Over the Edge + November 25, 2009 NUGSS Pumps Amp Back Up to ANDREW BAILEY EDITOR IN CHIEF Previously in a very special issue of Over the Edge: “What we have here is a clas- sic East meets West battle for event’s dominance.” And now for the dramatic yet predictable conclusion: The West wins! Again. Lets Begin: During the voting days of November 9% and 10", the boxes next to Morgan Melnyk’s name on the ballots to deter- mine who the new NUGSS Associate Director of Events at UNBC will be saw more check marks than Samuel Hunting- tons thesis. Therefore Melnyk, 100 Mile House's most famous Eleven petitor [Hollohan] was out of town and we didn’t have time to reschedule before the election dates, Which is unfortunate be- cause I was definitely looking forward to it.” Due to the absence of Hol- lohan making any forum for public speaking impossible, Melnyk successfully focused his electoral promotion on, in his words, “a lot of posters, Face- book groups and a lot of word of mouth because I definitely know a lot of people on campus.’ Aside from the competition not being present, Melnyk credits his high popularity on campus as well as being in the commerce program for his competitive ad- vantage during the election, as he explains: “my advantage came from going to school the entire time, you definitely create a lot of friends. Commerce is also a pretty tight knit program as well as living on residence you defin- itely have an advantage because you have all those people on rez interested in being involved with the student body. I just love NUGSS, I really do, and I love to plan events so this was actually a really interesting role for me to try to get involved in. So it worked out that this is the one that opened up.’ However he does see room for improve- ment within NUGSS. The major focus of improvement Melnyk hopes to bring to the students from his new NUGSS position is “to get more student voice for the events. Because we sometimes get lost in transla- tion through what NUGSS wants to do. Lots of people like to follow traditions and sometimes students want to see something new; so I’m hoping that I can definitely bring that and do things that they want. Because really that’s what it is at the end of the day we all pay fees and it’s really about what the students want to do.’ As far as bringing new ideas for events to the board Melnyk is very “T think NUGSS is pretty small so you can definitely brainstorm with the entire NUGSS community not just your associates. So I’m just son, will become the newest NUGSS board member while his counterpart, the Toronto- nian Alphonsus Hollohan, will have to wait until next year for another chance at a seat on our student government's table. Historically, the voting for NUGSS board positions has been preceded by speeches and debates from the candidates to give students at UNBC an idea of whom they are voting for. This year, however, was particu- larly unique in that there were no speeches or debates, The rea- son for this was that Hollohan was out of town throughout the campaign period giving Melnyk a strategic advantage in that he was the only candidate actually on campus. Therefore those of you reading this who don't remember seeing any electoral speeches at the school, that’s because there weren't any, not because of any memory loss you may have incurred at the latest box car social. Melnyk explains the impact his competitor's ab- sence during the election had on the campaign by stating that “normally there are supposed to be speeches but there weren't speeches this year. My com- tickled pink to get started” that you can be exposed to. And knowing people on NUGSS too definitely helps.” Melnyk, is on a full tuition scholarship which requires him to take five classes a semester while maintaining a 3.0 G.P.A. As his Olsen, made the decision to re- predecessor, Ciaran sign the Associate Director of Events position earlier this se- mester citing academic reasons, Melnyks high academic com- mitment level would appear to be of hazardous concern. How- ever, Melnyk does not foresee any problem fulfilling his hours with NUGSS a confidence illustrated in his statement: “for NUGSS I have lots of time actually, This pos- commitment ition only requires 15 hours a month, I do expect to end up going over as tends to happen with events and stuff. So at least 20 hours a month probably and I'm definitely okay with that. I live on campus so it’s very easy to be involved.” Melnyk is extremely eager and excited to join the NUGSS board, and begin planning events for UNBC students, as shown in his words: “I’m really Attention! optimistic exclaiming: “I think NUGSS is pretty small so you can definitely brainstorm with the entire NUGSS community not just your associates. So I'm just tickled pink to get started.” With all this enthusiasm and desire for change the obvious question becomes why hasn't our new NUGSS Associate Director of Events ever run for a NUGSS position before in the three previous years he has spent here. Melnyk explains this with: “I was just too busy. I’ve always been involved be- cause I've always known people on (the NUGSS board) so I’ve spent time around the office. So I feel like I’ve always been in- volved with different events and stuff, and helping in and out of the office. So it's an easy transi- tion.” He's young, he’s fresh, he's re- silient and we here at Over the Edge think this kid just might make it after all, Good luck Sir Morgan Mel- nyk and remember just because it falls buttered side up, doesn't automatically mean you should still eat it. A UNBC Student is probably looking at this spot right now and this could have been your ad space. We have distribu- tion to over 4000 students with various ages, interests, and backgrounds and we have reasonable rates so investing in our advertising could result in a great return. Get noticed. Advertise with Over the Edge. For a quote: Phone 250-960-5633 or Email over-the-edge@unbc.ca Friday, Nov 20th is Morgan's first day in Office! How does he feel? Busy! 5 News PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ARIA HANNOLYN CHENG Morgan Melnyk new Associate Director —Events SHELBY PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR As many of you probably didn’t notice, UNBC has been in cam paign mode since October 29, After the untimely resigna- tion of Ciaran Olsen, who held the Associate Director — Events | position, NUGSS immediately sought out his replacement. An- nouncing that there would be a position available at the AGM on October 28° , two candidates were quickly nom- inated. The successful nominees were Morgan Melnyk and Alphonsus Hollohan, both of whom have been very active within the UNBC community and are majoring in Com- merce and Biology, respectively. Both candidates had very little campaign materials and barely advertised doing little more than setting up Facebook groups. While there were no speeches or debates leading up to the bi-election, biographies written by the candidates were provided on the NUGSS website. Unfortunately, the biog- raphies had little in terms of future ambitions once elected to the position and were largely comprised of past endeavors and academic background information. This lack of campaign advertising could be the reason be- hind the atrocious voter turnout. Over the two day voting period, a grand total of 108 undergraduate students took the time out of their day to vote, That being said, Melnyk did hedge out Hollohan by a nearly fifty percent margin with 60 votes to Hollohan’s 37, while 8 people voted to elect neither candidate and 3 ballots were spoiled overall. Melnyk, who has proclaimed himself “your experience in fun,’ is a third year Commerce student who has been very active during his time at UNBC. Moreover, Melnyk has tangible experience in planning events from his time on the UNBC Residence Council where we helped to plan the Charity Semi Formal at the Ramada, the Food Olympics, and the Residence Casino Night. Among other things, Mel- nyk was also been hired as a Residence Assistant where he has successfully planned movie nights, pancake breakfasts, and social awareness nights. Along with his newly elected position as Associate Director — Events, Melnyk is also the Residence Life Assistant and responsible for the resident assistances, and the residences, as well as, planning the An- nual Rez Challenge. The Rez Challenge consists of monthly events to designed to encourage student participation and heighten school spirit. With the bi-election being held so late in the semester, one can assume that the students will have to wait until after the Christmas break before we will be able to see Melnyk work his event planning magic. Hopefully, however, he will not be overwhelmed by his other obligations and be able to provide the students with more than the usual movie nights, and un- memorable events.