Student Council hosts first annual ‘Wolfies’

622
Reading Time: 4 minutes


The Students’ Representative Council put on the first ever Wolfies on Friday, April 4th. Nominees and their guests filled into the Whitebone Lounge at 7pm. Reno Pereira hosted the event and many were in attendance—including the SRC executives as well as a representative from UNBSJ’s administration.

The Wolfies are the brain-child of SRC President Ashley Macosky, who wanted to boost moral by recognizing the hard work of UNBSJ students involved with student life outside of their studies. The Wolfies focus on extracurricular activity and involvement, not academics.

The awards recognized councillors, clubs, radio shows, athletes and reporters—to name a few of the categories.

The Wolfies for UNB-SRC Councillors of the Year were awarded to Arts Rep/ Senate Member Adam Smith and First Year Rep Sidney Cunningham. Both SRC councillors had made an effort to improve student life this year.

Upon being asked about his Wolfie for Councillor of the Year, Adam Smith stated that, “I’m absolutely honoured, obviously this is the first time that we’ve done the Wolfies. And to get Councillor of the Year is absolutely amazing.”

Smith elaborated on his position as Arts Rep, saying, “The job is really easy when you have such a great team, everybody on council is just an absolute inspiration. From Ashley at the head of it, to Jen, Jordy, Chris, Jess. Just the whole executive top down.”

Sidney Cunningham, who became involved with the SRC his first year at UNBSJ, is ecstatic about his Wolfie: “It really is incredible to have recognition like that.” Concerning the SRC, Cunningham stated that, “They’re eager to let you help, they’re eager to make you feel at home.” The First Year Rep was extremely impressed with the Wolfies themselves, stating, “It’s good to see that, you know, there’s students recognizing the efforts of other students.”

The Wolfie for Reporter of the Year went to The Baron’s Chesley Bobbitt. Chesley covers sports events on—and off— campus, an immense undertaking for any journalist. Considering the vast amount of sporting games that involve UNBSJ’s athletes, Chesley is often writing anywhere from two to four articles a week. He has remained dedicated to The Baron over the past few years and exemplifies what a writer should aspire to be.

The nominees for Local 107.3 FM’s Radio Show of the Year were Andrea Castillejos’ “The Magnificent Seven,” Mosab Habshi and Mohammaed Abuyounis’ “What’s Up Arab,” Josh Stanton’s “Metal for the Masses,” Jenny McDevitt’s “What You Need to Hear,” and Joaquin Zubizarreta and Mwila Mubanga’s “North Meets South.”

Andrea Castillejos won the Wolfie for Best Radio Show of the Year from Local 107.3 FM. Castillejos’ “The Magnificent Seven” features—as stated in the description of her show— “new and recent releases selected to prove that good music still exists.”

Josh Stanton was nominated for his show “Metal for the Masses,” and joked, “To be completely honest, I was totally surprised that someone listens to my show.” Stanton went on to say that, “I come out of my time and do this for free just cause I love sharing music. And to have someone actually recognize it, that’s really cool.”

The Indoor Soccer League recognized a few MVPs at the Wolfies. Laura Sullivan was chosen as the Fall Female MVP, Antoine Tantcou was the Fall Male MVP, Jenny Breen was the Winter Female MVP, Alaa Al-Rimi was the Winter Male MVP, and Shawn “Tino” Mhlanga was the Winter Finals MVP.

There were two Shinerama Wolfies, dubbed the Shine-spirator and the Shoe. Jessica Harrison-Brown was awarded the Shine-spirator Wolfie and Anthony Enman was awarded the Shoe Wolfie. Both Harrison-Brown and Enman have put countless time and energy into Shinerama, ensuring another successful year and, by doing so, have improved the quality of life for those suffering from cystic fibrosis.

In terms of clubs on campus, the following Wolfies were awarded.

S.U.R.E (Students United for Respect and Equality) took home the Wolfie for Best Upcoming Club of the Year, as well as the Wolfie for the Best Club Event of the Year. Their First Steps Benefit Dinner was a huge success, and did not go unnoticed by the UNB-SRC. S.U.R.E is a new club with immense potential, having made their mark already despite their recent beginning. S.U.R.E is an asset to UNBSJ, and frankly a club of this sort has been needed for a long time. As the About section of the S.U.R.E facebook page states, “Everyone should be respected and treated equally no matter what color, age, culture, sex, beliefs, religion.”

The Multicultural Society won the Wolfie for Club of the Year. Over the past few years, the Multicultural Society has been one of the most active clubs on campus. This year alone, they have hosted multiple Trivia Nights and !AGRABAH!— a social event that drew a huge student crowd while featuring cultural performances. There’s little doubt that the Multicultural Society will continue to flourish, they have rapport with students from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

The nominees for Student of the Year included Michael Crate, Jess Buck, Jen Brown, Nina Oginga, and Laura Sullivan. Despite all of the exceptional nominees, only one could be dubbed Student of the Year. Michael Crate deservedly won the Wolfie for Student of the Year.

Michael is extremely involved on campus. He is the Shinerama Chair, co-coordinator for the Student Indoor Soccer League, Media Rep for the SRC, he writes occasionally for The Baron Newspaper, he is a campus tour guide, and he works for Athletics as a student employee.

If anything can be said after the SRC’s First Annual Wolfies, they were a sure success. Students who received Wolfies were grateful for the recognition, and Macosky’s endeavour proved fruitful. Students rarely get acknowledged for their extracurricular activities, so something like the Wolfies are hugely important to improving student life—and thanking those that make it fantastic.

The SRC’s First Annual Wolfie’s have started a tradition, that students will surely want to continue.

Emily is in her fourth year of Political Science. She loves studying and academics which follows into her research work. She's a stern black coffee drinker and is a proud Acadienne. When she's not working or doing school work, you can find Emily listening to 70s music on vinyl and watching Parks and Recreation. If you ask her about parliamentary institutions, she won't stop talking.