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by Gahan Diwan and Iris Guo, AMS Tutors

Get organized ahead of time (Gahan)

Before exams begin, create and stick to a study schedule by answering the following questions:

• Which exams do you have and when?
• What content do you need to focus on?
• What is the weight of each exam?

Do practice exams (Gahan)

If you’re short on time, do practice exams to quickly learn your strengths and weaknesses.

Try active learning. (Gahan)

I like making mindmaps to connect different concepts together.

Use a blank piece of paper. (Iris)

If you have to memorize something, try having a blank piece of paper next to you so you can write or draw to help with memorization.

Relate concepts to everyday life. (Iris)

For example: if you’re learning about disease processes, ask yourself: “Do I have any friends or family with this disease?” This should help you with memorization since it’s more relatable.

Good luck with your exams, UBC!

AMS Tutoring helps UBC students with 100- and 200-level courses through free group or low-cost private appointment tutoring. They also offer free group or low-cost private appointment tutoring for MCAT, LSAT, and GRE post-graduate exams. Learn more here!

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Gahan Diwan (He/Him), Biology with Minor in Microbiology and Immunology

What motivated you to be a tutor? I have always been passionate about tutoring and have pursued it as a goal since I was a child. Helping my fellow students and strengthening my own understanding of concepts has been a rewarding experience for me.

What do you like to do in your free time? Working out, Hiking, Rock Climbing, Student clubs, and going out with my friends.

Iris Guo (she/her/hers), Medicine

What motivated you to be a tutor? I have always been passionate about education, and I hope to use my experiences to support students on their MCAT.

What do you like to do in your free time? I enjoy skating, rollerblading, skiing, and going on walks. I also like to stay indoors and read, listen to music, watch reality tv, and go to cute cafes/dessert places!

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Making new friends, adapting to life away from home and maintaining wellbeing can be challenging, especially for sexual minority students new to the university. With this premise in mind, Dr Gu Li and Professor Frances Chen from the UBC Department of Psychology started a research project that aims to understand the experiences of first-year LGTBQ+ students during their transition from high school to the university. 

Supported by the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the AMS Impact Grant, this study is expected to reveal how sexual minority students’ social experiences and feelings about their own sexuality influence their friendship formation, sense of belonging, and psychological wellbeing. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has made this research even more relevant now as most UBC classes will be online during the Fall semester and students are asked to maintain social distancing. 

If you are interested in sharing your own experience as a new student at UBC and be part of the research, you can start by filling in this survey.

If you are eligible, you’ll be invited to join a 2-part study in which the researchers will ask you additional questions about your social experiences and how you’re feeling during your first months at university.  These online lab sessions will be hosted online via Zoom.

 In this pre-screening survey, you will have the chance to enter a prize draw for one of ten $20 Amazon e-vouchers and ten $10 Amazon e-vouchers. If you are invited for the two online lab sessions, you will receive a $10 Amazon e-voucher for the first online lab session and an additional $15 Amazon e-voucher for the second online lab session.

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By Speakeasy Peer Supporter

As a Speakeasy Peer Supporter, I would like to share my journey towards greater mental health and self-compassion with all of you because it has not been easy. This cold, gloomy weather makes me feel sad at times. The return to the routine of classes, writing papers and work makes me feel under the weather too. And, these shorter and darker days have me feeling more lethargic than usual.

Being gentler with myself – physically, mentally, and emotionally – was tough, especially because I tend to turn my anger and hurt inward. I tried to adopt an attitude to “kill with kindness” but this has a sort of dual meaning for me. I had to deal with the discomfort that arises from suffering, and kill unhealthy reactions like avoidance in order to grow. I believe that the beauty of life is being able to choose the way you relate to yourself, so you can give yourself what you need to thrive and reach your goals.

So, I decided to practice self-compassion and recognize that, I and everyone else around me, we are all deserving of health, success, and love. No terms or conditions.

So, I used some mental, behavioural, and emotional techniques that helped me deal with my fear of “ not being enough. Here are some exercises that helped me to practice self-compassion and you can try too.

In a moment of distress

Check in with your inner dialog. How are you addressing yourself? Are you denying yourself forgiveness? Are you using cruel language? To throw a little bit of psychotherapy in here, are you attributing your difficult situation to factors that are inner, unchanging, and general across all situations you will encounter?

For this first practice, think about the way you are talking to yourself, and then flip the script. How would you address a friend going through the very same situation that you are going through right now? The language probably looks very different – a bit gentler and warmer and kinder. Try to give yourself that same love when you are going through something tough and think about how you feel.

Try a self-compassion break

Take a moment to notice the feelings arising in your body. Stay with them for just a moment. If the feelings are overwhelming and causing you to panic, you can first try a stress-reduction exercise like counting 5-4-3-2-1, or do some box breathing. Then try telling yourself: “this is a moment of suffering”  “this is stress”, “this hurts”.

Acknowledge your pain and choose any of these mantras: “suffering is part of life”, “others have felt the way I feel”, “I am not alone”, “everyone deals with their own struggles”

Again, this is your practice, so choose the sentence that best resonates with you: “may I be kind to myself”, “may I give myself the compassion I need”, “may I learn to accept myself as I am”

Now, check in with yourself. How does your body and mind feel?

Try a meditation practice

Leading self-compassion researcher Kristin Neff has several to choose from on her website. While there are many ways to achieve better mental health, taking some or all practices from self-compassion is one possible route. There are also tons of others.

But if these exercises don’t work and your mood starts severely affecting all aspects of your life, if you find yourself lacking the motivation to go to class, being less social than usual, or having trouble sleeping, come to talk to us. Speakeasy is here for you and our Peer Support team will help you to resolve your issues, give you tips and advice on how to pick up your mood and to talk about any other challenges you might have.

 

 

 

 

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After the last day of classes and once the exams are done, the campus is mostly empty! With just a few of us holding the fort here, it’s time to reflect and think back to all the great things the AMS has brought to you this year.  These are our top 10 achievements of 2019.

1. Sexual Violence and Anti-discrimination policy (SVPREP)

In September, the AMS council approved the Sexual Violence Prevention and Respectful Community and Workplace Policy. This will apply to all AMS staff and student members across UBC. Read the full policy here.

2. More funding for SASC, Indigenous Student Fund and U-pass renewal

In March, you agreed to continue your support for the Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC), to create an Indigenous Student Fund and to extend the U-Pass program for another 5 years.
Plus, you put two questions forward to establish a thrift shop and to re-structure the campus culture and performance. They both passed the referendum. Well done UBC!

3. The Norm Theatre re-opened

This well-loved space reopened last month after being closed for three years for a revamp. Read more about it here.

4. A renovated Clubs Resource Centre opened

Planted between Iwana Taco and the Pit in The Nest, this space is here for you to hang out with friends, get some work done or take a nap. The whole space was renovated to make it more accessible and modern.

5. Interest-free student loans

In early 2019, the BC Government announced the elimination of interest for all current and future student loans.
This is the result of years and years of student advocacy and campaigning for the provincial government to recognize the financial difficulties of students in higher education.

6. Divesting from fossil fuels

Last year, we committed to being fossil fuel-free and we shifted our investments. We are also working closely with the university to divest from fossil fuels.

7. We put up a Lennon Wall

Installed on the first floor of the Nest, it quickly filled up with notes about the events that took place in Hong Kong.

8. Zero Waste Campaign

Plans and policies to implement a zero-waste campaign across campus were finalized. Starting in January 2020, all food outlets will reduce their disposable-cups usage.

9. Textbook Broke campaign

This year, we focused our campaign on pushing for alternatives to expensive textbooks. The development of open educational resources will help to reduce the cost of textbooks.

10. The 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square

We organized a ceremony at the Goddess of Democracy statue, which was restored for the occasion, to mark the 30th anniversary of the events of Tiananmen Square.

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None of this would have been possible without your support and hard work. So, a big thank you to all of you!

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By Natalie Chu 

Do you have a project in mind that could make UBC a more sustainable place to learn and grow? Maybe you think something on campus should be made greener, or you want to educate students on ways they can live more sustainably.

If you have the ideas but don’t know where to find the funds to bring them to life, the AMS Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF) may be your answer. Solomon Atta, Sustainability Funds Administrator, explains “the ultimate goal of the SPF is to promote sustainability on campus and to educate students to make positive changes in sustainability at UBC”

The fund was established after students passed a referendum to support student-initiated sustainability projects. Each year, every UBC student contributes  $2.52 through student fees to support the SPF. Projects can be big or small and students can apply to receive funding up to $15,000 depending on their project size.

Here are some past ventures supported by the SPF.

Climate Hub- Climate comeback

In a time where intimidating facts and numbers about climate change might make people want to give up, it is important for students to keep fighting. The SPF financed a short video for Climate Hub UBC, which encouraged students to adopt sustainability. The video aims to motivate students by comparing the current climate situation to athletes returning to play after sustaining serious injuries.

Common Energy – Mugshare 

As UBC’s largest student sustainability organization, Common Energy has many projects that benefit from the SPF. These projects range from conferences to team meetings for education and outreach. For example, a Common Energy initiative is MugShare. This project brings reusable travel mugs to cafes on campus for student use. It aims to reduce the number of disposable coffee cups that end up in UBC’s waste. The funds were used to obtain and administer the mugs to the coffee shops across campus.

Do you have an idea too? 

If you are a UBC student or student group and have a project in mind with sustainability at its core, you can apply to use the AMS SPF. Before you apply, be sure to spend time thinking about your project through its full lifecycle, to increase the likelihood that your application will be accepted. The application process is designed to make sure that all parties get the most out of a given project, and to reduce the possibility of any unanticipated negative impacts.

For more information about the SPF, visit the AMS Sustainability Projects Fund page.

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Volunteers are essential to keep the Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) office running, organize events and spread the voice about initiatives such as Healing Fires: Art by Survivors and Allies, Come Together, and Consent Tea. We met with the Projects and Events volunteer who told us about her experience.

Tell us your favourite moment this year as a Projects and Events volunteer

My favourite moment this year as a Projects and Events volunteer was the closing ceremony for our art show: Healing Fires. It was overwhelming to finally see all of our hard work come together, our ideas become a reality, and to see the members of the SASC, UBC, and Vancouver community come out and support the art show. It was an unforgettable energy that night, we laughed, we cried, and it was inspiring to watch how we all came together to celebrate the resilience of survivors on their healing journey. I felt incredibly honoured to have been a part of an art show that created such a profound and powerful impact, by providing survivors and allies with a safe space to share their stories.

What are some great contributions made by other team members?

The events that we coordinated this year were all based on collaborative efforts. Whether it was proposing the initial ideas, logistics, set up, or moral support, my team members were ready to contribute whatever they could, whenever they could, to ensure the success of each and every event. Not only were my fellow volunteers extraordinary every step of the way, but the SASC staff who supported us were also vital to our team and success. Having such incredible leaders and mentors making contributions both big and small was a fundamental part of coordinating events that made an impact both on ourselves and on our community, by creating safe spaces for education and empowerment.

What’s one thing everyone should know about the SASC?

One thing everyone should know about the SASC is that their mission has an astonishing impact on others, and I believe that the SASC has a team unlike any other I have ever previously worked with. The SASCs mission to empower the community through their commitment to the support of people of all genders who are survivors of sexualized violence is incredibly important and impactful. And, it has helped to shape a volunteer community that is passionate and ambitious to make a difference. The SASC volunteer program is a safe and inclusive space where we can support one another while working together towards a common goal.

What advice would you give to someone going into your position for the first time?

A piece of advice I would give to someone who is going into my position for the first time is to be confident and creative when planning events. Going into my role I was worried that some ideas may have been unrealistic, such as a campus-wide art show, which none of us had previous experience in planning, meaning that it would require an enormous amount of time and energy to coordinate. There were dozens of other events that we could have chosen to do that were far easier and less risky, but I believe that our confidence and creativity was vital to the success of Consent Tea and the art show. Pursuing creative projects that we were passionate about, made the planning aspect more exciting, and it was clear that people were drawn to the originality of the events. It may take more time and a little extra effort, but pursuing ideas no matter how big or strange they may seem, helps to create events that will catch the eye of the community, and amplify our message.

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The Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) is committed to the education, support, and empowerment of people of all genders who are survivors of sexualized violence as well as their friends and family. The SASC provides free and confidential services to UBC students, staff, faculty, and those connected to the UBC-Vancouver campus community. Find out more on the SASC website.