September 2015 by The Watch

the watch

FYP ABROAD ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

NEW SMOKING POLICY ENROLMENT DROPS AGAIN

WHO IS THE WATCH?

VOL. 33 NO. 1 - SEPTEMBER 2015 watchmagazine.ca

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

SOPHIE ALLEN-BARRON NICK HOLLAND

PUBLISHER

GRACE KENNEDY

TREASURER

TO BE DETERMINED

ONLINE EDITOR

watcheditors@gmail.com TWITTER @kingswatch LIVE-TWEETS @kingswatchlive

TO BE DETERMINED

CONTRIBUTORS GEORGIA ATKIN SARA CONNORS EMMA JONES EVAN McINTYRE SEAN MOTT LIBBY SCHOFIELD

PUBLISHING BOARD TO BE DETERMINED

......................................................................................................................................................................................................

EDITOR’S NOTE

Happy September! Welcome both to the new faces on campus, and to those of you returning for another year at King’s. We hope your summer was delightful and left you feeling excited for the year to come.

filled with textbooks, a laptop and maybe even your lunch. Being forced into a room with possibly hundreds of other students is not exactly fun at first. You might even start to wonder if you’ll ever feel at home.

We spent our August perched in a 14 year old’s bedroom listening to EDM—it’s what all the cool kids are listening to today, apparently. We should probably give context to that last... shout out to Eloise, the younger Allen-Barron, who generously offered her room as our makeshift office.

Yikes. That sounds a little bleak. But that’s how we were feeling three years ago. We think you’ll soon see those unknown faces around you change into the faces of your classmates, coworkers and friends. And hey: that person you waved to awkwardly at a res party in frosh week might just end up editing a magazine with you one day.

We had such a great time working with so many great writers to put this issue together for you! We’ll be reaching out in the next few weeks looking for writers and we would love to have you on these pages in the next issue. Please come say hi! We are both about to enter our fourth and final year of the journalism program. Thinking this year of school may be our last ever is both exciting and stressful. Being this close to the end makes us reflect on our first week at King’s. The two of us remember stepping onto campus for the first time, not knowing what to expect from university life. So if you feel a little left out, you’re not alone. The first week of university is terrifying. You stand on the threshold of something unfamiliar. Your backpack is heavier than ever,

o o o o o 02

You may feel like you have King’s figured out. Maybe you do. That’s cool. Chances are good, you don’t. Over four-ish years here this little school will surprise you in ways you didn’t think possible, whether that’s by showing you a passion you didn’t know you had, opening your eyes to a new way of thinking, or introducing you to some of the best people you could ever hope to walk beside. This has been our story. It is just one of many happening every day on campus. As editors we are looking forward to telling your stories and keeping you in the loop of what’s happening at King’s.

-Nick & Sophie

IN THIS ISSUE: VOL. 33 NO. 1 04

Cover Photo: Charlotte Butler in the Acropolis of Athens. Photo: Emma Jones/The Watch

THE PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH CONTINUES COME 2016, A NEW FACE WILL HEAD THE UNIVERSITY.

TO ALL THE NEW STUDENTS, WELCOME. TAKE A LOOK AT THE MAP TO SEE WHERE THIS YEAR’S NEW STUDENTS CAME FROM.

JUST FIVE YEARS AGO THE ENROLMENT AT KING’S REACHED ITS PEAK. SINCE THEN THAT NUMBER HAS BEEN STEADILY DECLINING.

FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS THE TECHNOLOGY FEE IS BEING SCRAPPED, SAVING STUDENTS $100 EACH YEAR.

KING’S ENROLMENT DROPS TO 1001

$100 BACK IN YOUR POCKET

FYP ABROAD

NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUTTS

THE TEXTS WE READ AND THE QUESTIONS WE ASK IN KING’S IS UPDATING ITS POLICY ON SMOKING. GONE FYP STICK WITH US LONG AND FAR AFTER WE LEAVE ARE THE DAYS OF LIGHTING UP ANYWHERE ON THE QUAD. CAMPUS.

YOU’RE IN LUCK! SUNNY, CRISP SEPTEMBER IS THE PRIME TIME TO GET OUTSIDE IN NOVA SCOTIA. EVEN IF YOU’RE WITHOUT A CAR, THERE ARE PLENT OF PLACES A STONE’S THROW FROM CAMPUS.

IS A COMPUTER PROGRAM ENOUGH TO EASE THE NERVES OF STRESSED STUDENTS?

GET OUT

WELLTRACK FOR A WELL MIND

MY FROSH WEEK

IF FROSH WEEK IS NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. ONE STUDENT OFFERS HER ADVICE. We welcome your feedback on each issue. Letters to the editors should be signed. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. The Watch is owned and operated by the students of the University of King’s College. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people not be warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at watchman’s hand. - EZEKIEL 33:6

03 o o o o o

THE PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH CONTINUES Come 2016, a new name will head the university.

by Sean Mott

As FYP students scramble to find their textbooks and upper year students engage in quests for cheap ramen noodles, King’s is performing its own search. It’s a complicated process that stretches back to last semester and won’t be finished for months: the search for a new president. George Cooper, our current president, will be leaving King’s on June 30, 2016, ending his four-year tenure at the university and leaving an empty position on campus. The King’s Presidential Search Committee, made up of professors, administrators, and students, aims to fill that void. In March, it polled the King’s community for their opinions about an ideal president’s qualities. Over 100 people participated, through town halls, email consultations or personal meetings with the committee. “It’s important to get input from everyone,” says Mary Martin, the chair of the committee. While students left over the summer, the committee sifted through the suggestions and drew up a profile of an ideal candidate, stressing an academic background, willingness to participate in intellectual life at King’s, and the courage

to be a “public champion of the university.” After preparing the profile, the committee worked closely with Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette, a recruitment and human resource firm. The company fielded potential candidates, studying their backgrounds and determining if they met the requirements. Now, as school starts up again, the committee will be ramping up their efforts. They will develop a shortlist of candidates, interview them, and narrow their selection down to two or three people. These finalists will become known to the university, attending lectures and participating in campus life. They will learn about King’s while the community learns about them. “We’ll take in feedback and make a decision,” says Martin. “It’s probably the most important decision the committee makes.” |w

THEQUALIFICATIONS O

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

PARTICIPATE IN INTELLECTUAL LIFE AT KING’S

COURAGE TO BE A PUBLIC CHAMPION OF THE UNIVERSITY

SEEMORE: Julie Green is the new registrar at King’s. Meet Green and get to know her a little more. Visit:

watchmagazine.ca

o o o o o 04

ELECTING: ONLINE EDITOR ARE YOU SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVY? DO YOU LOVE JOURNALISM AND HAVE A PASSION TO SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH?

</>

DO YOU WANT TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RUN THE WATCH ONLINE? ARE YOU INTERESTED IN OVERSEEING SOME OF OUR TALENTED REPORTERS? ARE YOU WILLING TO BE ON CALL EVERY DAY?

NOW HIRING: COPY EDITOR CP

ARE YOU GOOD AT CATCHING MISTAKES? ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH CP STYLE?

NOW HIRING: TREASURER $ $$

ARE YOU GOOD AT MANAGING MONEY?

DO YOU WANT TO WORK BEHIND THE SCENES?

The Watch is looking for some dedicated people to take on some big roles at the magazine. We’re looking to elect someone to take charge of the website. If you contributed twice in the past school year, whether it was online or in the magazine, then you can run. The Watch is also looking to hire someone who knows when they see spelling and grammar errors — we need a copy editor. And lastly, we need someone to manage the cash flow. We’re looking for a financially responsible a treasurer.

05 o o o o o

TO ALL THE NEW STU

...

. ...

....

...

Photo: Greg Christian/Dribbble

N.Y.: 1 N.J.: 1

BERMUDA: 1

GHANA: 1 NIGERIA: 1

GA.: 1

o o o o o 06

....

N.S.: 104 14 MAINE: 3 N.B.: P.E.I.: 6 VT.: 2 MASS.: 1

................

CALIF.: 1

....

ALTA.: 11 SASK.: 4

ONT.: 123

QUE.: 4 N.L.: 9 ..

...

... ..

B.C.: 13

....

...........

MAN.: 1

...

....

...

N.W.T.: .1..

.............. .............. .....

IRELAND: 1 UNITED

UDENTS, WELCOME. .... .. ... ....... .... ... . . . . . .... ....... ... .. . . . .... ....... .. . . . . ........... .

DENMARK: 1 GERMANY: 1

KINGDOM: 1

........................... ...

...

CHINA: 2

JAPAN: 1

...

... ..

HONG KONG: 1

INDIA: 1

...

ZIMBABWE: 1

BYTHENUMBERS

...................

2015-16

NEW STUDENTS FROM TORONTO 63 NEW STUDENTS FROM HALIFAX 31

TOTAL: 313

TORONTO: 20% HALIFAX: 9.9%

NOTE: In this case Toronto represents the City of Toronto and not the Greater Toronto Area. Halifax represents the City of Halifax and not the regional municipality. 07 o o o o o

KING’S ENROLMENT DROPS TO 1,001 Just five years ago the school’s student enrolment reached its peak. Since then that number has dropped.

by Sara Connors

King’s enrolment has dropped again, showing its lowest numbers in nine years. The school’s task force released a report saying FYP enrolment has dropped from 250 in the 2014-15 school year to 233 this coming year—a seven per cent decline.

King’s does not offer this type of financial assistance, and charges $770 more per semester for the same kind of program. “I believe FYP is one of the best programs in country,” says Bryant, “but why can’t we get 300 people to show up?”

The report also says full-time undergraduate enrolment dropped from a high of 1,231 five years ago to 1,001, a decline of 230 students, or 19 per cent.

Bryant says 10 FYP students is worth around $100,000, and without their tuition, residence fees and meal plans it impacts the university.

Alex Bryant, KSU president, says rising tuition cost are majorly affecting prospective student’s decision to enrol.

Not only is King’s having trouble getting students to come, it’s also having difficulty getting students to stay.

“King’s is in the process of increasing tuition and it has been every year for the last five years even though there’s a cap. There thousands of students from high school or people looking to attend (King’s)…but after they take FYP they have to leave for a year to pay it off.”

Bryant says student services, such as mental health and sexual assault services are “inadequate,” which is tied to the school’s struggle to pay for such services.

Bryant also argues although Ontario has the the highest tuition fees on average, some students are choosing to stay in Ontario to study curriculums similar to FYP because doing so allows them to receive 30 per cent off their tuition through the Ontario Student Assistance Program.

Although King’s does have some mental health services and is working on new programs such as Mental Health 101—an improved peer system—and students will soon have better access to sexual assault services, Bryant says “King’s and the whole province is only dealing with (student services) in a reactionary way. It’s only when people are dropping out they’re working on it.”

But Nick Hatt, dean of students, says King’s is trying to make a more supportive environment. “Dalhousie can and does provide student services in a more robust and cost-effective way than we can do on our own. Partnership with a larger university to provide student services in this way is very common for small colleges like ours.” King’s bursar Jim Fitzpatrick speculates changing demographics, not tuition, has influenced student numbers. “We’re a small institution. We don’t need to attract a great deal more of students to see an increase. We just have to keep making sure our programs, and the way we deliver them to whoever wants them, stays interesting,” Fitzpatrick said. The drop in enrolment, as well as a lack of provincial funding has been finically disastrous for the University. The school reported a deficit of $1.1 million earlier this year, and suffered a five per cent cut to its budget, or a loss of $561,000. Though the future of King’s looks bleak, Fitzpatrick remains optimistic. “The good times will come back, it’s just a matter of when.” |w

.................................................................................................................................................................................

BYTHENUMBERS 2014-15 FYP ENROLMENT: 250 THIS YEAR: 235

o o o o o 08

2011-12 PEAK ENROLMENT: 1231 THIS YEAR: 1001

19%

FROM FIVE YEARS AGO

Photo: Nick Holland/The Watch

$100 BACK IN YOUR POCKET For the next two years the technology fee is being scrapped, saving students $100 each year.

by Nick Holland

Here is a rare sentence: students at King’s are saving money. As September rolls in, the troubling news from April still haunts some students in Nova Scotia. The provincial government lifted—for one year—annual tuition caps, leaving universities with the opportunity to up the cost of post-secondary education.

Conrad says, “Last year I was $4,000 short and I spent the first two months of summer working 65 hours a week.”

the shortage of funds King’s has with students who find themselves equally strapped for cash.

The student union president agrees.

A victory for students saves them money; a victory for the school has its bank account exiting the red and entering the black.

“Adding $100 in fees on top of increasing tuition is going to make it more difficult for students to come here,” says KSU president Alex Bryant, “We always make this argument.”

But at King’s there was a slight sigh of relief from students struggling with crippling debt. King’s president George Cooper, in an email to the entire school, said tuition would be frozen for the next two years, calming some students of their financial anxiety. And joining that two-year club of frozen fees is the technology fee. Each student will save $100 per year, keeping the university from a hefty $200,000.

Bryant says the technology fee went to projects like setting up Wi-Fi and fire alarm upgrades. He says Wi-Fi was promised the first year of the fee, but set up the second year. That $100 from each student was still being collected.

Though some people may think one brown, polymer bill bearing the face of Sir Robert Borden is not worth much compared to total tuition, there is one student who feels slightly liberated: Paisley Conrad.

On the flip side, the bursar at King’s insists the university has some of the lowest tuition in Canada.

“Suddenly we find out well, now we’ve done the fire alarm upgrades and there aren’t any projects to put this towards,” he says. “We can’t have this fee.”

She is a second-year student, from the tiny island of Salt Spring, B.C., who crossed the entire country only to study at King’s.

“There are private universities that charge seven, eight, nine times what we charge and they have ten times as many students,” Jim Fitzpatrick says, “There are lots of ways to find money. People work, there are loans and there are bursaries.”

“I get to buy more of my books with my money and not on my credit card,”

The financial fiasco is not for lack of caring. The issue comes with balancing

o o o o o 10

“If King’s tuition rises significantly, I will leave, which is really heartbreaking because I love this school. I feel like it’s home and I feel like the professors have so much respect for me,” says Conrad. “Clearly that respect isn’t there at a higher level.” |w

Photo: Nick Holland/The Watch

05 o o o o o

o o o o o 08

Thomas McCullough reading in Santorini, Greece. Photo: Emma Jones/The Watch

FYP ABROAD

The texts we read and the questions we ask in FYP stick with us long and far after we leave the quad.

by Emma Jones

Dear incoming FYP class, When it’s 3 a.m. the night before a paper is due and you still have no idea why exactly it matters that a teenager named Augustine stole a pear, you might be struggling to find any meaning in Confessions beyond your personal will to destroy it.

Charlotte Butler lived in Chapel Bay when she completed FYP. Famous for typing lecture notes at lightning speed and her fabulously aerobic dance moves on FYP Mondays, Butler now studies English and Political Science at McGill University in Montreal.

And when you’re dressed up like the most glittery Dante’s Beatrice to ever grace the Wardroom, you might mostly be questioning how many Beyoncé songs this deejay has on his setlist.

Her most recent FYP moment took place during time spent in Greece in June with a King’s classmate, Thomas McCullough.

But I think you already know that you’ll finish the Foundation Year just a little bit different than how you began it. Your mental suitcase will be packed full of odd and interesting stories, factoids, and questions, many of which you might not even realize you took with you until you’re far from the King’s quad. I recently spent six months in Europe, taking two months to travel after a semester in France. While reflecting on my own travels, I became interested in “FYP moments” in the diverse journeys of my friends. I define these as the instances where our personal experiences and our memories from this program collide. It turns out that these wonderful, nerdier-than-you-thought-you-were moments aren’t very hard to come by. Here are a few:

Butler and McCullough knew their Greek experience exemplified a common juxtaposition, the cohabitation of rich, archaeologically visible histories and inevitably resulting tourism-based economies. Put simply, in Greece, it wouldn’t be at all strange to find yourself enjoying a post-nightclub gyro amidst rubble from 10th century BC. And yet, by spending time within an immensely changed Greek society, Butler could feel the energetic, living nature of FYP texts like Homer’s Odyssey and Plato’s Republic. “It was cool to think that people wore togas there, walked through marble colonnades, and lived in a society that so fostered (philosophical) thinking to think back to the source of the philosophy as a product of a culture as opposed to its outcome,” said Butler.

Clara McGaughey, currently an English and early modern studies student at Dalhousie University, has become a fixture in the King’s quad; both because of her immeasurable contributions to feminist initiatives on campus, and also because she pretty much never leaves the Wardroom. She spent the past semester studying at Oxford University, in England. McGaughey’s “FYP moments” came at many points during her semester, as she realized little-by-little that in many ways, King’s resembles a micro-Oxford. Each of Oxford’s more than 40 colleges is a little bit like King’s—it has a quad surrounded by residences, a dining hall with formal meals and robes, and its own library. Even the residence rooms are structured like the bays at King’s. The more she studied at Oxford the more she found herself relying on the interdisciplinary academic foundation she developed during FYP. One day she even took a field trip to Jane Austen’s former home in Bath, England, to enrich a paper she was writing. “The way that FYP encouraged us to look at texts from all angles, to take philosophical, historical, and sociological approaches in addition to literary ones came as a real benefit to me while I was studying and exploring abroad,” McGaughey said.

13 o o o o o

Since completing FYP, Ally Soule has spent her time majoring in Biology, studying in Denmark, but mostly perfecting the art of incredibly precise needlepoint wall art.

portant place for me to visit on a European vacation.”

pick-me-up she needed on an otherwise sleepy day in the Musée D’Orsay in Paris.

atre studies. In Montparnasse, it even led him to Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Eugene Ionesco, all buried inside the same gates.

“I can’t cash a cheque now without thinking of Marx, can’t listen Reading Samuel Beckett’s work, especially Krapp’s Last Tape, influenced his to the radio without thinking of course selection after FYP, eventually McLuhan, can’t drink wine withAlly’s favourite “FYP moment” was the guiding him towards a major in the- out thinking of Euripides.”

“I’d already spent a significant time in museums and galleries in my travels. To be honest, on this day I was pretty tired of looking at art that I didn’t know much about. I wasn’t feeling very stimulated by it,” Soule explained. But while leafing through the museum’s guidebook, a reference to Manet’s “Olympia,” a painting caught her eye. The painting, she remembered, had been the subject of her favourite FYP lecture. “I found it so amazing how a subject that was once of little interest to me became so fascinating. I went to find it in the museum, and it was unreal seeing it in person.”

Brody Wilkinson-Martin is believed to own the highest volume of plaid shirts of anyone in his FYP class. He currently majors in theatre studies. Recently taking a few months to study the Baroque period in the Czech Republic and travel Europe, Wilkinson-Martin structured some of his trip around paying homage to FYP thinkers. His most memorable “FYP moment” took place in the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris while visiting Samuel Beckett’s grave. “Before coming to King’s,” he mused, “I never would have expected that a European cemetery would be an im-

o o o o o 14

“FYP is a strange and amazing institution in this way,” Wilkinson-Martin said. “Through the discussion of one single text at a time, it implores minds to thirst for further learning, in the academic abyss, but everywhere else, too.”

Sam Gleave, likely to be the campus’ most majestic redhead, was beloved during FYP for his ability to engage in serious discussion about ancient philosophy while simultaneously participating in a Wardroom dance party. Currently studying classics and early modern studies, Gleave spent the past May in Florence, Italy, on the first ever study abroad program put on by King’s. Gleave’s personal reflections on FYP take place in a number of specific instances. Each instant, for Gleave, reminds him of the deep foundations from which he has grown. “I can’t cash a cheque now without thinking of Marx, can’t listen to the radio without thinking of McLuhan, can’t drink wine without thinking of Euripides,” he said. “My god is Dante’s and my soul is Aristotle’s, which is twice as unnerving because I wasn’t quite sure I had either a

soul or a god before King’s—although, truth be told, I maintain Montaigne’s healthy skepticism on the subject,” Gleave reflected. “FYP justified my vices and condemned my virtues and I am so much happier with the person I am now.”

It’s wholly unrealistic to think that we remember everything you learn in the Foundation Year. It’s also undeniable that, though often to our own surprise, “FYP moments” can be experienced everywhere and at any time. They are as little as feeling ourselves light up when we see a painting that we know something about. And they’re as big as the realization that our worldview now dons some kind of irrevocable FYP lens, a particular frame of reference and a reminder to look to the past when we’re thinking about our engagement with the present. When we’re on our own journeys, whatever they are, “FYP moments” are personal reminders of the place where we came from, what we took from it, and how much we still have to learn. |w

o o o o oBrody 18 Wilkinson-Martin at the Orangerie Museum in Paris. Photo: Emma Jones/The Watch

Photo: Flickr.com/wlodi

NO IFS, ANDS OR BUTTS King’s is updating its policy on smoking. Gone are the days of lighting up anywhere on campus.

by Georgia Atkin

It’s official: after years of smoking on campus, smokers at King’s College will soon have to light up somewhere else. On July 31, an email was sent to the King’s community announcing a non-smoking policy on campus. A temporary designated smoking area — located between the New Academic Building and Radical Bay — will be available until August 2016. After that period smoking will be banned everywhere on campus. “I think it’s good,” said Tim Ross, a King’s staff member who smokes. “It makes no difference to me. I can just go somewhere else, or I can just go without. “You might get one or two people that would be really, really upset, but (the smoking ban is) everywhere. It’s at the hospital, it’s at Dal, it’s everywhere else. It’s becoming the norm.” Pat McCutcheon, a non-smoking student at King’s, was happy to hear about the new policy. “Cliché response: it’s about time!” said McCutcheon. “As a student who lived on campus... it was kind of gross, because everyone would smoke near the doors anyway,

so you’d just have to inhale that all the time.” King’s joins the ranks of other smokefree campuses in Nova Scotia. Dalhousie, which became smoke-free in 2003, says it’s the first Canadian university to completely ban smoking on campus. Acadia University and Saint Mary’s University have also implemented smoke-free policies. Dean of Students Nick Hatt, who chairs the King’s Occupational Health and Safety committee, said campus smoking has been an ongoing issue for people with allergies or sensitivities. “I did Foundation Year in 1997, and it was an issue then. I remember the president’s secretary putting up signs outside the A&A building, asking people to please not smoke on the A&A steps because it was blowing right back into the building.”

“Most parents who are bringing their 18-year-old or 17-year-old to the university are not too happy to see smokers on the campus.” In addition to conference services now offered at King’s, Doyle said there are plans to offer summer camps and programs for children. “We can’t have smoking on campus if we have kids on campus.” Doyle said the university will enforce the non-smoking policy gently, with campus security and Patrol reminding people to respect the new rules. “We just have to get through this oneyear transition period, and I hope everyone can move toward making a smoke-free campus.” |w

More recently, King’s implemented cigarette stops around campus — thin, pole-like bins for cigarette butts — to encourage smokers to move away from windows and building entrances. Despite this, Hatt said there are still complaints about smoke wafting into buildings. Alex Doyle, director of facilities, said campus smoking has also posed problems for recruitment at King’s.

17 o o o o o

#2: Conrose Park (Conrose Avenue) Also known to older Haligonians as “the Horsefields”, this place has just about everything. Tennis courts, a soccer field, and for the young at heart: swings!

#1: St. Mary’s Boat Club (1641 Fairfield Road)

Perched on the Northwest Arm, this is an easy way to get out on the water for an hour. Drop by some weekend between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. to take advantage of their free canoe rentals—but only until the end of the month!

#5: D (1 Alu

This on place to the roa through

#4: Wickwire Field (South Street)

If you play a field sport at Dal, this is probably where you’ll be! You can also reserve it through the university’s athletics department.

#3: Urban Greenway (Starts at the corner of South Street and Beaufort Avenue) o o o o o 18

Paved and ready for pedestrians and bikes alike, this waterside trail is the perfect place for a jaunt as the leaves turn from green to orange to brown to... let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

GET OUT

You’re in luck! Sunny, crisp September is the prime time to get outside in Nova Scotia. Even if you’re without a car, there are plenty of places a stone’s throw from campus. Here are some suggestions:

by Sophie Allen-Barron

Dalhousie Bike Centre umni Crescent)

n-campus volunteer-staffed shop is a great o get your bike tuned up and ready for ads, or you can even borrow some wheels h their loan program.

W Map: Sophie Allen-Barron/The Watch

N S

E 19 o o o o o

WELLTRACK FOR A WELL MIND Is a computer program enough to ease the nerves of stressed students?

by Evan McIntyre

This fall, students at Dalhousie and King’s can use their computer to access therapy for mental health problems like anxiety, depression and phobias. Welltrack, a service acquired by Counselling Services over the summer, provides free virtual cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to its users. “There’s a ton of research that shows that if you include these kinds of tools with therapy, people get much better,” says Darren Piercey, the University of New Brunswick professor whose research in virtual reality therapy provided the foundation for Welltrack’s development. Students can choose to use Welltrack on their own or they can share their progress with a coach or psychologist from Counselling Services. “The online program provides flexibility for students,” says Joanne Mills, director of Dalhousie Counselling Services, “And it’s probably an easier first step for someone to take if they’re considering seeking help.” One of Welltrack’s features is Moodcheck, which checks in daily with users via email or smartphone notification and asks them to record how they feel, their location, what they’re doing and who they’re with. “The idea is that we love tracking everything. We track our steps, we track our calories. With Moodcheck, we can track how how the things we do throughout the day affect the way we feel,” says Piercey. o o o o o 20

Welltrack also features courses to educate users about anxiety, stress, depression and phobias. The courses are based on CBT, which is often used in traditional therapy settings. The new program could contribute to reducing the wait list for students who wish to receive face-to-face counselling with a psychologist. Last year, the number of phone calls from students requesting counselling appointments went up by 56 per cent from the 201314 academic year. Maia Kowalski is a third year undergraduate student at King’s. When she contacted counselling, she faced a few hurdles when scheduling her first appointment. “They were telling me that there were so many people trying to get in that I would have to call right at 9 a.m. every morning to book a consultation,” says Kowalski, “if someone else needed to speak to someone faster, I feel like that would deter them because they would have to go through so many steps.” Mills says students often attend an initial assessment appointment within three days of contacting Counselling Services. However, after that brief assessment, students with a medium or low risk of harming themselves or others can wait as long as five weeks or more. Sarah Martin, a graduate student at Dalhousie, accessed counselling services in January. During her initial consultation, “They told me there might be a pretty significant wait list, but they

ended up calling me about two weeks later,” says Martin. After she was able to book a regular appointment, “I was in there and the woman I saw for about two months was great,” says Martin. Mills thinks more students using Welltrack could lead to a reduced waitlist for in-person appointments. “If some of the low risk students can manage and learn new skills with a coach to get where they need to go, it could perhaps take them off the waitlist and allow us to see more of the high risk students faster,” says Mills. She stressed that Welltrack isn’t meant to deter students from booking appointments with Counselling Services, but “this is an alternative or compliment to the traditional counselling process.” Providing CBT online would also help students who are hesitant to access traditional, in person face-to-face counselling. “It can be used as a ‘step-up’ program,” says Piercey, “the reality is that about 20-25 per cent of students in any given year are suffering from some form of major stress, anxiety or depression, but two-thirds will never seek help from a counselling centre.” This year, Welltrack could be the tool to help students seek help anonymously, without stigma. |w

o o o o oPhoto: 14 Flickr.com/dierkschaefer

Photo: Flickr.com/ francisco_osorio

MY FROSH WEEK

If frosh is not what you expected, you are not alone. One student offers her advice.

by Libby Schofield To reference Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: it is universally acknowledged that a first-year university student in want of friends ought to attend frosh week. The stereotypes of frosh week never appealed to me—loud, drunk parties are not my idea of fun. But King’s orientation week appeared to be different, with promises of poetry readings and coffee meetups and opportunities to become best friends with your fellow FYPsters. After waiting more than two years to start King’s, to leave my rural Nova Scotia hometown behind and make friends with people who were bookish rather than farm-ish, this frosh week sounded vaguely appealing. My frosh week was not the magical week of bonding, friend-making or memory-making it seemed to be for everyone else. It was frustrating, lonely and I grieved the $60 that basically bought my frosh pack. Most of my week was spent either at my apartment or with old high school friends who lived in the city. The biggest thorn in the hide of my frosh week was that I was one of fewer than 60 day students, a stark minority among the residence students. I lived five kilometres from campus, a bus ride that ranged from 20 to 50 minutes. I was new to the city and new to bussing and most of the frosh events that I wanted to attend took place after nine p.m. and ran until ten or eleven. Even with the frosh van—which is a really

good idea, please keep the frosh van— activities that took place at night were much less accessible. The day students, unless they quickly buddied up with someone in residence, had nowhere to stay if they wanted or needed to spend the night. I felt out of place, outnumbered and invisible. By the second day of frosh, all the residence students had paired up with their roommates, their floors, their bays, running off to the dorms between activities. This left day students to wander around the empty campus until we haphazardly ran into each other. I think we all grew to recognize the lost gaze and heavy backpack of fellow day students pretty quickly and we greeted each other with a sympathetic, “Day student?” The divide between residence and day students became more contrasted as the week wore on, the residence students making fast friends with those they lived with, and day students making tentative bonds over the woes of buses before heading home in different directions. You could argue I didn’t try hard to enough to befriend residence students or didn’t take advantage of the late-night activities via frosh van. But I’m an introvert and by day three of shaking the hands of people who ran off with their floormates two minutes later, I was discouraged and exhausted. I don’t blame the frosh coordinators for my less-than-amazing frosh week and I don’t begrudge those who sang the

praises of frosh for the rest of the year. I do think it is important to recognize that frosh is not a universal experience of friendship, euphoria and social wonder. Frosh can be disappointing. It can be lonely. It can wreak havoc on your social anxiety. It can forget about you. If there were attempts at making activities more accessible to day students by having events earlier in the day, or events specifically for day students, perhaps my frosh would have been different. If there had been more events for introverts and those with social anxiety, if there had been an atmosphere other than ‘Hey We’re All Experiencing the Same Thing and it’s Freaking Great, WOOHOO!’ perhaps my frosh week would have been different. Take advantage of what you can, according to your commute and comfort level. Frosh week doesn’t have to be the perfect introduction to your university experience. It doesn’t have to be the peak of your King’s glory days. If you feel like you missed out on making friends because everyone was off partying in the yurt, wait until classes start. You’ll start to find the people who stayed in their apartments and dorms watching Netflix and reading Jane Austen. |w

23 o o o o o

for more online visit

watchmagazine.ca