Features

<p>By: Elissa Mendes and Mark Ramzy, The Charlatan Content warning: This article contains sensitive topics. UPDATE: OPRIG Carleton released a response to CUSA’s statement on Jan. 30, which said the group “liaised with campus security to develop and ensure safety plans were followed,” despite not being the organizers of the event.  The group also said CUSA did [&hellip;]</p>

<p>February marks Black History Month. While the world celebrates and learns about Black history, what do Black students from St. Thomas University think? The Aquinian’s features editor, Jacob Moore, spoke to members of STU&#8217;s Black student community to get their stories and understand what Black History Month means to them.  Tishe Oduntan is an international [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Silvie Binsai moved from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kenya. In fact, Binsai first moved to Botswana before Kenya. We regret the error. Silvie Binsai isn’t hard to spot.  She stands out with vibrant clothing from her own clothing brand, Viva La Vie. She [&hellip;]</p>

<p>A new report by Statistics Canada shows 65.4 per cent of Canadian post-secondary students collected emergency financial supports offered by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government created the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) for anyone who stopped working or worked fewer hours because of [&hellip;]</p>

<p>A series of annual reports released by school boards in Saskatchewan shows 69 per cent of kids in Grade 3 read at that level or higher last year, well below the upwards of 75 per cent rate reported by that province before the COVID-19 pandemic. Lower literacy levels are a concern echoed by advocates here [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Political science professor Thomas Bateman plowed through his snow-covered driveway on Jan. 23 before hopping on his bike, trekking across an unplowed Westmorland Street bridge sidewalk, to make it to St. Thomas University. “I had to push my bike across that dumb bridge,” he laughed. “But I’m undaunted in the eternal quest for education.” Bateman [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The effects of high inflation, seen everywhere from food to fashion, mean that some creative people are having a harder time affording their materials. Ally Mcguirk, a student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, owns a small business called @buffyscreations on Instagram and said recent inflation hikes have been a challenge, but [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Since the mid-2000s, surveys have shown upwards of 70 per cent of young adults engage in hookups, but some students at St. Thomas University feel hookup culture affects how they present themselves to others and who they trust. When presenting themselves online, some people, like second-year student Joseph Debly, hide some aspects of themselves to [&hellip;]</p>

<p>ENACTUS St. Thomas University hosted a sustainability swap on Jan. 19 as part of its Spring Up Initiative, which allowed students to get new items in exchange for stuff they no longer want or use. The Aquinian’s photo editor, Daniel Salas, attended the event to dig for treasure.</p>

<p>The effects of rising inflation mean food is flying off the shelves at St. Thomas University’s on-campus food bank. Claire Morrison of STU’s Campus Ministry, which runs the food bank, said demand has been extremely high. The locker, located on the basement level of Brian Mulroney Hall, is restocked every Monday within a budget of [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Pat Craig spent more than a third of his life in the Canadian prison system. He was an addict from the age of 12 and spent about 12 years in and out of prison for drug and alcohol-related crimes.  “I was getting towards my mid-20s going, ‘Christ, is this what I’m going to be forever?’” [&hellip;]</p>

<p>First dates can be daunting, but a new study by The Match Lab in California showed 68 per cent of Americans would kiss on the first date. The Aquinian’s senior writer, Martina Barclay, wanted to see if students at St. Thomas University would agree. STU student Erin Hurley said she wouldn’t be opposed to locking [&hellip;]</p>

<p>While some Fredericton residents are excited about the irregular and warmer weather patterns seen so far this season, others worry about the implications it has on the climate. Lauren Acorn, the co-chair of STU Sustainability, is one who believes people should feel concerned. “I don&#8217;t love the winter, but I also don&#8217;t like seeing it [&hellip;]</p>

<p>When Ale Baca and Alexa Romero arrived at the Fredericton International Airport on Dec. 17 for a flight to Montreal, neither were prepared for the issues they would encounter. Shortly after they arrived at 3 p.m., the pair of international students received an email from Air Canada saying their flight was delayed from 4:15 p.m. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>For many international students, the winter break is not really a break. The high cost of airfare means many don’t have a chance to see their families. Eugenia Rodriguez is an international student at St. Thomas University and her family lives in León, Mexico. If she were to go home in December, she said the [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The Fredericton Christmas Artisan Market, held at the Fredericton Exhibition Centre from Dec. 2 until Dec. 4, felt warm and smelled like cinnamon. A regal red carpet marked the pathway through the large venue. At the entrance, a man with a bushy moustache welcomed the Christmas shoppers, who mainly consisted of seniors and parents shopping [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Makers Making Change is making a difference for children with disabilities around the holidays. The national organization hosted its first toy adapting event, Hacking for the Holidays, in Fredericton on Dec. 2, which aims to create adapted toys for children with disabilities. The organization began five years ago, offering a library of assistive devices on [&hellip;]</p>

<p>On Nov. 9, I drove to Halifax to undergo the final selection stages for the Rhodes Scholarship. The scholarship offers fully-funded postgraduate study at the University of Oxford in England. The selection process is rigorous: the application requires an extensive CV, a detailed academic statement, seven letters of endorsement and a personal essay addressing moral [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The Government of New Brunswick announced in October they would eliminate interest on provincial student loans, something the New Brunswick Student Alliance has been advocating towards for years. Although the NBSA advocates for post-secondary students, many don’t know of the organization or what it stands for. The Aquinian’s features editor, Jacob Moore, gathered up the [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The holiday food drive at Greener Village is taking on a new look this year by introducing a reverse advent calendar initiative to encourage food donations. The food bank suggests donating an item out of your cupboards for each day in December, similar to an advent calendar. Once the box is complete, it can be [&hellip;]</p>