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Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 9:56 am
A St. Francis Xavier University human nutrition student is already blazing new trails in Canadian health care.
Kolten MacDonell of Port Hood, NS, who graduated from StFX in May, has won first place among students across the country in the Health Council of Canada’s second annual Health Innovation Award, highlighting best practices in Canadian health care.
Mr. MacDonell won the Health Innovation Award in the individual category for his submission regarding the success of HEAL Cape Breton, a community health promotion initiative focusing on healthy food choices and physical activity to promote health improvements.
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 9:52 am
From April 26 to May 9, 11 StFX students joined with faculty leader, history professor Dr. Rhonda Semple, to travel to Belize for a 13-day Immersion Service Learning experience that focused on Mayan culture with service placements in a local school, assisting a local herbalist, partnering with a community organization, and the Belize Zoo & Tropical Education Center.
“We had a great trip. It was hot, we were bug-bitten, and we worked like dogs, but we were also challenged and learned so much,” says Dr. Semple. “The students came from across the disciplines, but they gelled immediately, and they both brought experience and expertise to the experience, and each took something unique away from it.”
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 9:50 am
While classes may pause for Reading Week, this Feb. 18-27, the learning certainly won’t stop for 51 StFX students who leave on Friday, Feb. 18 as participants in StFX’s 2011 Immersion Service Learning program. A further 11 students will take part in another immersion experience in April.
From working on organic farms in Cuba to focusing on community development in Guatemala, the students will complete a weeklong experiential education placement in Cuba, Grenada, Guatemala, L’Arche Ottawa, and Mexico, with a sixth trip to Belize in April.
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 9:46 am
James Bray, a 2010 StFX sociology honours graduate from Antigonish, NS, who starred academically, in social justice issues, and in community development, has been selected as a Rhodes Scholar for 2011.
Mr. Bray, 23, graduated in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in sociology and a subsidiary in development studies. He will begin study next October at the University of Oxford in England. The scholarship provides for all expenses for travel to and study at Oxford for two years with an option for the third year. The current value is in excess of $100,000.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 3:22 pm
A St. Francis Xavier University human nutrition student is already blazing new trails in Canadian health care.
Kolten MacDonell of Port Hood, NS, who graduated from StFX in May, has won first place among students across the country in the Health Council of Canada’s second annual Health Innovation Award, highlighting best practices in Canadian health care.
Mr. MacDonell won the Health Innovation Award in the individual category for his submission regarding the success of HEAL Cape Breton, a community health promotion initiative focusing on healthy food choices and physical activity to promote health improvements.
“I’m really happy to make the case for HEAL Cape Breton and how it can be a model for Canada,” he says. “I worked as an intern and I hope this helps give them some national recognition.”
“This year’s winning entries exemplify the goal of the Health Innovation Awards. By asking students to engage in the health care system today, they learn and contribute to change for tomorrow,” said John G. Abbott, CEO of the Health Council of Canada.
The Health Innovation Award is an opportunity for Canada’s future health leaders to contribute to the discussion on health care renewal. This year’s contest challenged Canadian university and college students to identify a best practice in health care that deserves to be a model for the rest of Canada.
Mr. MacDonell will attend the awards ceremony hosted by the Health Council of Canada on May 30, 2011, in Ottawa.
His paper focused on the innovative approach of HEAL Cape Breton as a community-wide health promotion initative within Cape Breton District Health Authority. Launched in June, 2009, HEAL Cape Breton (Healthy Eating Active Living) is an organization created in association with Cape Breton District Health Authority (CBDHA) to increase the number of Cape Bretoners over five years who make healthy food choices and engage in physical activity of sufficient frequency to promote health improvements, as well as to increase the awareness of obesity as a health risk. Promotion and social marketing of healthy eating and active living by creating a community-based ongoing education program regarding the hazards of obesity and physical inactivity and developing partnerships within communities is the approach taken by HEAL Cape Breton.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 3:20 pm
From April 26 to May 9, 11 StFX students joined with faculty leader, history professor Dr. Rhonda Semple, to travel to Belize for a 13-day Immersion Service Learning experience that focused on Mayan culture with service placements in a local school, assisting a local herbalist, partnering with a community organization, and the Belize Zoo & Tropical Education Center.
“We had a great trip. It was hot, we were bug-bitten, and we worked like dogs, but we were also challenged and learned so much,” says Dr. Semple. “The students came from across the disciplines, but they gelled immediately, and they both brought experience and expertise to the experience, and each took something unique away from it.”
Dr. Semple says the group worked on repairing pathways at the Belize Zoo - spreading rocks so that visitors can see if snakes come onto the path. They also tiled a library in a school (cementing a loonie into the floor), worked with children in their classes, and led both an arts and sports days at the school. The group also donated sports equipment
“For me, the richest learning came in being exposed to the diversity of ethnicities in Belize,” Dr. Semple says. “For example there is a cultural difference between people of mixed race descent with Afro-Caribbean background - and those who are ethnically similar but who descend from people who escaped from being slaves before emancipation. We also were really faced with the reality of what western tourism and development has done to Belize in the past 30 years.”
Second year political science student Mary Anne MacDonald from Antigonish, NS says the experience was very relevant to her studies. “I’ve taken a few development studies classes, and it was great to finally have the chance to visit a developing country. We made many observations stemming from socio-economic and cultural differences between Canada and Belize.”
Ms. MacDonald is currently completing an interdisciplinary class through Service Learning which involves writing a paper about a topic of her choice incorporating her personal experience on the trip with academic research. “I am researching ecotourism in Belize, which is basically an effort toward establishing sustainable development thorough the tourism industry by focusing on conservation of the environment while also contributing to the local community and economy. Working on this project during the trip was actually more of a bonus than a burden because it gave me the initiative to talk to a number of interesting people who work in the ecotourism industry.”
She says she decided to participate in Service Learning as it was a good way to ease into international travel. “Belize was my first visit to a developing country and I was glad to have good company. On the way to Belize, we found out in Halifax that our flights were cancelled; not delayed, but simply cancelled. Conveniently, we didn’t have to worry as the good folks at Service Learning were working behind the scenes to make alternate arrangements.”
She says their time in Maya Center was very much in the spirit of ecotourism as they lived in the community in the family compound, experienced first-hand the Mayan culture through food, music, and dancing; volunteered at the school, played with the kids, were in and out of the jungle; even learned how to make traditional meal: “Something that I would never have experienced in a mass resort type situation.”
Ms. MacDonald says she was fascinated by the fact that most people in Maya Center Village speak three to five languages. “I was chatting with a few boys who were intrigued that I knew French, a new language for them. I taught them a few words and they avidly took notes. It soon caught on and other students brought notebooks to copy down the words too. I was surprised, yet thrilled that these young people wanted to absorb another language despite having already mastered several others. A few of the boys continued to greet me in French for the rest of the week.” -
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 3:14 pm
While classes may pause for Reading Week, this Feb. 18-27, the learning certainly won’t stop for 51 StFX students who leave on Friday, Feb. 18 as participants in StFX’s 2011 Immersion Service Learning program. A further 11 students will take part in another immersion experience in April.
From working on organic farms in Cuba to focusing on community development in Guatemala, the students will complete a weeklong experiential education placement in Cuba, Grenada, Guatemala, L’Arche Ottawa, and Mexico, with a sixth trip to Belize in April.
The placements are a shared group experience where students learn from one another and participate in daily reflections and community service.
A record number of students, representing over 20 disciplines, applied to take part in the program this year. Each immersion experience is at its capacity. StFX was the first Canadian university to offer an immersion service learning program.
Students are so excited for the experience, some have gone out of their way to prepare. In February, six boxes of sports equipment (t-shirts, soccer balls, socks, medals, and sports bags) arrived from Calgary, AB to first-year human kinetics student, Jalin Couper. The donation came from family friend Susan Burke, who works for the Northern Community Hills Association in Calgary. Jalin will bring the equipment with her to distribute during her Belize experience. “You can communicate through sports,” she says. “It breaks down language barriers and you share a common goal and create stronger friendships. Teams are like families.”
Immersion Service Learning experiences this year include:Cuba - Thirteen students will travel with faculty leader, political science professor, Dr. Yvon Grenier, to Cuba, visiting the University of Cienfuegos. The focus will be on sustainable development issues with emphasis on eco-tourism, alternative medicine, environmental protection, and agriculture and food security, with service placements in the agriculture sector: organic farms, collective farms, and organiponicos.
Grenada – Development studies professor Dr. Jonathan Langdon and 12 students will travel to Grenada where the focus will be on learning about rural Grenada and economic, social, and cultural life of this tiny Caribbean island and working with children in educational roles, with service placements in pre-primary, primary and high schools.
Guatemala – Another dozen students will join business professor Dr. Denton Anthony in Guatemala with hosts from the Breaking the Silence Network to focus on community development, peace building after years of civil war, fair trade, the Mayan culture and the coffee industry, with service placements in small rural coffee farms and school projects.
L’Arche Ottawa – Psychology professor Dr. Karen Brebner and two students will spend the week at L’Arche Ottawa with a focus on living and working with people who have developmental disabilities and those who wish to share life with them, with service placements living and assisting in L’Arche homes in Ottawa.
Mexico – Nursing faculty member Dr. Charmaine McPherson will led 12 students to Mexico for a placement hosted by the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (CCIDD), an ecumenical social justice centre. The focus is on issues affecting women, health, co-operative ventures, the impact of free trade and indigenous issues, with service placements in a children’s breakfast program, Orphanage, Habitat for Humanity, and youth shelter.
Belize - From April 26 to May 9, 11 more students will join with faculty leader, history professor Dr. Rhonda Semple to travel to Belize with a strong focus on Mayan culture with service placements in a local school, to assist a local herbalist, partner with a community organization, and Belize Zoo & Tropical Education Center.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 3:05 pm
James Bray, a 2010 StFX sociology honours graduate from Antigonish, NS, who starred academically, in social justice issues, and in community development, has been selected as a Rhodes Scholar for 2011.
Mr. Bray, 23, graduated in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in sociology and a subsidiary in development studies. He will begin study next October at the University of Oxford in England. The scholarship provides for all expenses for travel to and study at Oxford for two years with an option for the third year. The current value is in excess of $100,000.
“I’m excited, I’m lucky,” says Mr. Bray who was back in his hometown of Antigonish for a few days on a whirlwind trip from Peru, where he is currently working as a Coady International Institute Youth Intern. “I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be really good.”
“We’re absolutely thrilled at this wonderful news and send congratulations to James on his impressive achievement,” says StFX President Dr. Sean Riley. “James is an accomplished and intrepid graduate. He personifies the Xaverian ideals of high achievement both inside and outside the classroom,” says Dr. Riley, himself a former Rhodes Scholar.
Mr. Bray says he benefitted tremendously from the small class sizes at StFX, particularly the chance it brought to interact and discuss issues with faculty members, including his academic advisor Dr. Rod Bantjes, on a one-to-one basis. It whetted his appetite for future study. “I liked the challenging academic environment,” he says.
“My time at StFX has given me the opportunity to develop my critical thinking skills and to envision new ways of thinking about community.
“The size of StFX allowed kinds of interaction which made learning outside of the classroom possible and I am grateful to both the students and professors that I have had the opportunity to work and study with.”
Mr. Bray, who intends to pursue an M.Phil. in Development Studies at Oxford, investigating the linkages between the experiences of citizens of the developing world and the economic, social and political dynamics which condition those experiences, with a view to a career in international development work, says the flexibility of the StFX Arts Faculty allowed him to spend a full academic year studying in Ecuador as part of his degree. While stepping outside of the norm, he said there was understanding and amazing flexibility from his professors and the administration that this was a great learning opportunity.
“This was a tremendous experience, and not one that I would have been willing to undertake without the skills and confidence that I gained during my time at StFX.”
Rhodes Scholar candidates must undergo a rigorous application process to be considered for the prestigious award.
Established under the will of Cecil Rhodes, the scholarships have been awarded since 1903. Recipients are extraordinary accomplished young people with outstanding scholastic records. The scholarship, however, is not awarded on the basis of academic distinction alone. Recipients must also have integrity of character, vigor, interest in and a respect for their fellow human beings, the ability to lead and the energy to use their talent to the full.
From the feedback Mr. Bray has received from the selection committee, members were impressed with the variety and depth of the things he has been involved with.
Mr. Bray compiled an impressive record during his time at StFX. An Academic Dean’s list student and Millennium Scholar, he also received the Rev. Frank J. Mifflen Award for Sociology this spring, awarded to the top honours graduate in sociology. He was also employed as a Student Leader with the StFX Service Learning Program.
In the course of his degree, he studied Spanish at the University of New Brunswick in 2008 and spent two terms participating in the Trent in Equador Program in Equador during which he pursued his interest in development studies in a Spanish immersion environment.
He is an active volunteer, including co-founding the Inspire 2010 Youth Leadership and Social Justice Conference in Antigonish in May 2010 and serving as treasurer of the StFX chapter of Amnesty International. He is fluent in spoken and written Spanish, has been an active participant and coach in track and field and plays guitar and ukulele. He was elected to the StFX President’s Circle of Young Alumni, which recognizes leadership and contributions to student life.
