FEBRUARY 2022 ISSUE
Colin Tran Founder of NXT-GEN UAlberta
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Editor's Note
Editor's Note Hello! My name is Red, and it is my pleasure to be Lazy Faire Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief for the 2021/2022 academic year. After months of planning and organizing, we are so excited to relaunch Lazy Faire for the winter semester and bring you our first issue of the year. Navigating through our new normal over the past twenty-three months has made us realize that we need each other more than ever; spending time with friends and family, social interaction, and community are essential to every aspect of our well-being. There is so much we can accomplish collectively, and I think this is what is so magical about belonging to a community — we are able to create meaningful connections with others, achieve success together, support each other, and work towards making an impact that matters. This month’s theme is BUILDING A COMMUNITY, where we at Lazy Faire explore ways we can all connect, inspire, and give back. In this issue, among other things, we raise awareness of homelessness within our city, share differing perspectives on whether one should study alone or with others, connect with 5 Days for the Homeless, and highlight how Colin Tran, president of NXT-GEN, is making a difference to students in Edmonton and beyond. Each month, we will be featuring impactful students on the cover of our magazine. If you know someone who deserves to be recognized for their accomplishments, please feel free to connect with us through email or our social media platforms. On behalf of the Lazy Faire team, welcome, and thanks for taking the time to join us on this journey. We’re excited to share quality content for business students by business students. Read on ahead!
Contributors VP Operations & Finance
VP Marketing
VP Editorial
Janet Dhanoa
Melanie Mah
Vaneeza Asif
Social Media & Website Director
VP Arts & Design
Writers
Kim Tinana
Liezl Ubaldo
Justin Fong
Photographer
Designer
Kevin Wilianto
Harkeerat Brar
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Greg Choi
Table of Contents
TABLE OF
CONTENTS Meet the Team
Thought vs Thought Studying Alone vs with Groups
Clubs Corner 5 Days for the Homeless
06 07 08 10 12 14
Social Studies
Homelessness in Edmonton
Student Spotlight Colin Tran
Miscellaneous Cozy Recipe for Winter Tips for Donating to Charity
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Meet the Team
MEET THE TEAm Meet the Team
Vaneeza Asif Hello everyone! I'm Vaneeza, and this is my second year with Lazy Faire. I initially joined as a designer and moved into writing, and I thoroughly enjoyed both roles. I'm excited to continue being a part of Lazy Faire as VP Editorial and I hope I can learn more about all the topics Lazy Faire will explore this year.
Justin Fong Hi! I’m Justin and I’m in my 4th year of business. This is my first year with Lazy Faire and I manage the club’s social media accounts, and am currently working on revamping the club’s website. I’m excited to meet some new people and get some experience working with websites. In my spare time, I like to watch TV shows, including lots of animated ones. I also thinks frogs are fun.
Greg Choi Hello, my name is Greg and I'm a third year Finance student. I'm excited to be joining Lazy Faire as a writer and finance & operations director. Writing has always been something of a pastime for me so I knew Lazy Faire was a perfect opportunity to join. I'm looking forward to the work we're going to be putting out this year and can't wait for you to read it!
Melanie Mah Hey! My name is Melanie. I’m in my fourth year of business, majoring in Marketing. As VP Marketing this year, I’m very excited to showcase student stories in Lazy Faire’s magazine issues! In my free time, I like to read, write, draw, listen to music, and play badminton. Feel free to reach out and say hello! 5 | FOR BUSINESS STUDENTS, BY BUSINESS STUDENTS
Social Studies
Homelessness in Edmonton Written by: Vaneeza Asif | Design by: Janet Dhanoa
S
ince the end of 2019, homelessness in Edmonton has nearly doubled and shelter space continues to decline. The combination of COVID-19 and extreme temperatures has made this an even more difficult problem to solve. From social distancing to lack of safe injection sites, we discuss the biggest factors impacting homelessness in Edmonton today.
THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL DISTANCING Beginning with the most obvious issue: Social distancing. COVID-19 social distancing regulations have directly contributed to a reduction in shelter space. As a result, we have seen fewer overnight shelters, limited access to public spaces and a large increase in encampments. Despite that increase, shelter officials have expressed that shelter space is largely a “band-aid” on the real problem of homelessness. Many shelter officials assert that more permanent solutions are needed, such as proper permanent housing. Shelter officials also expressed frustration at the Government of Alberta’s response to the problem, citing that it ought to be a provincial problem, yet the city is left with the responsibility.
LACK OF ADEQUATE HEALTH CARE Another prominent factor in the increase in homelessness is lack of adequate healthcare. Dr. Stephen Hwang states that a major part of the problem is focusing on the problem, rather than the solutions. They point out that, “so much research on homelessness and health has focused on describing the problems… and not really giving us solutions that we can move forward through”. One considerable aspect of healthcare for homeless people is the access to safe injection facilities. According to a 2014 review of 75 studies concluded such places promote safer injection conditions, reduce overdoses and increase access to health services (Rolland, 2014) supervised injection sites were
associated with less outdoor drug use, and they did not appear to have any negative impacts on Crime or drug use. Another aspect of health is Mental Health. A result of living in stressful environments is often poor mental health, which is often coped with via the use of dangerous substances. The lack of sleep, inadequate nutrition and cold temperatures can all contribute to poor mental health, and poor judgement as a result. Up to 35% of homeless people suffer from an obvious mental illess, and it is likely that a greater percentage suffer from undetectable, yet just as debilitating mental illness. In addition to physical health access, it is important for there to be access to mental health services that are specific to homelessness and are more community-based so as to decrease isolation.
INDIGENOUS HOMELESSNESS The final piece to the full picture of homelessness is indigenous homelessness. According to Homeward Trust Edmonton, 60% of those experiencing homelessness are indigenous. The problem of indigenous overrepresentation in homelessness is vast, and can (in large part) be traced back to the Indian Act of 1876, which - in concurrence with displacement - severely restricted the use of Aboriginal Land. The issue increases when we consider the mandatory admittance to residential schools, higher propensity of being institutionalized and systemic issues with child-welfare authorities. The result of such also leaves indigenous people with a lack of generational wealth. Discrimination persists for the indigenous homeless, when it comes to education, applying for jobs, getting involved with authorities (including longer than average sentences for similar crimes), and in applying for housing.
SOCIETAL AND SYSTEMATIC ISSUE The problem of homelessness is, first and foremost, a societal and systemic issue, rather than a moral failing. As outlined, the major factors impacting homelessness are largely external, and internal factors are often greatly exacerbated by the stressors that come with homelessness. Solutions are needed, but they ought to be long-term and preventative. We cannot ignore the mental wellness of homeless people. And we must recognize the social factors that contribute to homelessness if we are to overcome the problem.
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Thought vs Thought
Why you should Written By: Gregory Choi Designed By: Janet Dhanoa
study alone
Whether you are typing away on a laptop, writing your lecture notes with pen and paper, or merely recalling a lecture, as students we all have different methods of studying for our classes. However, when it comes down to it, we either prefer to study on our own or with others in a group. So, what is the more effective option? Here we’ll discuss the benefits of studying on your own. One of the major advantages of studying on your own, is the fact that you can control and minimize your distractions. I'm sure you have all experienced setting up a study group with friends only to have gone hours getting to know more about the party that occurred last weekend than the course material in front of you. Studying on your own can minimize these distractions and while it definitely does come with the requirement to find that accountability to get started, once you can get past that barrier, effective studying can begin. One way to get past that barrier is to choose your environment carefully. Your environment plays a large role in the effectiveness of your studying, especially during remote learning where your classroom is often the same as your bedroom. Finding a space in which you feel comfortable yet alert is important. This can come in the form of
in your covers in bed with a hot drink, headphones in at a busy cafe, or a quiet space in a library in view of others doing the same. At the same time, however, your study environment should be void of distractions. Finding the motivation to study is difficult, so giving yourself the time to design an environment suited for you is vital. After all, if you hate noises, you will not be motivated to go study at a busy cafe. Lastly, it is important to take intentional breaks. Rather than getting distracted from a study group’s conversations, you have the freedom to begin and end your study break. This intention ensures that you use your break wisely. Drink water, stretch, look away from the screen for a bit (that includes your phone!) and just relax. This will help you re-enter your studying with a slightly fresher mind.
Studying is a skill that requires trial and error
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Written By: Liezl Ubaldo Designed By: Janet Dhanoa
with a study group Midterms are fast approaching and like the diligent student that you are, you want to plan ahead so that you can ace your classes. But even if you have a study plan, you might be struggling with implementing it. Sometimes the hardest part about studying is getting started. With this issue in mind, joining a study group may be the best solution to get you up and running and have you fully prepared to take those exams! Read on to find out why you should consider joining a study group. While studying in a group comes with many benefits, its main purpose is to foster accountability in its members. We typically put more effort when there are others involved—when we’re not only responsible for ourselves. As mentioned earlier, getting started is sometimes the most difficult part about studying. By setting up multiple meetings so throughout the week to review, you can establish an accountability system that prevents you from procrastinating and cramming the night before a 5% midterm. As well, preparation is key. By planning what chapters or concepts you’ll be discussing together, there’s an incentive to begin reviewing the material before the meeting. After all, nobody likes to show up unprepared and unable to understand or participate in small group discussions. One of the many benefits of joining a study group is that you will be exposed to different perspectives on how to understand and approach an idea or problem. Putting multiple minds together is indeed better than one. Hearing someone else explain their understanding of a subject can help to strengthen your own understanding and fill in any gaps of knowledge that you may have. This sharing of ideas in group settings brings me to my next point. You can also share study methods! Studying is a skill that requires trial and error. From personal experience, don’t be afraid to try a different study method if you’re not getting your desired results. Studying in a group setting can expose you to those different study methods and habits. It allows
Thought vs Thought
you to observe how your peers may prepare for exams— what method they use, how long they study, and if they’re willing to share, what results they get. Organized notes, flashcards, chapter summaries, problem solutions and the like are all study materials that people generally don’t mind sharing, as long as you also have something to contribute. You’ve probably already heard this phrase reiterated countless times: “Joining clubs and student groups are a great way to meet people who have the same interests as you”. Well, a study group is no different. With some classes being delivered fully remote, joining or forming a study group is a great way to make a few friends in your classes and get to know them more than just an alphabetical letter on a Zoom call.
Overall, there are many benefits to be gained from joining a study group. Some of those benefits include helping with procrastination, expanding your own knowledge, learning new study methods and habits, and meeting new people. Study groups don’t need to be large. Oftentimes study groups that are too large end up being counterproductive. Having even one study partner is sufficient to gain the benefits of being in a group. You might study effectively on your own but there is no cost to having someone else to share ideas with and expand your own understanding of a subject—it can ultimately lead to getting better grades! Try out a study group this semester!
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Student Spotlight
Written By: Greg Choi Designed By: Harkeerat Brar Photographed By: Kevin Wilianto
Lazy Faire spoke with Colin Tran for the February issue. Colin is passionate about narrowing the gap in business education and making entrepreneurship accessible to all youth. This passion has led to the creation of NXT-GEN UAlberta, an organization that addresses business education gaps in Edmonton and area high schools through the use of experiential learning. Read on to learn more about Colin and his organization, NXT-GEN UAlberta! Tell us a little bit about yourself: I am currently in my second year at the University of Alberta, and just began my first year in Business.. I am currently pursuing an accounting major and I’m founder of the organization NXTGEN, helping high school youth attain barrier free access to business education. What exactly is NXT-GEN as an organization and what prompted you to start it? I’ve always been a believer that there needs to be a certain degree of specialization. Our focus is unique in that it is targeted at high-school students which differentiates ourselves from other groups in the school of business who focus on the post-secondary experience. From this, I found it important to expand business education to get to that high-school level and having a specialized organization for that. NXT-GEN’s vision is essentially to bridge the gap in high-school level education through a series of experiential business opportunities through case and pitch competitions, speaker series, as well as networking events that all in all support a student’s journey in test driving an idea or career in business and really getting them into the mindset in order to be successful in their future in business.
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Student Spotlight
Do you see a greater importance of financial literacy education in the future? I absolutely do believe in the value of financial literacy and having the ability to manage your own finances. It’s something so much more than people seem to realize; a lot of people think that business education is solely for the purposes of going into these different sectors of business but what people tend to miss is that no matter where you work, you’re working for a business and understanding how business works is important from that standpoint. From a personal standpoint when it comes to financial literacy there needs to be an understanding of when you get that paycheck you need to know what you’re going to do with it in order to manage your money in a way that’s going to allow you to live the quality of life that you want to. How does NXT-GEN lessen the impact the lack of financial literacy education has on high school youth? NXT-GEN bridges gaps in business and financial literacy education through a series of financially accessible experiential learning opportunities, encompassing workshops, case competitions, pitch competitions, and speaker series, collectively backed by local industry leaders. In doing so, NXT-GEN is arming students with the knowledge they need to manage both their personal finances and better understand the world of business, thus empowering them to succeed and lead in their respective careers. Overall, from NXT-GEN’s perspective, we are hoping to offer barrier free education to people regardless of your background and really be able to offer empowerment to people to take whatever means they have wherever they come from in order to grow and find new ways to continue to grow. Do you have any advice for entrepreneurial students? The best kept secret of founding anything is that nobody knows what they’re doing. Nobody can plan out every single detail and remove that level of uncertainty at every stage in starting your own initiative. The advice to anyone whether you’re a student or not entering the field of entrepreneurship is to just get started, find something small that you understand and get started with that and you’ll see things grow from there. I’ve seen it with NXT-GEN when we grew from something that was originally supposed to be just a privately run group to run one competition a year into a full slate of speaker series and competitions as we continue to hope to run nationally in the next year or so. Things will generally find their way to work out so don’t waste your time writing out a 20 page business plan hoping that every single thing happens to the letter, just get started, see what happens and be willing to go with the flow.
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Club's Corner
Written By: Leizl Ubaldo
|
Designed By: Harkeerat Brar
For this month’s Club’s Corner, we interviewed Travis Nowak, VP Public Relations for 5 Days for the Homeless to gain insight about the club and the chronic issue of homelessness that is increasingly impacting our society today.
What is 5 Days for the Homeless about? 5 Days for the Homeless is a student-run club that values social equity with a mission to shine a light on youth homelessness. Our goal is to make people aware of the challenges of homelessness, to fight against stereotypes, and help the youth to be aware of the resources available to them if they are going through a crisis. 100% of our donation revenue goes to our parent organization, Youth Empowerment and Support Services (YESS). They provide support services such as emergency shelter and counseling services. What is something new you’ve learned since joining? I learned just how complicated and multifaceted an issue that youth homelessness is. It’s so complicated and very cyclical. As an organization, we’re trying to prevent chronic homelessness so that if somebody does face housing insecurity, they can get back on their feet. A lot of people facing homelessness do so, not because there is something wrong with them, but because there are so many external factors that come into play including things like trauma and addiction and bad experiences that aren’t anything inherent to them as a person.
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Club's Corner What is something new you’ve learned since joining? I learned just how complicated and multifaceted an issue that youth homelessness is. It’s so complicated and very cyclical. As an organization, we’re trying to prevent chronic homelessness so that if somebody does face housing insecurity, they can get back on their feet. A lot of people facing homelessness do so, not because there is something wrong with them, but because there are so many external factors that come into play including things like trauma and addiction and bad experiences that aren’t anything inherent to them as a person. Another interesting thing I learned is that it costs taxpayers about $100,000 a year to treat somebody who is chronically homeless as an adult. However, YESS is able to treat youth homeless for about $7,000 a year. That’s a massive difference. So, if you deal with the underlying problems facing the youth before the problem has had a chance to cement itself, there is a far better outcome economically, in terms of society, but also in terms of how that individual is able to be reintegrated.
How can students get involved? We’re currently recruiting for volunteer ambassadors. To those interested, fill out a form through the link on our Instagram page or on our website. The role of volunteer ambassadors is to get some extra hands to help us lead discussions with people that are interested in asking us questions. My advice for someone who is looking to get involved is to seek us out on Instagram or our website. Send us a message and inquire to see if our club is something you’d like to get involved in. Word-of-mouth is infinitely useful to us and if time is an issue but you believe in our cause, there is also an option to donate through our website.
To learn more about 5 Days for the Homeless, visit their website or their Instagram page: www.5daysedmonton.org @5d4h_edmonton
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Miscellaneous
Cozy Reci p e fo
r e t n i rW
old hot soup on a c n a h t r e t t e b e What could b ndly hot soup! e ri f t e g d u b A winter day? rce of protein, u o s t a re g a is This lentil soup k the bank. a re b ’t n o w d n easy to make a
Ingredients: 1 white onion, finely sliced 2 tsp olive oil 3 garlic cloves, finely grated 2 carrots, scrubbed and diced 85g red lentils 1 vegetable (or chicken) stock cube, crumbled Salt and pepper (to taste)
Steps: 1. Boil 1 liter of water to cook the lentils in. 2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium pan, add sliced onions and fry for 2 minutes. 3. Add in carrots and let them cook . 4. Add in your garlic be careful not to burn it! and let it perfume the mixture. Let the mixture cook for a while and season as you desire. 5. Once the water has boiled, add in lentils and vegetable stock cube. 6. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, until lentils are tender 7. Add in fried vegetables and season to taste.
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Written by: Vaneeza Asif Designed By: Janet Dhanoa
TIPS FOR DONATING TO
Written By: Vaneeza Asif Designed By: Kim Tinana
Miscellaneous
CHARITY
Donating to charities is one of the easiest ways to make an impact in your community. However, it’s important to know what you’re doing, lest you run into a scam or dishonest practices. Here, we outline a few tips to help you donate your money effectively.
Understand and research the charity Some charities may use an impressive name, closely resembling the name of a respected, legitimate organization, but may not run in ethical or honest ways.
Check if the charity is registered The government of Canada provides a searchable database of registered charities here: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/taxes/charities A charity (vs. a non-profit) is allowed to issue receipts for income-tax purposes to donors.
Review the results A. While some charities have nice photographs on their website, others may have charts and graphs showing how your money was spent. Review their financials and press releases to ensure promises are being kept and funds are being spent wisely. B. As with anything, consider the context. Some charities may have larger expenses than others and they may have operations in various countries.
Don’t forget about your own financial situation A. It is important to keep your emotions in check. Charities will often use disheartening images and dreary stories to elicit donations. While emotions are valid, it is important to be realistic about how much you can donate based on your own financial situation rather than the severity of the charity. B. If you are serious about donating, consider making a budget. How much can you set aside to donate? Can you afford regular donations? Are there other ways that you can help?
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FEBRUARY 2022 2022 ISSUE ISSUE FEBRUARY
ALBERTA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 2022
