One of the great things about being a university student is the opportunity provided to get involved with a student-run club or organization. One club at Brock University that has made an impact on the student population is the Brock Jewish Students Association. As a result of there hard work, the club was recently awarded a $400 sponsorship from CampusPerks. As a result I got a chance to sit down with Avital Sternin, President of the Brock Jewish Students Association to find out what impact this money was going to have on the club for the upcoming semester.

Avital was extremely grateful for the opportunity that CampusPerks provided her and her club. As we began to talk about her club, Avital went into great depth as to how CampusPerks had helped through publicity and club recognition in a large scale. The exposure the club had received from the CampusPerks website had opened many doors for the Brock Jewish Students Association. In addition the recent sponsorship would help the Brock Jewish Students Association to accomplish their current programs on a much larger scale.

As the second semester has begun at Brock, Avital made me aware of two major programs the club would be working on this semester. The first was the Jewish holiday of Purim and the second being a weekly lunch and learn series. The celebration of Purim is a Jewish holiday, which takes place every March commemorating the salvation of the Jewish people in Ancient Persia from Haman’s plot.

As part of the celebration the Brock Jewish Students Association will host a community food drive over the course and celebrate the week with a large celebration. At the same time the weekly lunch and learn will be open to all students with the opportunity to learn about such topics as “why be Jewish?” or “why do bad things happen to good people?” For more information on either of these events students can email the Brock Jewish Students Association at brockjsa@busu.net.

-Written by Dan @ Brock

When any school heads into their exam period everything seems to grind to a halt, including university athletics. As a result I got a chance to sit down with Jay Flemming of the Brock Badgers Men’s basketball team. Flemming was part of the Badger’s improbable run to the 2007-08 CIS National Basketball Championship. Currently the Badgers are 6-2 sitting 4^th place in the OUA West Division.

D: Thanks for joining me today Jay for a few questions I promise I will keep this brief.

J: Not a problem thanks for having me.

D: The NBA is back and the lockout has ended. On Twitter quite a few current NBA players related the moment of the lockout ending to the end of Space Jam when all the players are given their talent back. If Space Jam were to be remade today which 5-players do you think the “Monstars” will still talent from?

J: Wow put me on the spot with that first question. I would have to say Earl Boykins in the role of Muggsy Bogues. Yao Ming although he’s constantly hurt and now retired would be a strong low-post presence to replace Shawn Bradley. Lebron James would be my next obvious choice. Steve Nash because he is Canadian, and finally Kevin Durant.

(Author’s note: I don’t think I could answer this question myself. One thing I would want though if Space Jam were to be remade is to bring back Bill Murray in a cameo role. To take it a step further maybe just have the Looney Toones replaced by Team Zissou!)

D: I guess since were on the topic of movies what is your favourite basketball movie?

J: Definitely “White Men Can’t Jump”

D: Oh really, can you dunk?

J: Yes I can. Nothing fancy but I can dunk.

D: That’s good. I’m glad Sidney Deane and Billy Hoyle proved the movie title wrong and inspired you to dunk. Woody Harrelson stars in another, more recent basketball movie Semi-Pro. Being a Brock student I know that at times we have absolutely horrible school spirit. Knowing that, would you wrestle a bear to draw more fans to your games? 

J: Hahaha. Yes I absolutely would wrestle a bear. I would make sure I don’t turn my back on the bear though.

(Authors note: neither Jay nor myself condones animal cruelty)

D: My initial plan was to ask you some serious questions. However since we have totally gone off course I only have one final question to ask you and again this relates to basketball and movies. In 1994 both The Air Up There and Blue Chips were released to the masses. Kevin Bacon plays the coach in The Air Up There and Nick Nolte plays the coach in Blue Chips, who would you rather be coached by?

J: Most definitely Kevin Bacon. Nick Nolte plays an absolute head case of a coach; I could never play for someone like that.

(Author’s note: My own opinion is that no athlete would want to say they prefer to be coached by Nick Nolte in Blue Chips. The whole premise of the movie is that he pays his players. If you follow NCAA sports in the United States this constantly causes school scandals.)

D: Yes I absolutely agree with that. Well thank you for your time. Good luck in the second half of your season.

J: Thanks!

(Author’s note: If you’re a Brock University student and reading this please come out next semester and support your varsity athletes. )

-Written by Dan @ Brock

Recently Students in Free Enterprise, SIFE Brock took on a big undertaking collecting used clothing, furniture and old electronics for local community partners in the Niagara Region. SIFE is an international organization that allows university students to use knowledge they have gained in the classroom and university resources to develop initiative that give back to the community that they operate within.

Give Us Your Goods was an extension of an old program that collected student unwanted furniture when they moved out of their homes at the end of the school year. The furniture collected was donated to the Hope Furniture Bank, a not for profit organization that provides furniture to those in the community who are looking to turn their shelters into a home. This year the SIFE Brock team decided to increase their efforts and hold this collection event once each semester. They also ramped up their collections taking not only furniture by old electronics to be recycled and clothing to be donated to the local Goodwill.

When asked about the program SIFE Vice-President Mark Wagenaar stated,  “this program was established to encourage students to give any items they no longer use to those in need.”

Wagenaar went on to further explain, “often students just leave old furniture, electronics, and clothing on the curb hoping someone will take it off their hands. If no one does then it usually ends up in the local dump. This is extremely unfortunate because these items are still often valuable and through this program we hope to extend the life cycle of some of these products while being able to help out those in need within the local community.”

SIFE Brock through the Give Us Your Goods program is looking to collect over 5,000 lbs of “stuff” over the school year. This semester’s collection was a success says Wagenaar. “We collected more electronics then anything else. As a result we hope next semester students will be willing to donate furniture as they prepare to move out.”

Click here for more information on SIFE Brock. If any Brock students have items they would like to donate please contact giveusyourgoods@gmail.com and be on the look out for next semesters collection day in late March or early April. 

- Written by Dan @ Brock