UNews - Ashley Lepage

EUS Society celebrates 30 years

trevor.kenney — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:58:32 +0000

What started as a primarily social club, the Education Undergraduate Society (EUS) is now one of the most socially responsible clubs on campus.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the EUS has evolved into a community leader for educational initiatives, reaching out to southern Alberta on a variety of platforms that connect the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to the broader community in multiple ways.

"In the last year or so, that's something we've really been working on, going further with our community involvement," says EUS president Alisha Janiga, a fifth-year education student from Crowsnest Pass.

While the EUS has been active with its Anti-Bullying and Cyberbullying Awareness Week and Bust the Backpack campaigns for the last four years, it has now involved itself with the first Word on the Street festival and local Boys and Girls Club.

"We had a presence at Word on the Street talking about our tutoring program, and we just started working with the Boys and Girls Club as a resource for them, doing some tutoring and working with the kids there," says Janiga. "We're really proud to have been around as a society for 30 years. We've been looking back at resource binders from previous executives and all the work they've done in the past and it's really inspired us to keep going and to try and expand the scope of the EUS."

Ashley Lepage is the EUS vice-president external, and was thrilled to find one of her most influential high school teachers have a history with the EUS.

"Looking back at some of the photos of past executives, I found one of my favourite teachers was a part of EUS," she says of a high school English teacher from her hometown of Airdrie. "She was one of the main reasons I wanted to become a teacher and I never knew she was in EUS when she attended here."

The current Bust the Backpack campaign is on a mission to fill 50 backpacks with basic school supplies for those children who cannot afford the educational necessities. It was born out of need, something that EUS members recognized when they were in schools for practicum experience.

"We distribute the backpacks in January, and that's a time when a lot of students are running out of supplies and in need of help," says EUS vice-president internal, Chelsey Merkel, a Drumheller native.

"We've had a lot of positive feedback from the schools telling us how much their students appreciate it and how it helps them become better learners, so that kind of keeps us going."

Janiga says that the 30th anniversary of EUS has given the executive an excuse to look back and it's exciting to see how much the society has grown.

"It seemed to start as a social support for education students, an outlet to have some fun outside of class and over the years it's grown to become more academic, relating more with faculty and the community," she says.

In fact, it's that faculty support that has been a big part of the EUS moving forward.

"They are our foundation," says Janiga. "If we have any questions they are always there. Both Dr. Rick Mrazek and Dr. Lorraine Beaudin sit on our executive and they help us with so much. If there is anything we need, the faculty has always been beside us with support."

If anyone has information from the early years of the EUS, they are urged to contact alisha.janiga@uleth.ca

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Education Undergraduate Society celebrates its 30th year

trevor.kenney — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:57:19 +0000

What started as a primarily social club, the Education Undergraduate Society (EUS) is now one of the most socially responsible clubs on campus.

Members of the Education Undergraduate Society, including Chelsey Merkel, Alisha Janiga and Ashley LePage display backpacks from their Bust the Backpack initiative.

Ashley Lepage is the EUS vice-president external, and was thrilled to find one of her most influential high school teachers have a history with the EUS.

"We've had a lot of positive feedback from the schools telling us how much their students appreciate it and how it helps them become better learners, so that kind of keeps us going."

Janiga says that the 30th anniversary of EUS has given the executive an excuse to look back and it's exciting to see how much the society has grown.

In fact, it's that faculty support that has been a big part of the EUS moving forward.

If anyone has information from the early years of the EUS, they are urged to contact alisha.janiga@uleth.ca

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Taking a stand against bullying

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:26:45 +0000

The ever increasing use of cyber technology among children is rapidly leading to a transformation in the traditional forms of bullying, with cyberbullying becoming more prevalent among today's youth.

To increase the awareness of cyber bullying and bullying amongst students, teachers and the general public, the third annual ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Anti-bullying and Cyberbullying Awareness Week was held Oct. 4-6.

Organized by the Education Undergraduate Society, the event is the only student-organized anti-bullying campaign in Alberta. The emerging issue of cyberbullying was added to the campaign's itinerary this year.

"We feel there's a real need to inform teachers and student teachers about how to react towards bullying in the classroom and how to support students who are being bullied," says Jenn Shuster, EUS president.

Shuster and Ashley Lepage, the EUS vice-president external, have both been involved in the previous anti-bullying campaigns. They note that bullying is prevalent in schools, regardless of the age of children. It is therefore important for teachers understand the seriousness of the issue and how to recognize it at its earliest stages.

New to the scene is cyberbullying, which Shuster characterizes as intentional hostile behaviour inflicted on others through the use of communication technology. She points out that cyberbullying is much harder to control than traditional forms of bullying.

"There's a greater level of anonymity associated with cyberbullying," says Shuster. "That makes it especially difficult to pinpoint where the problem originates."

One of the unique aspects of cyberbullying is that it does not always happen at school. It is at school, however, where the bully and the bullied often confront one another, highlighting the need of schools to develop policies and curriculums that deal with cyberbullying.

"It's imperative that teachers educate their students against all types of bullying," says Shuster. "We hope that through this campaign, we're able to provide teachers with techniques and resources to do so."

This year the event consisted of four free lecture sessions featuring grad student Chelcie Zimmer (The Experience and Psychological Impact of School Violence), ATA speaker Cynthia Malner-Charest (Cyberbullying and E-liability), ATA speaker Mark Yurik (Tips and Strategies for Preventing and Dealing with Bullying) and Dr. Robin Bright, Dr. Mary Dyck and Constable Tom Gross (Teaching in the 21st Century: Online Citizenship for Ourselves and
Our Students).

Bright, a professor in the Faculty of Education, uses the term "cyber citizenship" when she discusses respectable behaviour online.

"The rules that apply to face-to-face interactions must also be the basis of cyber interactions," she says. "This should apply to texting, e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, personal websites and chat rooms."

She adds that it is crucial children be introduced to the concept of cyber citizenship as early as possible, considering that cell phones and the internet are being used at such young ages.

The EUS raised money in support of bullying.org by selling bracelets at the lectures. A non-profit organization located in Cochrane, bullying.org, is dedicated to increasing the awareness of bullying and to preventing, resolving and eliminating bullying in society through anti-bullying workshops and courses.

The original research documents by Bright and Dyck regarding online communication and social development of rural adolescents in Alberta can be found at www.cybertalk.ca. Those who would like to know more about the campaign against bullying can visit the website www.bullying.org.

UNews - Ashley Lepage

EUS Society celebrates 30 years

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Education Undergraduate Society celebrates its 30th year

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