The SLCSA is St. Lawrence’s student association. Its main goal is to make sure that every student at St. Lawrence gets the most out of his or her cégep experience. This is very broad, so we went and talked with the SLCSA’s president, Vincent Harvey, to find out what the SLCSA actually does to reach this goal. Here’s what we learned!
The SLCSA
The SLCSA is a group of 13 members which meet every week to discuss what happens in school and how they can improve student life. Members of the SLCSA are part of one or multiple committees, linked with the school’s administration or linked with student life and health. For instance, there is the governing board, the board of governors (which is a distinct committee from the governing board ), the mental health committee, the committee for prevention of sexual assault, etc. These committees are there to ensure a clear communication between the school’s administration and the students.They also make sure that every St. Lawrence student is supported through his or her studies. There are also members of the administration who overlook the SLCSA, like Samuel Meunier-Dufour and Angela Stevens, to follow up on what the association has accomplished in the school and out of the school. In addition, the SLCSA is in charge of a budget given to them by the school for their activities and the other clubs’ extra activities. Basically, the SLCSA is there to listen to the students, come up with solutions to improve the problems they have come across in order to improve student life, and report these possible solutions to the school’s administration. In other words, the SLCSA’s purpose is to be there for students and to take the prominent decisions on behalf of the students.
This year, the administration and the SLCSA’s president decided that it was time for a change amongst the association’s reputation. Indeed, they decided to rebrand and lose the party association reputation. But what does that imply? Well, according to Harvey, it implies “giving back to the community”. In fact, bills 96 and 101 bring their loads of hardships for the anglophone community in Québec and Harvey wishes to show his support to said community. He is also planning on volunteering alongside other SLCSA (and maybe other clubs) members at different events and non-profit organizations throughout the year, which is more in tune with the school’s motto: #leader. In brief, Harvey wants to show that the SLCSA cares about its community.
Events and initiatives
If you are a first year or simply haven’t really been keeping up with events, you might be wondering where that reputation comes from and whether or not it is deserved. You can be the judge of that. Here is a recap of what the SLCSA organized last year and has organized this year, using their Instagram and the Mios they’ve sent as a source. In 2022-2023, the SLCSA organized 5 parties at different bars (District Saint-Joseph, Ozone, Dagobert) for which tickets cost between 3.50$ and 6.00$. Out of these, at least 3 were open to all (the information was not available for one of the parties). This means that students could purchase multiple tickets at once, and that students from other CEGEPs could attend. But that’s not all, they also encouraged our sports teams by organizing a BBQ tailgate at the start of the hockey season and advertised on their Instagram the last soccer match and the first basketball ones. They organized activities for students at school—Fear Factor, Big Brain Competition, and Love is Blind—and outside of school—a Sugar Shack activity that was sadly canceled. And last, but not least, the SLCSA distributed free food to the student body: a welcome BBQ, coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts, as well as some Mr Puffs.
As for this year, they have again organized a welcome BBQ on August 18, and two open-to-all parties: Ibiza Nights at District St. Joseph (August 31st) and the upcoming party Nightmare on Grande Allée at the Ozone (October 27th). Let’s see what else they have in store for us this year!
Our president: Vincent Harvey
Through the interview, we also got to know our SLCSA president better. He is a second-year student in the school who used to be vice-president of the SLCSA, and is known to be “outgoing” and “unserious” sometimes—his words. He ended up playing a big part in organizing the elections last year, as VP, while also running for president in the election. The transition from vice-president to president brought about a lot of change, both in the ways he is perceived and in the breadth of his responsibilities, so let’s take a look at those. Being president means being known by people you don’t know, which requires a lot of adaptation. Furthermore, while the administration sees him as representing the student body, he only sees himself as “a student that’s there”. His colleagues have also needed to get used to his serious side. As for what he does, Vincent has decided to go above and beyond maintaining the status quo. He reorganized their documents, is working towards making the student association more administrative and corporate-like, and, as mentioned above, is planning on giving back to the English-speaking community. He also makes sure to listen to what students are saying and to deal with problems that might arise. All of that on top of the SLCSA meetings, the event planning and his work in committees.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the SLCSA’s reputation is hard to ignore and not completely unfounded, given that they’ve already planned two parties for us this semester. However, a lot goes on behind the scenes or slips under the radar; their hard work in the committees and every other event in the school should not be ignored when making up your mind about them. Finally, the Student Association still has the rest of the school year to showcase their new direction: away from parties and towards giving back to the community.
By Eve Richard and Danaé Morin
