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THE MARK

MONDAY JANUARY 27, 2014

ALLEN, KIRKEGAARD WIN TOP SEATS

I am very grateful for the

opportunity to give back
to this community

Celine Allen, SRC president-elect

JAKE SMITH
Celine Allen and Kyle Kirkegaard
were elected President and Vice President
of the Students Representative Council on
Friday, overcoming a competitive field of
candidates, navigating the dated SRC campaign policies, and engaging 68 percent of
the student body. Ms. Allen, serving as the
6th SRC President, and Ms. Kirkegaard,
serving as the 5th SRC Vice President, will
be the first female duo to hold the positions
concurrently.
Of course, it means a great deal
to me to have been elected... I am very
grateful for the opportunity to give back to
this community. said Allen after learning
the election results. Kirkegaard expressed
a similar sentiment. It means a lot to me
coming from such a vibrant and diverse

community, I am truly honoured, she said.

While the percentage of the electorate engagement fell from 70 to 68 percent, the 368 total student votes surpassed
last years vote total by 71 votes. Receiving
support from 69 percent of the votes, Allen
won decisively in the first round. The path
to victory for Kirkegaard was narrower, but
still commanding. Winning in the second
round when garnering 51 percent of the
votes.
The similarities between the two
go deeper than their decisive victories. In
equally eloquent, concise, and conservative
campaign speeches, Allen and Kirkegaard
outlined comparable visions for next years
SRC. Both lobbied for increased student
engagement, continued support of currents
clubs, and were forthright in their hesitancy to promise big changes.

During Tuesdays candidate debate and Q&A, Allen alluded to the ambiguous campaign policies when I asked
which Vice Presidential candidate she
would prefer to work with next year: I
dont think, with how restrictive our election campaign rules are, I should be using
this stage to proclaim any Vice Presidential
candidate at this time.
After the election, Allen clarified
her points of issue with the current campaign policies: Like many other aspects of
the current constitution, the campaign policies are a relic of a time when the campus
population was much smaller.
The voting process for the SRC are
in the midst of being refined - Addressing
the issues in the campaign policies is the focus of one of the 56 constitutional amendments proposed by current SRC President,

Graham Fischer.
Structurally, this year the voting
process shifted from manual to automated.
The new electronic voting system functioned very well overall. Hopefully the
Ministerial elections in a couple of months
can run as smoothly. said Andrew Luba,
head of the Elections Committee.
On the subject of being the first
female duo to head the SRC, Allen avoided
politicizing the point: While I am excited
to work with Kyle, I do hope that the fact
that we are the first female SRC executive
does not mean something significant to
Quest. Us both being female has no bearing
on how we will run the SRC next year.
Kirkegaard and Allen will assume
their positions after graduation, on April
28th.

That was out of the question. I told him that

I couldnt stop him from holding the vote
but I would send out the all-student email.
Fischer initially believed that Helfand took issue with the autonomy clause,
otherwise known as Amendment Five, Article One in the document. He presented this
as the reason for the delay a public meeting
held on 9th December 2013. It turns out
that after meeting with him [Helfand] in
January that he really just wanted more time
to read the whole package himself, he said.
Helfands responsibilities as President of the University forced his firm reaction. I told Graham that my responsibility
is to protect the insurance and legal status
of the University and the way that they [the
amendments] are worded is unacceptable.
I cant just write any changes on the fly I
need to speak to stakeholders first, he said.
The two Presidents sat down for
a lengthy meeting in early January to hash
out issues Helfand had with the amend-

ments as they stood in December. Some

[of the clauses] had already been amended
and there were only two that I had substantial issues with. In both cases, we discussed
wording that would fix the problems I had
with them, said Helfand.
Helfand also noted several of the
amendments that he believed were unwise,
including the clauses that solidify funding
for The Mark and the Emergency First Response Team, adding, Its a good idea that
we have a student newspaper, but its a terrible idea to have a dollar amount in the constitution for any organization. Constitutions
should be procedural.
Fischer stood by his decision to cement funding for the aforementioned institutions, emphasizing in regards to The Mark
that, I think there is an inherent value in a
media organization on campus My goal is
to provide the basic funding necessary that
would allow a media organization to survive on campus well past my time here. This

amendment doesnt benefit me, it benefits

students in the future. So I recognize David
[Helfand]s charge that its a double-edged
sword, but I think its for the best.
Any student can introduce an
amendment to the Constitution, and both
Helfand and Fischer offer advice on how to
best go about it. Helfand encouraged students to submit amendments to the Dean
of Students an entire block and block break
before attempting to run a referendum.
Fischer emphasized the importance of long-term thinking, adding, One
of the toughest challenges is to try and make
positive change and some people wont
agree with that changebut always keep
those students in the future in mind. Thats
what Ive tried to do.

AMENDMENT VOTE BACK ON

TARI AJADI
SRC President Graham Fischers
substantial set of constitutional reforms will
finally be put to a vote in the first week of
February. The referendum comes after a sixweek delay due to a disagreement between
Fischer and Quest University Canada President David Helfand over the scheduling of
the vote.
Fischer presented the 60 page slate
of amendments to the public on the 29th
of November, the first Friday of December
block, with intentions of holding a vote in
the third week of that block. Helfands heavy
workload meant that he could not review
the document in full in two weeks. Combined with Fischers condensed schedule,
this resulted in Helfand threatening to send
an all-school email imploring students not
to vote on any of the amendments. Recounting his initial shock at receiving Fischers extensive document, Helfand noted, I said to
him [Fischer], I cant possibly review these.

More coverage of the Constitutional Amendments will follow online next block

THE MARK

Quests Community Newspaper

Eighth Edition
Editors-in-Chief
Tari Ajadi & Jake Smith
News Editor
Alessandro Tersigni
Opinion Editor
Elise Scribner
Arts and Culture Editor
Caleah Dean
Editor-at-large
Brad Klees

Comic: Annamarie Bradley

A2 || THE MARK

NEWS & OPINION

NEWS

CANNABIS: POLICY VS. CULTURE IN BC

ALESSANDRO TERSIGNI
While a strong culture of enthusiasts in British Columbia treat cannabis as a
socially acceptable substance much like alcohol, recreational use of the drug remains
illegal province wide and cannabis possession is a criminal offence. BC drug policy
aims to protect citizens from using unsafe
substances, but the present disparity between policy and popular culture may be
detrimental to safe drug use, especially at
Quest where experimentation is common.
Theoretically, an outright ban on
drugs discourages usage and therefore limits peoples exposure to the negative effects
of some substances. But in reality this approach is wedged by many British Columbians willingness to experiment nonetheless, and many people feel marijuana is a
positive thing in their lives and rationalize
their usage even though its illegal. Whether
or not the province should prevent BC residents from using drugs, the stigma associated with using marijuana and other drugs
limits exposure to correct procedures, facts,
and safety awareness because people avoid
openly associating with illegal activity.
Third year Quest student Lian
Zeitz says that the difference between marijuana policy and culture creates a space
where people dont receive guidance and
support, especially in the socially liberal
university environment. Sharing secrets
and going against the system is a really good
way to bond, says Zeitz. Since creating

connections with people is part of university and drugs are an unacceptable avenue for
this which is not discussed, these activities
will not necessarily happen correctly and
safely. Legality would provide the opportunity for discussion and for this secrecy to be
confronted.
The recent legalization of cannabis in Colorado will be an indicator as to
whether liberal drug policy can counteract
this lack of safety awareness by harmonizing cannabis culture and government policy.
In September 2013, The Colorado Enforcement of Revenue published a Marijuana
Enforcement Division outlining rules to
govern businesses, cultivating, and selling
retail marijuana regarding factors like product safety, marketing, and preventing sales to
minors.
Colorados actions have prompted
other states to reconsider their drug policy. Former medical marijuana opponent
New York Governor Andrew Cuomos 2014
Agenda pledges to launch a Medical Marijuana Program to Research the Feasibility
of Medical Marijuana in New York State,
which will help guide future drug policy.
British Columbias Sensible BC
Campaign also attempted to change cannabis policy last year by collecting 200,000
signatures across the province, just short of
the 300,000 needed for a referendum to decriminalize marijuana in BC. Sensible BC
board member Dana Larson feels that the
misalignment of cannabis policy and culture
in BC is not conducive to the safety of both
users and society as a whole. Prohibition

in general has a negative effect on safety,

he says. When the average person doesnt
see marijuana as a [finable offence] but the
police do, you get disrespect for law enforcement, which makes it a lot harder for police
to enforce the law against other crimes.
A Quest student that wishes to
remain anonymous says this unfortunate
misalignment of perspectives also demotes
safety on campus. For instance, I have a
dependency on pot, the student says. But
this is not necessarily something I would
be comfortable discussing with anyone affiliated with the administration because its
illegal. This creates silence rather than openness.
At the University of Victoria, students show their dissatisfaction with current cannabis policy with a weekly public
demonstration. Fifth year UVic student
Harold Hejazi attends the 420 club demonstrations regularly. We meet every Wednesday at 4:20pm on campus, he says. We support the aims of the Sensible BC campaign.
However, our cause is only supported by a
small number of students.
Even so, creating a culture that
talks about drugs is the only way to convince
policy makers that we need safety awareness
which doesnt condemn usage. In a way,
senior students have the duty to guide incoming students on how to act safely with
drugs, says Zeitz. Through mentorship
and camaraderie, these issues could be tackled.

RECORDING STUDIO SET TO OPEN

JORDAN ROSS
December block saw the construction of Quests own recording studio, a substantial step forward for the Universitys creative community.
Michael Powell and Aaron Feicht,
two third-year students who worked on the
project as an Independent Study, have almost completed the studio with just a few
final touches needed prior to its opening
during February block.
The studio, which is located on the
3rd floor of Red Tusk, was funded by the SRC
and the Arts Council, who provided $6,100
and $3,000 respectively. The Red Tusk room
was only designated to become a recording
studio over the summer. Powell and Feicht
found out about the plan in September and
seized upon the opportunity.
From that point on, they worked
with their advisors and the funding organizations to make the creating of the recording
studio an independent study. Feicht commented on the process of working with their
advisors, Colin Bates and Jeff Warren, saying

THE LITTLE RAMP

THAT COULD
BRAD KLEES
The University Boulevard bridge
has been unusually busy recently as a visionary group of local skaters make progress on a new mini-ramp underneath the
structures concrete spine. For years such a
project has been the dream of skateboarding students at Quest, and many are excited
to hear that this ramp could turn a barren
patch of dirt into a unique place to ride.
Last week, however, an incensed
letter calling for legal action against the
builders of this unsanctioned skate ramp
was placed on doorsteps around the Garibaldi Highlands neighborhood. In it, the
author (identified only as a concerned

They were great with letting us do our thing

and trusting us.
As academic grounding for the
credit, Powell and Feicht said they had to
study engineering and architecture as well
as learn more about the computer programs
that powered the recording process.
Powell says he was happy to have
the project taken seriously and to receive
credit for the process. Aaron and I are much
more competent at the actual process of recording. That will be valuable to teach other
people and work with other people.
When the studio officially opens in
February, Powell and Feicht will allow students to sign up to record during specific
work-study hours. Powell or Feicht, or possibly other work-study employees who have
been trained in using the studio, will help get
students set up and then return after a few
hours to make sure everything is in order
and locked up.
Powell said that this was not the
original plan, and that they imagined it being much more accessible than the school
is saying it that should be. However, he

was understanding, noting that the school

planned on running classes using the studio
in the future, and wanted the equipment to
be safe and the studio in good condition.
One potential class that would use the space
is a songwriting class taught by Jeff Warren
proposed for next year. Additionally, the
new Quest radio could potentially use the
recording studio for their programs, though
discussions are still ongoing as to how that
would work.
Powell and Feicht also expressed
interest in doing workshops related to the
different aspects of recording, specifically
learning how to use the professional-level
programs like Apples Logic Pro.
The two students are excited about
the possibilities the recording studio brings
to Quest musicians and artists.
We know a bunch of other people who are eager to get in here and get
their sound out. We can actually get a good
sound and get cool original music coming
from Quest, said Powell. Feicht added, Its
nice that we actually have space for people to
create the best that they can.

neighbor) notes ongoing problems with

teenagers that hang out under the bridge
and chides both the Mayor and Squamish
Council for inaction. A subsequent Squamish Chief article posted on the publications website January 22nd reported that
the municipality had issued a stop-work
order to the builders, who are led by Stuntwood skate shop owner Mike Quesnel.
The bridge has long been known
in the neighborhood as a place for drug
and other illicit activity, and in the summers there have been frequent complaints
of loud, bonfire centered parties in the location where the skate ramp now stands.
True or not, skate parks are in many communities known as centers for sketchy activity where drugs, cussing, and fights are
believed to be the norm.
But a rebuttal letter written by

Quest alumni Oliver Snow, who led the

charge for Pembertons first skate park
and is now a Squamish local, cautions
to jumping to quick conclusions. Not all
skateboarders are drug-addled partiers,
and Snow says that aspect of the sport and
surrounding culture is in decline. What
skaters need are more spots to skate, and in
this case, the municipality is getting one for
free. Says Snow, the Sea-to-Sky used to be
home to one of the most iconic spots in the
world of skateboarding (in an abandoned
shack on the shores of Britannia Beach)
but its gonethis could be the next iconic
spot.
Quesnel has vowed to plow forward through the red tape, but the opposing camps remain divided on the issue of
the ramp consider contacting a district
representative to voice your opinion.

MONDAY JANUARY 27, 2014

ALUMNI PROFILE
JON FARMER
The Mark reporter Jon Farmer caught up with
Quest alumna Kirsty Graham in mid-January in the final weeks before her first trip to
the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a
post-graduate researcher.
What are you doing now?
Im doing my PhD at the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of
St Andrews. My supervisor is Prof Richard
Byrne, and my topic is Gestural communication of wild bonobos.
What was your Question?
My Question at Quest changed quite a lot,
starting as What is cognition? and I think
eventually moving onto How can studying
animal cognition and behaviour help to inform conservation policy? I just kept adding words!
How did you end up in this program?
I ended up at St Andrews after working
with bonobos as a field assistant for the Max
Planck Institute. Megan actually put me in
touch with Dick, my supervisor, and we
corresponded while I was in the field in the
DRC. My combined field experience with
my Keystone project and field assistant position meant that I was able to move straight
into a PhD without a Masters.
Do you miss anything about Quest?
Most of all, I miss jam sessions. And I really miss my roommates. Quest can definitely
feel like a bubble, but I think something you
dont appreciate until you leave is that you
can approach absolutely anyone and have an
insightful conversation. Im finding that intellectual community at St Andrews too, but
elsewhere I sometimes forget that not everyone is equally stoked to talk about French
existentialism and quantum physics and
Central African politics and rock climbing.
Treasure it!
Whats your favourite part about your current program?
Its kind of the dream job reading cool
articles, conducting field research, writing
about things that interest me, having coffee
with my academic idols, attending seminars
and discussion groups across departments.
Im really excited to go back to Wamba and
itching to get some data to work with!
How does the work youre doing now compare
to your time at Quest?
Quest was pretty self-directed, but this takes
it to the next level. Im setting all my own
deadlines and deciding how to structure my
working days. Imagine doing your Keystone
project for 3 years.
Is there anything you wish that you had
learned more of during your time at Quest?
So at Quest, you dont really learn how to
say No when youre too busy. You keep on
trucking like a superhuman. Im not sure if
its something that can be taught, but I can
picture a lot of Quest students in the same
situation afterwards, working out how much
is possible without burning out.
Do you have any advice for students considering a PhD?
Take time to find a great supervisor. This is
the person youre going to be working with
for the next several years of your life, so its
important not just to share research interests, but to actually get along. My supervisor
is wonderful and supportive, and I could tell
that from the weekly emails he sent me for
the entire year leading up to my PhD. And
for me, thats more important than the program.
If you could tell your first year Quest self one
thing: what would it be?
Remember that time you told Erica you
wanted to work with gorillas in Rwanda?
Well guess what
CORRECTION: The print version
of Basketball Nationals Coming In
March states that the Quest Kermodes
qualify for nationals because of their
position in the league. They actually
qualify because they are hosting the
event. They are currently ranked 9th in
the nation.

B1 || THE MARK

MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014

BASKETBALL NATIONALS COMING IN MARCH

CYNTHIA LAU
Gear up Kermode Krazies! This
March, the 12th to 15th, Quest will be hosting the Mens Basketball National Championship in the Quest gym which has seen
some recent upgrades in anticipation of the
event. The Quest Mens Basketball team
automatically qualify for the Nationals for
hosting the event. The Kermodes are in second place in the PACWEST league, and 9th
overall in the nation.
Some of the exciting new upgrades
to the gym have included the relocation of
the current bleachers, freshly painted doors,
and newly installed retractable backboards.
The final installation set for January block
break will be a new set of bleachers that
will be able to seat 650 spectators.
While 650 seems a large occupancy, especially considering Quests current
540 person population, it falls short of the
1,200 seats which the Canadian Collegiate
Athletic Association (CCAA) requires for
the gold medal game. When asked about
this issue, Sean Shook, Athletic Director and

MICE VILLAGE
HILLARY YOUNG
Over the past few months, students have encountered an abundance of
house mice making themselves at home, in
the residence buildings.
While cute and fuzzy to some, the
critters are damaging the facilities, posing a health risk to students and breeding
at shocking rates. The problem isnt new
at Quest, but just how dire is its current
state? I tracked down victims of these encounters, and grilled Jason Wright, Quests
Maintenance Manager, to find out.
Wright explains the concern, the
young are born about 19 days after breeding, and a female can have as many as 8
litters per year of 5-6 young. If its left unchecked, it could become quite a problem.
For one student who wishes to
remain nameless, it has already become
quite a problem. In October/November,
I found a nest in my [cars] trunk, she stated. [I found one] again ([in] the last few
weeks). Ive had to put mouse poison in my
car... [It was] very frustrating and gross. I
also dont leave food/anything in the car, so
I dont know why it happens so much.
Wright points out how skilled the
critters are at what they do. As it gets cold
out, the mice want to migrate inside. They
can fit in an area that is one quarter of their
body size; any small crevice, pipe, under
dry wall, or propped open doors.
And this is certainly true. On Jan-

Mens Basketball Head Coach, commented,

the atmosphere that can generated in a
smaller gym its better to have 600 people
in a 650 seat capacity rather 600 people in a
1500 seat capacity its kind of what we sold
them on so they were excited about that and
they waived [the seat requirement] so we
could be the hosts.
Fourth-year student-athlete, Jose
Colorado, voiced some concerns about how
the additional seating might affect the atmosphere at future home games. What will
we do with all those bleachers after nationals? [The gym] is going to be nowhere near
packed during home games.
Shook, on the other hand, noted that right now on campus, anytime we
want to have more than 100 people, we dont
have anywhere to go [] This may be the
one place that we could actually hold the
number of people we need to for bigger
events.
In addition to future concerns,
there have been some current issues with
the disruption of intramurals as well as po-

tential safety hazards presented by the remodel. For example, fourth-year student,
Jacob Smith, was playing intramural basketball when he went up for a lay up and landed in a pile of scrap metal.
Shook commented that the scheduling of the upgrades have been carefully
thought out, with the initial upgrades being
done during the winter break, and the final
upgrades during block break, when traffic in
the facility is lower, I dont think [the upgrade] has been as disruptive. There were
some stuff on the baseline but [] were
cleaning it up and that was a matter of finding the time to do that.
Despite these slight disruptions
there is much excitement in the community
about the upcoming nationals and the gym
upgrades. Im excited for when they put
the new bleachers in. Being able to watch
the game from all sides of the court makes
for a really cool setting, said second-year
student-athlete Denzel Laguerta. The new
hoops and the new flooring make the [Kermode Kave] one of the better facilities in the
league.

uary 6th the maintenance team fixed my

condos broken washing machine, and extracted a soapy, sopping wet sucker from its
drainage pipe. An unverified rumour suggests that this has already happened several
times this year.
But possibly most shocking, is the
abundance of mice witnessed in North and
South Villages, and their indiscriminate
travels.
We had mice upon our return
from Christmas break, states Mackenzie
Seagram. I caught two on North first, she
notes, proudly.
Im on the third floor of south
village, and so its weird that the mouse [we
had] made it all the way up from the first
floor, remarks Gina Markle.
The mice dont care about first
floor, second floor. If theyre in the building, they will make their way through the
infrastructure, Wright states.
Roommates Ilias Benamirouche
and Christian Crawford have also experienced the fallout. The pests chewed up
their toilet paper rolls and left droppings in
their suit. We submitted formal requests
[for maintenance to fix the problem] (and
laughed at the mouse that had drowned
itself in the toilet, Crawford explained.
Maintenance came and set traps for the
boys, but only the drowned casualty was
collected.
On January 8th, one trespasser
had the audacity to crawl into bed with
student, Caleah Dean. I was just sitting
in bed watching a movie when I heard

something scratching next to my bed, she

remembers. I looked over and saw movement out of the corner of my eye---it was
the mouse running right across my bed,
over me, she remembers.
So what is being done to procure
the mice from extending their stay? We
have a preventative pest control program
in place, where a contractor comes in
bi-weekly and updates his traps, Wright
informs me. Its not pretty, he admits, debriefing me on the rather gruesome procedure. but youre trying to get rid of a vermin in your living area. Thats why they try
to keep it low key, he explains. But is this
low-key system enough?
Certainly not, according to our
anonymous car owner with mice in her
trunk. I was told that the school would
be taking care of it via exterminators before
winter break, but seeing as its happened
again, I guess that didnt work.
Wright concludes that this battle, is a slow
one. If the available food sources outweigh the traps, the traps will be less successful. He continues, students can mitigate their own circumstance by keeping
their suits as tidy as possible and keeping
the food away from [the mice]. Another
key component, he notes, is not propping
open doors. Wright does not believe the
issue has gotten out of hand, but adds, let
us know [if you encounter a mouse], so we
can do something. If it goes unchecked and
we dont know about it, we cant do anything about it.

DATING AT QUEST
ANONYMOUS
An anonymous student gives us their perspective on dating at Quest just in time for
Valentines Day.
Ive talked to my grandparents
a lot about dating, relationships and all
those other things that generations are
supposed to talk about. One thing that
they dont understand is the way our generation dates; speaking with them I realize
I dont understand it either.
It strikes me that our generation does relationships in two ways; on the one hand we
dont and just fuck around; on the other,
we jump into serious things faster than
people used to.
The first option, fucking around,
is a luxury of birth control. The availability
of contraceptives and the social acceptability of premarital sex have liberated us
to pursue sex for recreations sake and that

leads assumptions and expectations that

everyone is game. Dont get me wrong, Im
not complaining. Its just my intention to
point out that this changed the way young
people do relationships. We can have the
same fun without the consequences that
inspired so many of my aunts and uncles
marriages.
The second option, serious relationships, are what my grandparents refer
to as going steady. Until I spoke with them
I didnt realize that the way we date isnt the
way its have always been done. Theyve described these years to me as the time when
young people are supposed to be playing
the field. They dont mean have lots of sex
with everyone, they mean getting to know
people. Im not sure when it changed but it
seems that somewhere in the years between
their adolescence and mine it became less
common for young people to go on casual
dates with a variety of people. I wish that
hadnt changed.
There are too many attractive,

intelligent and good people around here

that I want to get to know. Not that I want
to sleep with all of them, although if it felt
right I wouldnt be against it, its more that
I want it to be ok for me to show affection
or interest without the assumption that
were going to either fuck or be a serious
couple. I want to make friendships that
leave that door open, I want to ask different people to dinner and have it be cool.
Maybe other people already date
like this, but from my experience it isnt
the majority. Or this could be my own
misconception and something I need to
work on personally. But Ive seen the same
approach in other people and other relationships and I think most of us could use
a change. Im going to start asking people
out to dinner or over for tea and a movie.
Im going to start dating like my parents
and my grandparents did, well dressed and
casually, without the expectation of sex.
I think it will be healthier. What do you
think?

THE VIEW FROM

HERE
Dear Globetrotters, Daredevils, and Day-Dreamers,
To showcase the diversity of experiences Quest students
are delving into while abroad, The Mark is happy is to
introduce our newest column, The View From Here. If
youre abroad, or soon to be, and would like to contribute to our most adventurous column, contact us at themarknewspaper@gmail.com

EVAN DECKER
In the few minutes I have, I can let you
in on something profound that I have learned in
my time abroad from Quest. I learned that if you
dont apply what you learn, you will hardly learn
it at all. I have found this to be where academia
fails at teaching, and where the real world succeeds.
In Guadalajara, it wasnt just the Spanish lessons that taught me the Spanish I now
know. It was going out with my teachers and
friends at night for some cervezas to put it all
into practice. In Ladakh, it was the fact that I was
surrounded by one of the oldest and richest cultures in human history that gave me the chance
to really switch from being a photographer to an
ethnographer.
Seeing the beautiful, elusive Antarctic
Snow Petrel dart over my head as I sipped on a
glass of scotch and looked out from the hot tub to
the moonlit mountains that surrounded the Akademik Ioffe, to later hear from one of the worlds
top ornithologists that they have the largest olfactory lobes relative to brain size of any animal-why? Because they they hunt in complete darkness during the antarctic winter and rely mostly
on their nose.
This is the kind of thing that will stick
with me forever. But I would actually say that the
most useful knowledge I have acquired has come
from the application of working on this Aquaponic Urban farm here in Austin, Texas. Where
even the folks who work in biotech companies
and occasionally come down to help with water
chemistry issues-- they even say that what they
know now, they hardly knew during their undergrad and it was only until found an application
did they actually learned the material.
And on that note, I have to get back to
work! See you all in March!

ENDOWMENT
from A3
set up a website, donatetoquest.com, where
donations can be made by credit card only.
The website is expected to raise a total of
$100,000 from approximately 600 donors.
We currently have $23,535 from
the website, but thats not the number Im
looking at. Im looking at the number of
contributors because thats a key sales pitch.
Future donors want to know how invested
the faculty, parents, staff and students are in
the future of Quest University, says Helfand.
The search for potential donors will begin in
May, according to Helfand, and will last into
the next academic year.
Few public foundations exist in
Canada, so the focus will be directed on
smaller, family foundations. They are more
informal, said Helfand. They only donate
when they find connections [to Quest].
Finding donors for the endowment fund can be hard because they must
understand that the money will not be spent
this fiscal year, but rather over a longer period of time. Some of Quests current donors
(including organizations that donate up to
$250,000 each year) only donate money to
be spent this year. This money cannot be
used to build the endowment.
Money can be restricted. We often
have to negotiate with donors to make those
restrictions as broad as possible, said Helfand.