The Ukrainian Student's Society, at the University of Calgary, has a new President! Kathryn Owad is a third year science student, majoring
in Biology! Besides that she is a PLAST member, and youth leader/counsellor on Saturdays, and has willingly given up her summers to be a camp counsellor/leader too! And she has been dancing with Barvinok Ukrainian Dancers, for 16 years.
The Ukrainian Student's Society at the Univeristy of Calgary has been a welcoming place since Kathryn's first year of studies. Since many PLAST friends were actively involved, she instantly felt at home, and extended an arm to welcome others. She served on various executive positions, but was made President just recently! Congratulations, Kathryn!
President Kathryn (and Former President Andrij Butynets - who were both recently counsellors at PLAST's summer camp for novaky - at Camp Bar-V-Nok, Pigeon Lake) recently told me of their first Ukrainian Student's Society event for the 2012-13 season - it was a Perogie dinner and perogie eating contest! Their first social gathering, it was basically a meet and greet to involve our old and new members. And the winner of the perogie eating contest (which involved THIRTEEN competitors) got a bottle of Ukrainian vodka followed by continued socializing at the University bar "The Den".
The Ukrainian Student's Society welcomes all students to their next event, "Music Bingo Night" which will be on October 9 at "The Den". They will feature three categories of music (Classic rock, top 40's, and Ukrainian"). Prizes will be awarded to those who recognize the songs!
Their third event is the "Ukraine vs. Poland's annual soccer match," which will be held
October 19th and is pretty much just a big cultural competition between
the USS and the Polish club! Kathryn says they are still sorting out main details but
it's always a fun time, and Ukraine almost always wins!
Their future events include: Holodomor awareness at St. Vlads with a small presentation by the club. EURO CUP 2013 which is a soccer tournament against different clubs, some of which include: Polish, British, French, German, and Spanish clubs, and is mainly organized by their USS executive! (who, it seems, won the tournament last year!!).
The club also hosts a pysanka painting workshop, a dance workshop, and a Ukrainian cuisine night/garlic eating contest, coming up in the new year!!!
Kathryn shared another interesting bit about the group. She says that the USS executive likes to do is play "Mario Cart" in our clubs office (which is graciously provided by the U of C! The Ukrainian Student's Society club room is a gathering place where there is always gaming going on and it has become a club tradition to play on study breaks!
Come and visit at MSC 279-I. The office is located in the Macewan Clubs area in the corner of Macewan Hall by 'Stor'.
So, if you are aware of Ukrainian students needing a Ukrainian welcome at the U of C, please pass this information along!
ps - Congrats to the club for their generous and enthusiastic welcome! Good luck with your events!! Sounds like fun!
Their contact info is:
Email - uss@ucalgary.ca
office - MSC 279I (Mac hall)
Phone # - 403-220-7012
Website - www.usscalgary.org
Facebook page: University of Calgary Ukrainian Students' Society
http://susk.ca/media/publication/
Just loving the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada these days! A century and more of proud Canadian citizenship, flavoured with a groundswell of love, appreciation and identification with the ancestral homeland! Where else can you find that?
