With files from Carly Churchill, Kathleen Jones, Hannah Whaley and Josh Young
Dalhousie University is home to over 300 clubs and societies. Most of them are created by students for students.
There are multiple societies created each year. The goal is to create a society that appeals to a specific group of students so everyone can find a space and friends they enjoy.
The Dalhousie Student Union oversees the ratification of societies and has more information on all societies at Dal on the DSU app.
Dalhousie Synchronized Swimming Club
The 2018-2019 season will be Dalhousie Synchronized Swim Club’s first year. The club was established by Caitlin Schroop who is studying at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie. Schroop created the team because she wanted to continue competing during her law degree. She previously swam for the University of Waterloo during her undergrad.
The club is currently the only active synchronized university swimming team on the East Coast, with the Canadian University Synchronized Swimming League.
It’s open to anyone, it’s not exclusive to experienced synchronized swimmers. The team plans on – at the very least – having a water show to showcase their routines at the end of the season. They also hope to compete this year but there’s no concrete schedule for that, yet.
There will be an information session for the society at an undetermined date. To be notified of when the information session will be or to find out more about the synchro society, reach Schroop at dalhousiesynchro@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list.
Dalhousie International Business Association (DIBA)
The Dalhousie International Business Association (DIBA) is a new society joining the ranks of Dal societies for the 2018 school year.
It was created by Fabian Wat, in hopes of forming a group of individuals willing to discuss different topics within international business. Such as international business laws, ethics and foreign business policies.
DIBA is open to all students but will particularly interest students studying or interested in international business. Wat hopes that the society will also be a place where you can ask questions and learn about topics regarding international business. Wat says he’s happy to answer questions at Fabian.Wat@dal.ca.
Dalhousie Employment and Labour Law Association (DELLA)
Dalhousie Employment and Labour Law Association (DELLA) is a newly ratified society this year. It was organized and put together by a few students attending the Schulich School of Law.
Maryn Marsland is one of the organizers and founders of the society. She says it was created by law students studying employment and workers rights laws.
They want it to be a society for people interested in labour law to come together, share and discuss, and to form connections in the field. They also want to create a space where students who are wondering about their rights as workers, can come and feel like they can be informed.
So far they have ideas to bring in speakers and host panels each semester to discuss new issues of labour law and employment in Canada. The society is meant to interest law students who are studying or interested in labour law and employment, but it’s open to all law students. For more info, get in touch with maryn@dal.ca.
Women in Technology Society
The Women in Technology Society was created as a space for women who are STEM students – because of the gender gap for women in the STEM departments at Dal.
The people who created this society did so because they believe that women in technology should be supported and celebrated. They want to create equality within the STEM community focusing on the technology component.
The society holds social and educational events for women in technology, but anyone of any gender is always welcome to join. They say they could use more members to help organize and plan events, and to participate.
They also want to hold events to support the technology community outside of Dalhousie, expanding to supporting the technology community throughout Halifax. For more information on the society and how to get involved their website is http://wits.cs.dal.ca/ or email them at wits@dal.ca.
The Dalhousie Earth Orbit and Space Systems Lab Society
The Dalhousie Earth Orbit and Space Systems Lab Society was created in October 2017. The society has a lab at Dal where a satellite design was created and submitted into the Canadian Satellite Design Competition (CSDC).
A few months after the design was submitted, members of the society discovered a project proposed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA): the CSA was willing to provide funding to Canadian universities to design and build a satellite, it would even sponsor launch costs.
The Earth and Orbit society partnered with the Dalhousie Engineering department and were granted $200,000. The Dal Earth Orbit and Space Systems Lab Society is currently working toward training new students to take over current members roles – especially in terms of the engineering side of the project – as the whole project is expected to take another two years to meet the 2020 launch date and most of the current students are graduating soon.
They plan to have social media accounts up and running for September, but they can be reached through Arad, one of the society members, at arad@dal.ca. Or look at their website www.dalorbits.ca.
The Dalhousie Theology Society
This September will be the first active year of the Dalhousie Theology Society.
Adam Lucas and Derek van Voorst are the co-founders but van Voorst originally came up with the idea. They created this society so that students could have a place to talk about theology without having to necessarily practice a religion. The idea is to come in as a group and discuss matters and topics of theology.
The society is open to people of all faith or no faith. They have plans to meet bi-weekly and once a month have an event where a faith leader in the community comes by and gives a lecture.
People involved in the society are not pressured to attend all meetings and may attend however many or little meetings as they wish. Their hope is for it to be a place of discussion, respect, and maturity.
If you want more info, join the Dalhousie Theology Society facebook page, where updates on information sessions, meetings, and events get posted.
Vanishing White Matter Society
The Vanishing White Matter Disease Society will be joining Dalhousie this fall.
Zeina Atwi is the founder of this society. She created it to raise awareness for vanishing white matter disease. A genetic disorder that affects the nervous system and the main symptoms are neurological.
She was inspired to create this society because a family member of hers has vanishing white matter disease. It’s also something generally not known about – which is why she finds it important to raise awareness for it.
There are no concrete plans for exactly how awareness will be created throughout the Dal community yet, but if you’d like to find out more, contact Atwi at Zn332072@dal.ca.
The Dalhousie Black, Indigenous and People of Colour Caucus (BIPOCUS) society
Aisha Abawajy created the Dalhousie Black, Indigenous and People of Colour Caucus (BIPOCUS) society. It’s a society for all students identifying as Black, Indigenous and of Colour (BIPOC).
Abawajy was first the president of the Dalhousie Arts and Social Sciences Society (DASSS) and was inspired then to create BIPOCUS within it. After getting positive feedback from people, she decided to make it a separate society.
The focus of the society is to have a safe space for BIPOC students. A place where they can go and talk about race, racism and the issues they face, and to support and uplift each other. She hopes this will be a place where BIPOC individuals feel safe to talk about the reality of racism, a space to build each other up and create the best community space for BIPOC students at Dal.
They want to be open to all BIPOC students because everyone has a different experience of how racism impacts them, and want people with those different experiences to come in. They aim for this to be a place where they can highlight excellence within their communities.
People who are interested in joining or knowing more about BIPOCUS can visit their Facebook page: Dalhousie Black, Indigenous and People of Colour Caucus, or follow them on twitter @bipocus or send them an email bipocus@dal.ca.
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