Brains for Change

By Hayley Paquette, Staff Contributor

Over 150 students from Dalhousie and King’s College gathered last weekend for two days of interactive workshops and discussions. The Brains for Change conference, hosted by Dalhousie, focused on visioning and action planning to improve the university community through creating a ‘culture of leadership’.
The walls of the McInnes Room in the Student Union Building were covered in oversized sticky notes quoting ideas and action plans from the visions of students from all faculties. They showed the collective brain power of Dalhousie and King’s students who chose to stand up and participate in their futures at the workshops.
Sarah Chamberlain, a fifth-year science student at Dal, volunteered for the weekend.
“It’s sort of like a time capsule for thoughts,” she said. “We are documenting all the discussions and visions that come out of them this weekend to help build a base for future students to add to, so we don’t start from the beginning every four years.”
At university, students often learn about what is wrong with the world, and even the many different solutions. But the hardest thing is often learning how to implement those solutions.
Students from all Dal faculties and campuses were invited to be part of the discussions and share their different views and ideas. They had the chance to discuss ways to improve their sense of community at the university and between faculties.
“The idea is to bring together students from every faculty at Dalhousie. To decrease the distance between faculties and motivate a feeling of community across Dalhousie University,” said Daniel Boyle, a fifth-year arts student helping with the weekend’s activities.
“There is definite disconnect between faculties at Dalhousie,” Boyle said. “With the three different campuses these are particularly tough gaps to close.  We hope to work on uniting the university community through discussions this weekend.”
Boyle participated in Brains for Change before. Last year, he helped co-ordinate the event.
“It’s a great way to get students talking and give them a feeling of empowerment and belonging in their university community,” said Boyle.
Another major theme was the gap between students and the community outside of the university.
Emily Rideout, a fourth-year environmental science and international development student, said, “There needs to be a better integration of the classroom into the community, and vice versa.”
Justin Partridge, another fourth-year environmental science and international development student, agreed. He said students need to put their ideas to work outside the campus community.
“What is the point of all of this if we aren’t using what we’re learning here in the real world?” he asked.