C/O Travis Nguyen
A closer look at the elected first-year representatives for the MES and their hopes for the future
By: Kirsten Espe, Contributor
On Sept. 27, 2021, the results for the 2021-2022 McMaster Engineering Society elections were announced. After a year and a half of online learning, all candidates, especially the first-year representatives, were excited and optimistic about an in-person university experience.
Following a week-long campaign, six first-year Engineering students were elected by their peers to represent the biotechnology, computer science, engineering 1 and integrated biomedical engineering and health sciences programs.
Halima Banuso, one of the three level one engineering representatives, spoke about her early interest in becoming involved at McMaster.
“[The] MES were basically the ones who ran the Red Suits for Welcome Week . . . I just really loved all the activities and the Red Suits are super cool. I remember me and my friend asked ‘Oh, how do you become a Red Suit because I wanna do that [in my] second year too’,” said Banuso.
Aside from the excitement of returning to a somewhat in-person experience, Banuso was also enthusiastic to get back to doing something that she loved.
“I was that person who just really liked going to every event and planning every event and I was on my high school student council . . . Obviously school’s important, but that’s not necessarily what you’re going to remember and in a few years you’re going to remember the memories, the friends you made, the cool events you got to go to, so I really like being a part of that stuff,” said Banuso.
The first-year integrated biomedical engineering and health sciences representative, Dhanya Koshti, said that one of his main motivators in applying to the position was his desire for community.
“Everyone knows what they’re doing but they are way more for working towards collaboration over competition,” said Koshti.
Koshti made an astute connection between the distinctiveness of his program and the McMaster “Fireball Family” by comparing the bridge of engineering and health sciences.
“We’re sort of that hybrid in-between . . . We have this really unique relationship dynamic with each other and I really wanted to build on that connection,” explained Koshti.
Hetanshu Pandya, the first-year computer science representative, also spoke about the importance of his position in relation to the community at McMaster.
“[Students] can share their thoughts, their experiences, their opinions, whether it be negative or positive . . . and you can share it [with] me and I can communicate that with the council,” said Pandya.
“[Students] can share their thoughts, their experiences, their opinions, whether it be negative or positive . . . and you can share it [with] me and I can communicate that with the council.”
Hetanshu Pandya, first-year computer science representative
Pandya said his main goal is to represent first-year computer science students fairly and effectively, with hopes of exceeding both his and his fellow peers’ expectations for the year.
Due to the partial online environment currently established at McMaster University, candidates found themselves honing their technological skills to campaign, particularly through social media.
Matthew Arias, the biotechnology first-year representative, commented on his campaign that was done on Instagram.
“[The] first thing I did was make an Instagram account because everybody’s on Instagram and it’s kind of the easiest way to reach out. I’d make Instagram posts on another website with graphic designing and I posted on there,” explained Arias.
Arias also highlighted that some of his fellow students would repost his posts without him ever asking, further driving home the sense of community the other representatives spoke about.
All four engineering representatives echoed similar sentiments to their fellow first-year students of the MES prior to the start of their official term.
“To the same extent that you all supported me, I really want to be there to help you guys. That is what this position, really, is all about,” said Koshti.
“To the same extent that you all supported me, I really want to be there to help you guys. That is what this position, really, is all about.”
Dhanya Koshti, FIRST-YEAR INTEGRATED BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND HEALTH SCieNCES REPRESENTATIVE
“Whether things are virtual, or in-person, someone’s on-residence, or off-residence, [I hope that] we can all come together and really feel a part of the McMaster engineering community,” said Banuso.
“Whether things are virtual, or in-person, someone’s on-residence, or off-residence, [I hope that] we can all come together and really feel a part of the McMaster engineering community.”
Halima Banuso, first-year engineering 1 reps
Despite the different circumstances students may be in due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these four representatives look forward to building a strong community for first-year engineering students.
It’s the little things and experiences that lay the groundwork for connection with others
C/O @british library
What is it, exactly, that bonds us to others?
For many students, we find a connection to those around us through school. Whether it be the people that we meet during Welcome Week, in classes, through clubs or through mutual acquaintances, it’s safe to say that there’s ample opportunity to make connections in your time at McMaster University.
But what exactly separates your best, lifelong friends from the random dude whose contact is still in your phone from your first-year chemistry class?
But what exactly separates your best, lifelong friends from the random dude whose contact is still in your phone from your first-year chemistry class?
I’d beg to argue that it’s a third thing. Mutual, shared points of connection between people that bond us in joint wonder. For some, our connection through school is a third thing. For others, the third thing is a sport, the arts or an experience. Whatever it may be, it’s our third things that truly create lasting relationships.
Now, let me give credit where credit is due. The idea of a third thing isn’t exactly mine.
I recently reconnected with an acquaintance from high school who shared the same set of lived experiences that I did but still managed to seldom intersect with my life. We reconnected through a class discussion in breakout rooms, as people do in Zoom university. We lived adjacent but separate lives in a high school of 1,200 people, but our paths finally crossed in a university with a population of 30,000. What are the odds?
We instantly clicked. I think we’d spoken a total of once before — if that? But we were instantly on the same wavelength. Our conversation quickly veered to speaking about our high school experiences and even though we had hardly crossed paths then, our experiences were astonishingly similar.
We reminisced about how absurdly hyper-competitive our high school experience was, with our academically driven group of peers. We joked that the most often used pickup line in those halls was “so, what’s your average?” We laughed at how the less sleep you got, the bigger the flex. We agreed about how you get a choice of two of the following three: good grades, good health or a good social life.
These were things that we just thought were acceptable at the time. It was a school environment that perpetuated hustle culture. Where to be the best, you had to work the hardest and grind the most. It was stifling and absurd. I realize now that it was one of the only things that connected me to my friends at the time.
As we chatted in our breakout room from the comfort of our bedrooms in our hometown of Ottawa, we discovered a shared love of reading. She shared with me this beautiful piece of prose that we both connected to instantly.
It was a piece by Donald Hall, called The Third Thing. Hall wrote it at his wife’s bedside, as she died from leukemia. Throughout the piece, he describes this concept of the titular third thing: a singular idea or point of connection between yourself and another person.
“Most of the time [my wife and I’s] gazes met and entwined as they looked at a third thing. Third things are essential to marriages, objects or practices or habits or arts or institutions or games or human beings that provide a site of joint rapture of contentment. Each member of a couple is separate; the two come together in double attention . . . John Keats can be a third thing, or the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or Dutch interiors, or Monopoly,” wrote Hall.
“Most of the time [my wife and I’s] gazes met and entwined as they looked at a third thing. Third things are essential to marriages, objects or practices or habits or arts or institutions or games or human beings that provide a site of joint rapture of contentment. Each member of a couple is separate; the two come together in double attention . . . John Keats can be a third thing, or the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or Dutch interiors, or Monopoly.”
Donald Hall
Ironically enough, The Third Thing became our third thing, for a moment. As was our shared love of reading and inspiration we drew from literature.
For those at our high school, we agreed, their third thing was school itself. By no means do I want to invalidate sharing the connection of school and education with friends and colleagues. However, we both found that we’d lost that connection with our peers. It was the first time I realized that I’d begun to fall out with those that I used to call my best friends, as our third thing disappeared.
By losing that third thing, we had nothing left with so many of our old friends. It was the only point of connection that we truly had. Without the pressures and stress and competition, the connections fell apart. What’s left of a friendship when there’s nothing to bond over?
But with one connection gone comes the opportunity to strengthen what’s left. With some of my friends, our third thing is screaming Hamilton lyrics at the top of our lungs on road trips. Midnights spent loitering around suburbs. A mutual hatred of the existence of nickels. A crushing obsession with Breath of the Wild. Crocs as our footwear of choice. The list goes on and on.
But with one connection gone comes the opportunity to strengthen what’s left. With some of my friends, our third thing is screaming Hamilton lyrics at the top of our lungs on road trips. Midnights spent loitering around suburbs. A mutual hatred of the existence of nickels. A crushing obsession with Breath of the Wild. Crocs as our footwear of choice. The list goes on and on.
Each and every third thing brings us closer together. These small moments, ideas and figments of friendships past keep us going strong.
As a first-year student, I know it’s more difficult than ever to meet others right now. Getting to know people can be awkward and uncomfortable in a normal year, let alone in the midst of a pandemic.
But I assure you, third things are there and ever-present. I’ve found third things with newfound online friends in the form of our mutual shared experience of writing for the Sil, which turned into joking over a professor’s love of Animal Crossing. I’ve found them in a mutual more-than-dislike of online schooling, turned into a love of musical theatre, turned into a discussion on choosing favourite basketball players based on their wholesome-ness. I’ve found a third thing in the poem The Third Thing itself.
Please, I urge you to find a third thing and hold it close. Hold to it for dear life and never let it go once you find it.
A guide to staying connected during these trying times
As Hamilton moves into the heart of the winter months and a stricter lockdown removes the option to have socially-distant visits or other outdoor activities, many are looking for new ways to stay connected with loved ones.
Over the break, my siblings and I spent a lot of time thinking about other ways we could safely spend with our loved ones, beyond the typical Zoom call. Below are a few fun activities that we came up with that will hopefully help us all get through these next few difficult weeks.
BOOK CLUBS AND EXCHANGES
Many book clubs have moved online over the last few months, while new ones have also been popping up. If you don’t want to join an established book club, you could also start your own with your family or friends, giving you both something to do and talk about the next time you chat.
Similarly, you could also participate in a book exchange with a loved one. You each send the other a book that you’ve enjoyed recently. To make it more personal, you could maybe include some notes inside sharing well wishes or your thoughts on the story.
Additionally, this kind of exchange could work for almost anything else that you and your loved ones enjoy as well, such as music, podcasts and recipes.
GAMES
Online games, such as Among Us and Codenames, have become incredibly popular over the last year. Implementing a game night, or even perhaps a tournament can be a nice alternative to the typical Zoom call as well as something a bit more light-hearted and fun.
Trivia nights can be fun as well. There also a number of trivia games that you could play over Zoom, or you could create your own tailored to the interests of you and your loved ones!
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Many have used their new-found time during the pandemic to learn new skills, but why not do this with a loved one? Maybe your friend is excellent at coding, or your grandmother is an amazing knitter and you’ve always wanted to learn. You could each teach one another something or learn something entirely new together!
Many local libraries offer resources for learning a variety of skills. Depending on the skill in question there are also a number of specific resources readily available online. Some local crafting businesses, such as Handknit Yarn Studio offer resources and tutorials on their websites as well.
Language learning especially can be a great option as it requires minimal tools and you’re able to practice together.
PEN PALS
Change up the method of staying in touch! Zoom calls can become draining after a while and most everyone loves to receive letters.
Or instead of sending letters, send postcards either through a service such as Postcards From Anywhere or by creating your own using online templates. While the former can make a great talking point, the latter can be especially nice for grandparents and far away relatives who may not have any recent photos of you.
SHARE A MEAL
Order some food, potentially from the same restaurant, and eat together. As well, some local businesses, like Tea Amo, offer small platters or “lunchboxes” that can be ordered ahead of time and then enjoyed together during a call.
You could also cook or bake something together over a call. You could each make your favourite dishes or exchange recipes. Maybe try teaching a friend to make one of your favourite desserts or ask your grandmother to teach you some family recipes.
Regardless, whatever ways you find to keep connections with loved ones, be creative and considerate. Just as much as you think about things that you enjoyed together before the pandemic, try to think about new things as well. It won’t necessarily be the same as before but that doesn’t mean that it can’t still be something good.
In an isolating pandemic, music serves as a crucial way for us to cope
By: Jesica Martinez de Hoz, Contributor
The arts are repeatedly seen as non-essential. Yet, as COVID-19 has heightened issues in our economic, social and political structures, we look to music not only as a distraction from the outside world but as a means of connection.
Though it may seem like more than a lifetime ago, if you think back to March of this year you might remember the viral story about people all over Italy stepping out onto their balconies and joining together in song. After being restricted to their homes due to a country-wide lockdown, many Italians chose to use music as a way to keep their spirits up and stay in touch throughout an extremely distressing time.
A lot of musicians, rather than singing from the rooftops, have been using this time indoors to concentrate on making music. While some artists, like Taylor Swift, were able to write, record and make music videos for an entire album during the pandemic, others have had to come up with innovative ideas on how to collaborate and continue creating. Yet, regardless of any new struggles they have to face, the pandemic has not stopped musicians from making music.
Thank goodness for that. While this was happening across the globe, many Canadian students, including myself, were finishing up the winter 2020 semester online. Now, more than ever, do we need music to help us get by. Just as musicians use their songs as a way to express themselves, we listen to them in order to brighten our mood, better understand our own emotions or simply escape. Whether it was used to pass the time or as a diversion from current events, the amount of media consumed rapidly increased.
Music has helped me cope with the events of the last couple of months through a radio show which I host on CFMU, McMaster University’s community radio station. In being able to produce a new show every week, I’m given a creative outlet to share my thoughts, as well as the chance to promote the artists who have helped me de-stress while being stuck inside.
In being able to produce a new show every week, I’m given a creative outlet to share my thoughts, as well as the chance to promote the artists who have helped me de-stress while being stuck inside.
At first, it was difficult to transition from recording live at the station, to trying to figure out how to use GarageBand all by myself. However, like many musicians, in forcing me to adapt, this pandemic has provided me with the opportunity and incentive to learn a new skill that I would have never otherwise attempted.
With several of CFMU’s hosts also taking steps to record their shows from home, the station has continued to act as a bridge between the McMaster and Hamilton communities during this period of isolation. Locally and globally, radio is helping musicians remain connected with their fans and listeners stay connected within their communities, showing yet another one of the music’s many influences.
We often take for granted how substantial music is in our daily lives, even before COVID-19. Yet, whether it's an outlet for us to be creative and express ourselves, a diversion from stressful current events or a way to feel connected, music has been an essential way for many to manage in this pandemic.
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By: Steven Chen
On Sept. 11, McMaster initiated a yearlong series, “Big Ideas, Better Cities” at the David Braley Health Sciences Centre in downtown Hamilton.
The yearlong series of events promotes the role of university research in overcoming twenty-first century issues. Funded through McMaster’s Forward with Integrity initiative, “Big Ideas, Better Cities,” is the product arising from extensive collaboration between the university community and city officials. Each event is prepared by an interdisciplinary group of researchers and will focus on various themes relevant to the city of Hamilton—ranging from the impact of aging on society, the vital role of healthy neighbourhoods in building city life, to the impact of climate change on public policy and community health.
The event on Friday, Sept. 11 featured Stephen Huddart, President and CEO of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, who gave a keynote talk on “How Universities Can Help Make Cities Great.”
“Universities and cities have so much that they can do together,” said Huddart. “They have the potential to shape cities that work for everybody—cities that are positioning themselves for the next generation to succeed with meaningful work and cities that are successful in creating the unique and generating spaces that distinguish themselves.”
The talk addressed the challenge of urban poverty for cities like Hamilton.
“The Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction has been doing really important work in this area using the collective impact approach, and we’re seeing positive signs of improvement there,” said Huddart, “but frankly it’s not moving as fast as we would hope and so I think we need to be asking ourselves what more can we do.”
Huddart believes that in order to combat the urban poverty within the Hamilton region, it is crucial to propagate initiatives such as the Living Wage campaign and to encourage investments in the social economy.
“Anchor institutions in Hamilton [need] to come together and pool their purchasing power to support the development of new enterprises, including worker-owned cooperatives.”
The proposed plan for enterprise development involves having anchor institutions act as built-in customers. It is a means of ensuring that companies undergo business development and provide proper training knowing that there is the safety of a pre-established customer base.
Huddart believes that undergraduate education is an additional topic of concern, as lecture-style teaching at the undergraduate level offers little advantage to online courses that can be accessible at little to no cost.
“I think part of the answer [to how universities can make their experience valuable],” explains Huddart, “is by giving students the opportunity to work on real-world issues in real places. This means putting further emphasis on research involving local issues, on service learning and on developing partnerships with community institutions.”
The notion that there is great potential for students to make a direct difference in the community while pursuing career and business opportunities was underlined throughout the talk.
“Students are not interested in making money simply for money’s sake,” said Huddart. “We live in times when we all need to make a difference, and I think young people today are ready to step up.”
The “Big Ideas, Better Cities” series brings forth a positive conversation between McMaster and the city of Hamilton with the aim of fuelling collaboration.
“I think we need a lot more that,” said Huddart, “there is too much silo-ing and too much institutional ego getting in the way of moving forward together on the issues that matter.”
Subsequent segments of the “Big Ideas, Better Cities” series—each of which addresses critical issues or innovations—are expected to take place throughout the year. Upcoming talks include: “Living Long, Living Well,” featuring Dr. Parminder Raina on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, and “Better Communities Through Better Data,” featuring A. Abigail Payne on Nov. 3 and 4. More information can be found on the project’s website.
“I think the point we wish to make, is that social innovation looks at how we can turn challenges into economic opportunities,” Huddart said. “It is vital for us to confront the challenge of changing our systems so that people can go to work on creating positive outcomes.”
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