The fourth annual Light Up the Night ended the year with another well done celebration. Special thanks to MSU Campus Events, McMaster University Alumni Association, McMaster Students Union (MSU) and McMaster Student Success Centre.
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By: Alex Killian/ SHEC
Want to celebrate the day of love but feel sick at the thought of corporate associations with Valentine’s Day? Do you know that expressions of love are important everyday, but want to do something extra special with someone special? Luckily, it is possible to ignore the complex marketing scheme behind the holiday. The day can be a wonderful opportunity (or excuse) to spend time with people that you love and tell them how much you love them. Best of all, incorporating grateful gestures can be done in a way that is in line with your New Year’s resolution of eating better, getting out more and spending less money.
Planning a date is always a challenge. Instead of the standard Nicholas Sparks movie in theatres, perhaps discover your city. Normally, a suggestion to visit one of the outdoor skating rinks would be appropriate, but considering the El Nino winter, it might be better to plan a hike to one of Hamilton’s famous waterfalls instead. Bring your rain boots and get moving! Alternatively, try another new activity altogether; rock climbing at the gym is a great activity for two!
In the evening, prepare a healthy, homemade dinner together to warm up. Try a fancy-looking-but-remarkably-easy spinach-strawberry-and-feta salad as an appetizer, and a frozen yogurt parfait with the fruits of your choice for desert. Use Greek yogurt for extra protein and add some honey or maple syrup for that added swirl of sweetness. Don’t forget the wine and the candles for a romantic evening! After you exchange gifts, curl up with a movie or a book.
Gifts? Though certainly not a necessity, small gifts can help commemorate the holiday. Skip the Hallmark card and revive the dying art of homemade cards and handwritten expressions of love. Delve into the world of DIY on Pinterest for inspiration. The process of making your own Valentine’s Day card or gift can be meditative and therapeutic, and you might be surprised at what you can make with youwr third grade art skills. The recipient will recognize and appreciate the amount of effort that went into the gift.
To get even craftier, fill a mason jar with individual slips of paper with written compliments, memories and reasons why your partner means a lot to you can be an exciting alternative card that can be “read” over a longer period of time. Moreover, receiving something uniquely made for you makes one feel all sorts of warm fuzzies.
If your sweetheart has a sweet tooth, throwing in Hershey’s kisses can be a nice touch. Alternatively, dark chocolates or dark chocolate covered raisons/peanuts/almonds or even coffee beans make healthier study snacks, and will be especially appreciated as midterms creep up! A midterm survival kit can also be a meaningful gift. Be sure to include coffee, tea, study snacks and useful little things like handcream, socks or gum. If you’re both bookworms, consider exchanging recent books that you each read recently, thus spreading and sharing stories.
Each holiday or special day, Valentine’s Day included, is an opportunity to create memories and traditions with your friends, partners and family. Making your holidays affordable, healthy and sustainable can make the experience together more meaningful and more yours. Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Lights, Ferris wheels, bumper cars, street performers, and a firework show are all components of MSU President Teddy Saull’s re-imagined year-end celebration.
Saull has taken in feedback from McMaster students through one-on-one conversations, focus groups, and surveys, and has returned with a new idea that he presented at the Student Representative Assembly on Jan. 25.
“The idea here is kind of like a carnival-meets-buskerfest-meets-beautiful-fair, but the essence of this thing is the lighting,” said Saull during his presentation. “You’re going to walk onto campus, pretty much no matter where you come on […] you’re going to see this glowing, magnetic event happening and you’re going to say ‘oh I want to go there, I hope it’s free,’ and it is.”
The festival of lights is very different from the original plan – there will be no concert, or cost to students.
The event will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. on April 8, the last day of classes, and will stretch from Mary Keyes to Mills Library.
Near Mary Keyes, there will be a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round, as well as carnival games. Two DJs – one playing modern pop and the other old school dance music – will be located outside, while inside Bridges Café will host an acoustic coffeehouse. At the Sport Hall, the Student Success Centre will be hosting a keynote speaker. Given the $30,000 budget, the speaker will likely be a big name.
Outside of Mills Library will be four McMaster bands playing throughout the night, as well as bumper cars and carnival food.
Various professional buskers will be providing entertainment, and Saull will be working with students from McMaster’s Marching Band, juggling club, and breakdancing club to showcase their skills as well.
The event will end with a fireworks show, a feature voted for by over 60 percent of respondents to Saull’s survey.
“We want this to be an event that everyone can see themselves in,” said Saull.
The cost of the new year-end celebration is also lower than his initial proposal. The re-imagined celebration will cost up to $116,000, in comparison to the original $215,000 proposed allocation.
There will also be 2,000 free parking spaces for commuting students, a donation from the university for the event.
Saull has already raised over $86,000, with the two main contributors being the Alumni Association and the Student Success Centre. The MSU will contribute up to $40,000, depending on if the motion is passed at the next SRA meeting on Feb. 8.
At the meeting, Saull also addressed the earlier criticisms that the money could be better spent.
“I absolutely agree that there are other important things for this organization to spend money on, but I don’t think this is or ever will be an either-or situation. So agreeing to try to pull of a year-end event does not mean that we also can’t fund x, y, and z projects,” he said, citing the Student Life Enhancement Fund as one way to fund important projects.
“This is not a one-off thing,” said Saull. “The financial commitment we’ve received from our major partners – Alumni [Association], Student Success [Centre] – this is something they want to include and move forward with.”
By: Daniel Aruz
The year-end celebration is still very much on the table for MSU President Teddy Saull, even after three recently failed end-of-year celebration Student Representative Assembly motions.
During the report segment of the SRA meeting on Nov. 2, Saull stated that he will be starting a working group regarding what the MSU should “do about a year end celebration if anything.”
The previous SRA meeting saw over fifty students, who came to share their views on how the end of the year celebration money should be put to use. The strongly negative response escalated via online discussion and a petition bearing 500 signatures denouncing the maximum $215,000 proposal. This has been the largest audience an SRA meeting has had in recent memory.
The $215,000 motion was pulled due to the overwhelming negative response, and the failure of Option 2, spending $170,000, and Option 3, the $95,000 allocation. Despite this, Saull continued to ask whether or not he should continue to pursue some form of a year-end celebration, in a scaled-down form.
“I took a straw-poll (this is an informal vote to see how people are feeling on a question less formal than a motion) and the majority of the SRA expressed interest in me continuing to do so. In short, I am continuing the pursuit of this idea on the recommendation of the SRA,” said Saull, via email. “I would certainly have dropped the idea completely if that was the will of the assembly.”
Saull is looking to possibly build a survey to gather student feedback in the coming weeks. He noted throughout the report segment of the meeting that he has been having difficulty in getting feedback from students, who he has supposedly been reaching out to via social media, and focus groups.
“I remain excited about the prospect of some sort of send off event, even if it is completely re-imagined from what I had initially conceived (maybe there’s something we can do that doesn’t cost any money, for example), and I look forward to working with students and university partners to figure out what that might be,” said Saull.
Since the last SRA meeting, Saull noted that he has been paying more attention to social media, and that he is looking into creating surveys for multiple larger projects he has been working on, including Frost week and the year-end celebration.
