With the new semester underway, leaders of Saint Mary’s Student Government Association (SGA) have begun their work for the academic year. Senior Terra Nelson, student body president, said in an email the planning for first-year student programming began over the summer.Nelson said she and student body vice president Olivia Allen, senior, wanted to get an early start of promoting community, the College’s core value for this year. Accordingly, they started with making changes to Belles Beginnings, the orientation programming for new Saint Mary’s students.“Our first order of business was helping to restructure Belles Beginnings,” she said. “Enhancing Belles Beginnings was something we were passionate about, and our community committee co-chairs worked hard this summer to make that come to life. … We believe that community is what makes Saint Mary’s home, and we want to welcome Belles with open arms,” Nelson said. “Through fostering a stronger community, we hope to increase college retention as well.”Another of Nelson and Allen’s planned initiatives is increasing transparency within SGA.“We plan on opening our Student Government Association weekly meetings to all students as to enhance College transparency,” Nelson said.With the recent hiring of a director for the Belles Against Violence Office (BAVO), Nelson said SGA looks forward to the two organizations working together.“We applaud the administration for taking action in hiring a new [BAVO] director,” Nelson said. “All SGA members met with the new director and were able to have a discussion about the safety of our students. … The safety and well-being of our students is one of our greatest concerns, and it is such a relief to have that [director] position filled.”Along with the student body president and vice president, other members of SGA have begun discussing future events.Junior Giavanna Paradiso, chair of SGA’s food committee and co-chair of the community committee said Nelson and Allen have encouraged the various committees to work together to host monthly events. Examples include programming centered on the beginning of school and holidays.“We’re planning a back to school brunch and a Thanksgiving event as well as some giveaways,” Paradiso said.She said SGA wants to make sure Saint Mary’s has plenty of options for students to be involved on campus, particularly given recent policy changes related to transport.“We want to keep people on campus as much as we can, especially because of the changes in transportation,” Paradiso said. “If you have to pay for your own transportation, that becomes costly.”Tags: Belles Beginnings, Community, saint mary’s, Student Government Association
Ghanaian football supporters will on Monday(Today)march against the Canadian High Commission in protest against the denial of visas.The supporters have complained of the high denial rate of visas by Canada which is hosting the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup which kicks off on August 5.The protest comes on the back of complaints made by the supporters to Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Ministry to appeal to the High Commission to increase the quota of visas granted to allow for football fans to travel for the tournament. The demonstration is being organised by the Coalition of Ghana supporters and will start from Circle at 10am.” How can you bid for a world cup when you know you will not allow supporters in to watch it? We know not everybody’s document will be perfect but they are bouncing everybody with the same reason,how is that possible?” one of the organisers of the protest complained to Allsports.
FoxTel will serve up a double helping of Origin action with a two hour block of coverage of the 2006 State of Origin Series featuring back to back Women’s and Men’s Open games between traditional rivals Queensland and New South Wales on Wednesday 15 November 2006.The two States battled for the Origin crown across 13 age divisions at the Brisbane Metropolitan Touch Association’s Whites Hill Sporting Complex on 4-5 August 2006.Fox Sports 3 will show Game 3 of the Women’s Open and Game 2 of the Men’s Open Series in their entirity.The games will be replayed across the three Fox Sports channels during November, so be sure to organise yourself and your friends to catch all the action and excitement of the 2006 State of Origin Series on FoxTel.Please check FoxTel electronic guides for updated screening times and programming.Fox 3 Screening Times SOO for all States Wednesday 15 November 20062.00am (Women’s Game 3) 3.00am (Men’s Game 2) – WA3.30am (Women’s Game 3) 4.30am (Men’s Game 2) – NT4.00 am (Women’s Game 3) 5.00am (Men’s Game 2) – QLD4.30am (Women’s Game 3) 5.30am (Men’s Game 2) – SA5.00am (Women’s Game 3) 6.00am (Men’s Game 2) – NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS