days.”

Singer Rosie Long Decter said, “I came back to Montreal, and it was like ‘Okay, Rosie, we’re going to play three new songs at OAP; we need to write the lyrics and melodies for all of them.’”

This is the life of a band that also has to live with the stress of being students. Coordinating practice time can be next to impossible; musical passion comes into direct conflict with academic obligations, and members are separated from each other for most of the summer. Balance can be hard to achieve.

“Rosie does it well,” Steward said. “I think I’m far more reckless, to be absolutely honest. It’s a lot of three-day no sleep binges. I just have to try to push myself to every limit possible and pray it works out in the end.”

The outcome of this struggle is a sound that is blissfully unconstrained, as though it could meander anywhere. The music manages to feel collaborative, even when the band members have to work together with an ocean of distance between them. Due to this bond, the end product winds up feeling greater than the sum of its parts.

“I find that different parts [of the music] kind of take their own life,” said bassist-guitarist Tom Gould.

Steward echoed this sentiment; “That’s the thing, each of our members brings something completely different to the table,” he added. “Like Austin—our drummer, for example—is a fantastic jazz drummer. I’ll give him a part that I have an idea for, and he’ll transform it into his own groovy sort of thing. That’s how the songs become really unique.”

As the band members get to know each other’s musical quirks and preferences, they get a better grasp on how they should sound as a unit.

“We’ve always been really into our textures,” said Steward. “So recently, it’s been [about] reconciling that shoegaze-y textureness [sic] with this groove and oomph we hear in Tame Impala. But at the same time we have to sound kind of ethereal and dreamy.”

This production-heavy focus in their recorded content can be hard to recreate onstage, but the band views the spontaneous nature of live performance as an opportunity rather than a constraint.

“We were trying to write lyrics and remember them the day of OAP,” Gould said. “It was great, we all kind of came together—I think we pulled it off.”

You can listen to Cult Classic on Soundcloud.

Café Racer

 

Café Racer is no stranger to the whims of the OAP crowd. The headliners are preparing to close the event in true veteran status, drawing people by putting their twist on covers of songs that everyone loves, then keeping the crowd interested with their own brand of indie rock.

The group, now entering their third year of performing, is in tune with what the people want, and they’re dedicated to making a place for themselves in the rock world.

“We’ve stuck to a pretty solid sound,” said Myles Hildebrand, guitarist and lead singer of Café Racer. “We never mess around with synths at all; we’ve kept it guitar, bass, vocals, and drums. I think we’ve always just naturally played this kind of revivalist rock with a new spin on it.”

The emphasis is on keeping the sound fresh, not letting it get bogged down by past invocations of “classic rock” a term which drummer Josh Grant says he hates, opting to describe his band’s sound as “classically inspired.” In the studio, they keep their sound focused, using a rhythm track to maintain the structure of the song. But on stage, the energy of the crowd tends to take over.

“We try to keep [our live shows] as close as possible to the record,” says Hildebrand. “I’m fully willing to sacrifice some musicality for the stage show.”

Café Racer is all about stage persona. Hildebrand has developed a personal aesthetic revolving around his long, blonde hair, which is used to the fullest to invoke that traditional head-banging rock n’ roll-feel on stage. It helps pump up the crowd, and it motivates the other members of the band too.

“When you’re playing in front of people and you feed off the crowd and you have someone in front of you leading the band, it helps you,” Grant explained. “We’re all fired up and we all love playing music for people. It’s a very cathartic feeling to be on stage performing your own songs for people.”

Out of the studio and off the stage, Café Racer has kept that energy going through their music videos. Their latest, Circus Girl, was produced by Cannes-nominated director, Chris Rob, and premiered alongside Burlesque dancers to a packed audience at Le Belmont.

“We released the “Circus Girl” video at a show that we also called Circus Girl,” said Hildebrand. “There were burlesque dances and live circus performers; that was definitely our biggest show. It meant a lot.”

The band has their sights set on bigger venues, first Metropolis, then Osheaga. For now, they’re ready to return to OAP as veterans and perform their hearts out.

“We’ve played OAP too many times,” said Hildebrand, laughing. “We know what the crowd wants.”

Café Racer will be playing at Open Air Pub on Friday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m.

Ivory Hours

 

Whereas most bands strive for immediate recognition and commercial success, the London, Ontario-based band Ivory Hours has quite the opposite take on fame.

“I think we had the luxury of not that many people knowing about [us],” admitted lead singer, Luke Roes. “We were allowed to evolve in a bit of a bubble with people that really supported us [….] There was no expectations at all.”

In 2012, Roes was just finishing his degree at Queen’s University when he decided to dive into the music industry. After an unsatisfactory stint in Vancouver, Roes came back to Ontario where he got to know his two current bandmates, Tom Perquin and Chris Levesque.

“I think [the band] has definitely evolved. When I was hiring Chris and Tom, I definitely had a stronger idea than I originally had,” Roes explained. “I had an idea of who I wanted to be playing with.”

The band has since released two studio albums, Mary (2014) and Morning Light (2015). The band admits that their sound generally reflects “indie-pop,” specifying The Strokes, Mother Mother, and MGMT as inspirations for actually writing songs and making a record. While Roes said the original album was a lot of “finger-picking” and “folk stuff,” there was a much more “high-energy pop tune” goal for the second record.

The band has also released a stream of highly-produced music videos, some featuring conceptual stop-motion production and friends who are more than willing to be a part of the often lengthy process.

“We’re lucky we’ve got a great group of friends to support what we do,” Roes said. “They are such good campers too when it comes to not having a […] fully-fledged idea. That’s when some of the most magical moments too when people just get on set and go wild.”

The trio has since won recognition and awards, and their music has played on numerous radio stations. They started touring in Ontario and Quebec to promote their second LP, Morning Light.

“There is going to be more touring in Ontario the rest of the year and into 2016; then we are planning on doing a full North American tour next spring which we’re really excited about,” Roes said. “We’ve won a bunch of studio time too, which is just sitting there, so we’re going to do a lot of writing in the fall.”

The band later performed a fantastic set at OAP; their light and energetic music was perfect for the end of summer vibe the night reflected.

Ivory Hours will be performing as a part of Pop Montreal on Sept. 17.

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