This week I had the pleasure of interviewing the President of the Brandon University Chemistry Club, Emiliya Mamleeva. The Chemistry Club has been working hard this year to reach out to students in their department as well as other student groups on campus.
Suz Duff: How many active members does the Chemistry Club have?
Emiliya Mamleeva: There are eight executive members and each member has their own position. Positions include: Vice President, Treasurer, Security, President, External Affairs Director, Internal Affairs Director and Chief Advertiser. We are hoping to continue to expand and recruit more members throughout the year.
SD: How do chemistry students benefit from your club?
EM: The purpose of our club is to give students opportunity to gather, socialize, and get to know other chemistry students and faculty members. In order to achieve this purpose, we organize several events throughout the year where students can mingle and get to know each other. We also offer tutorial sessions and sometimes we are able to hand out course materials from previous years so long as these materials are available to us. Students are welcome to come to our club room and see what materials we currently have access to.
Our real aim is to make chemistry students feel comfortable and less overwhelmed, especially students in their first year of study. It's important to feel connected to the faculty and the department in order to fully enjoy your student experience.
SD: What events have you already hosted this year?
EM: We held our Zoomistry Social in SUDS in conjunction with the biology club in October. It was a themed night; "Geeks vs. Freaks", so that was really fun and people seemed to enjoy themselves.
We also held a mock midterm for General Chemistry 1, which was hosted a week before the actual midterm. The mock midterm actually had a very good turn out with fifty people in attendance. Some students stayed and wrote the midterm and some took it home with them. Later in the evening we provided answers to the mock midterm.
On November 8th, we had Careers in Chemistry Night at the Canad Inn. Usually we hold this event on campus in the Louis Riel Room, but because of our sponsorship through Canexus Corporation and BUSU we were able to hold it off campus. This is an annual event and we had 25 people and three speakers. The speakers talked to students about possible career options in the field of chemistry.
SD: You have mentioned that your club is currently running a Movember Campaign. Could you elaborate?
EM: The campaign is mainly an awareness campaign. We are planning to contact other students and student groups on campus to set up a competition to see which club will raise the most money for prostate cancer research. The winning club will be publicly recognized in the mingling area on November 30th for their efforts. The Chemistry department has also agreed to donate a prize to the individual who raises the most money (this can be any student from any club). The prize for this achievement will be a textbook of the winner's choosing from the bookstore. We will also have several other prizes for active participants of the campaign (ie: best moustache). Our hope is to get everyone on campus involved and working together to raise awareness for this very important movement. All donations will be given to Prostate Cancer Research Society.
SD: What event are you planning for the rest of the year?
EM: We have a few events that we are currently planning for second semester. These events include a bake sale and a joint social with the Brandon University Debate Society. In March, we will be holding elections for our executive positions as many of our members are graduating this year. We will also be holding our end of the year party in April.
SD: Where is your club room and when are your meeting times?
EM: Our club room is located on the fourth floor of the Brodie Building in room 429. We have weekly meetings on either Tuesday or Thursday every week, usually around 4:30 on Tuesdays and 5:30 on Thursdays.
If you are interested in joining the Chemistry Club, or want to be part of the Movember Campaign, please email Emiliya at buchemclub@hotmail.com. They can also be found on Facebook under "Brandon University Chemistry Club", where students can check out important information about club events and services.
If any other clubs or student groups are planning any events, I want to know! Please email me at vpe@busu.ca.
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