The outgoing 2014-2015 Education Student Council pose with their senior stick, John Wren, middle row, third from right.
Outgoing student council ‘an excellent team,’ says departing senior stick
'Worked cohesively as a unit and quickly reached consensus on all issues, which made my job easy,' says John Wren
Congratulations to the 2014-15 Education Student Council for a great year and a lot of hard work. We asked senior stick John Wren to talk about leading the student council and some of the key moments of the past year.
Q. What have been the highlights for you this year as senior stick?
A. Some of the highlights were our successful series of socials, the new EdCon format for EdExpo and our series of lounge upgrades, including new carpet and drapes.
Q. What are some of the new initiatives your council put forward and can you talk about how successful you thought they were?
A. This was the first year of EdCon, which replaced the former EdExpo. I feel that this event went off very well thanks to Alex Kozub and Reid Parker (the Edcon coordinators). For the first time in several years we saw an increase in participating employers and there was a positive response from both students and the employers.
Q. What have you learned in this position that you might carry forward—either in life and or/teaching jobs?
A. Being senior stick was definitely an exercise in time management, strategic planning, diplomacy and professionalism—skills that will definitely extend to my life as a teacher.
Q. What surprised you about being senior stick (i.e. Was it way more work than you expected? Lots more meetings? Connections with people on council?)
A. What surprised me most about being senior stick is how much I became committed to the concept. Over my time as senior stick, I found myself enjoying my time in the office or at meetings, and grew to feel a strong responsibility for ensuring my student body was well represented amongst the faculty and the university.
Q. What do you have to say about your fellow council members and how they worked as a team?
A. My time as senior stick was fantastic and this sentiment is solely the product of my council being an excellent team. Our EdSC worked cohesively as a unit and quickly reached consensus on all issues, which made my job very easy. The best part of our council was that everyone pitched in, regardless of the definition of their positions, and this made it easy for us to do awesome events like the breakfast sandwiches or beaver tails sales.
Q. What advice would you offer to next year’s senior stick?
A. To Scott Hardman, our incoming senior stick, I recommend that he quickly learn the strengths of his council members and how best to employ them. Not every council member will be the best fit for every job, but each one brings to the table unique skills that when carefully combined, will allow them to achieve greatness.
Q. Any final thoughts?
A. At the end of it all, I grew to have great respect for all of my student body and I know that they will all become awesome graduates (and incredible teachers, for those that become teachers).
Back row: Paul Grosskopf (Middle Years Stream Rep.), Jared Suderman (Grad Chairperson), Evan Maltman (Grad Chairperson), Megan McManes (Early Years Stream Rep.), Scott Hardman (Treasurer), Oleksa Balko (Social Events Coordinator).
Middle Row: Cheri Reimer (Vice Stick – External), Jessie Goodwill (Communicator), Amanda Bilevicius (Vice-Stick Internal), Stephanie Waddell (Secretary), Leanne Oakes (Student Senator), Jenni Presber (Communicator), Stevie Moore (UMSU Councillor), John Wren (Senior Stick), Mubasim Subziani (Senior Years Stream Rep), Gabriel Alves (Community Service Facilitator).
Front Row: Orysa Stein (Student Senator), Russell Kunz (Integrated Music Rep.), Laura Kalyta (Social Events Coordinator), Stephanie Baines (UMSU Councillor). Missing: Marin Kecman (Community Service Facilitator), Reid Bouvier (EdCon Coordinator), Alex Kozub (EdCon Coordinator).