January 16, 2019

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THE

T H O M P S O N R I V E R S U N I V E R S I T Y ' S I N D E P E N D E N T S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R

VOLUME 28 · ISSUE 15 · JANUARY 16, 2019

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FOOD SERVICE CONSULTATION A SUCCESS

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PUPPETS COME TO LIFE!

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'PACK LOOKING FOR NEW WSOC COACH

TRU hosts the Prime Minister’s first town hall of 2019 Justin Moore STAFF WRITER Ω Tensions were high in Kamloops with the arrival of the Prime Minister on Jan. 9. With Justin Trudeau's first town hall of 2019 scheduled for the Tournament Capital, his appearance was met with groups of protesters and long lines of community members on campus hoping to find a seat at the rare political event.

As to be expected when the Prime Minister comes in close

contact with members of the public, his town hall was bookended by crowds of people trying their luck at snagging a selfie with the Canadian Liberal leader.

When the floor finally opened to the public, Trudeau was met with quite a mix of questions, the first of which being "what's your favourite part of the day?" To which the Prime Minister replied with his soon to be five-year-old son crawling into his bed in the morning to cuddle.

This question was followed by a more political one as to how

Canadians can invest their money in green energy rather than fossil fuel companies. Trudeau went on to talk about Canada's transition to clean energy and how we can find sustainable solutions with a clean, positive outlook, mentioning that he was "a little more optimistic" than previously mentioned by David Suzuki, who as Trudeau put it, "tends to disagree quite vehemently on a number of things."

See HIGH TENSIONS Page 2

Trudeau spoke for over an hour and a half in TRU’s Gym on issues such as the wage gap, working towards greener energy and trade issues during his first town hall of the year. (Justin Moore/Ω)

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JANUARY 16, 2019

NEWS

High tensions, outbursts and awkward laughs faced Trudeau's Kamloops visit CONTINUED (COVER) Not long after these comments, an Indigenous man from the far side of the gym rose up and heckled Trudeau calling him a "weak leader and a liar." This interruptive exchange was followed by a question from Tilly, an Indigenous woman.

"Today I want to ask you, what are you going to do to stop oppressing and holding our people under your colonization? When are you gonna give us our rights back?

When are you gonna start giving a shit about who we are as people and not seeing us just for our land?"

Tilly said.

Her question was received with applause and other outbursts from the crowd. Someone could be heard yelling "genocide," in the audience before Trudeau responded.

"Thank you for your question,"

Trudeau started his response.

"Canada has a long and terrible history in regards to Indigenous peoples. We have consistently failed as a country to live up to the spirit and original intent of the treaties.

We have not treated Indigenous peoples as partners and stewards of this land. We have marginalized, behaved in paternalistic, colonialistic ways that have lacked respect for Indigenous people as stewards of the land."

This exchange between Trudeau and Tilly went on for some time.

Trudeau responded by saying “we have much to apologize for and much to work forward on together in respect."

He then went on to reference a meeting he had the day before with leaders of self-governing and modern treaty First Nations.

"We are working with them on full self-governance, we are working with them on being able to make their own determinations about their land, about how they care for their people, how they serve their people, how they move forward in responsible ways that are their choices," Trudeau said.

"You are afraid to lose everything you benefit from our oppression and our suffering! You are afraid to lose your comfort," interrupted Tilly.

"No I'm not Tilly," replied the Prime Minister. "I'm ready to walk in partnership with you and building the future and that is what we've been doing over the past three years in renewing this relationship."

Trudeau addressed more comments throughout the night

relating to the wage gap between men and women and a comment about his India trip, to which Trudeau replied, "it was a trip that happened," followed by laughs from both the crowd and the PM himself.

An individual from the international student community raised a question about the high cost of post-secondary education for international students. The Prime Minister chalked it up to say that "quality education is expensive" and the price international students pay for education in Canada covers the cost they don't pay in taxes, which is fair to Canadian citizens.

U.S. President Donald Trump was even referenced in another question from an audience member, who asked Trudeau if he would push Trump off a cliff, adding that

he would buy the PM a beer if he did. This naturally brought some laughs.

“I wasn’t expecting a threat of violence against our closest ally,” Trudeau replied. “The relationship between Canada and the United States goes far deeper than who happens to be prime minister and who happens to be president.”

Before the night was over, additional discussion of protests and RCMP action at the Unist'ot'en camp in northern B.C. against the Wet'suwet'en people was voiced quite loudly with and without provided microphones.

As Trudeau exited the TRU Old Gym, someone could be heard yelling "don't forget about Canada Post!" through the mob of selfies before the Prime Minister retired to his hotel.

Early into the town hall, one man interrupted Trudeau calling him a “weak leader and a liar." Over the course of the event many other Canadians also voiced their disatisfaction. (Justin Moore/Ω)

Secwepemc Peace War Chief speaks out against the Prime Minister

Indigenous groups amongst protesters outside Justin Trudeau's town hall last week Christian Varty NEWS EDITOR Ω People lined the sidewalks in front of the gymnasium where the Prime Minister of Canada answered questions from students and attendees. Some of the people in the crowd were happy to see Justin Trudeau, while others were there in protest.

Alexis Harry, traditional name Pipipe7ewele, was one of many Indigenous people at the event protesting Trudeau on

the basis of the Trans Mountain expansion plan.

“I’ve worked in the oil and gas industry. I’ve worked in the mining business for five years.

We can’t let these multi-billion dollar companies take the land,” Harry, who has been Peace War Chief for the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc since 2016, told the Omega.

“The earth is dying. Whether or not you know it,” he said.

“Whether or not you believe it, the earth is dying from the inside out. The salmon are dying. The coral reefs all across

the planet are dying. And once the salmon are dead, what can you eat? You can not eat oil.”

Trudeau’s visit to Kamloops is part of a series of discussions he is engaging in across Canada.

He has invited people to come see him in town halls and given them the opportunity to ask questions.

The tour has undoubtedly been a way for him to campaign and speak about his policy and plan for Canadians in advance of the upcoming federal election. Trudeau has said that this is an important part of Canadian

democracy. Despite this, videos have surfaced of Trudeau side-stepping questions and being heckled by crowds.

The Trans Mountain pipeline has likely been one of the most contentious issues that his government has faced. The expansion plan, which would twin an already existing pipeline delivering heavy crude to the Lower Mainland, has led to provincial premieres battling each other and eventually required the government to purchase the pipeline from energy giant Kinder Morgan.

The pipeline is an issue that many local residents have strong feelings toward, both positive and negative. In May of 2018, there was a spill at a pump station 80 kilometres north of Kamloops in Darfield. As such, the no side is largely concerned about the ecological impact.

“You have to ask yourself, what will my grandchildren have? I fight for them and not only them but for your grandchildren too,” Harry said. “I fight for the future of everyone and for seven generations of our children.”

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TRU continues to create its identity through the Campus Master Plan

fill a gap in your program

Future of the university calls for densification, less cars on campus and a lively public realm Wade Tomko EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ω

Athabasca University has over 850 courses to choose from to meet your needs and courses start every month. AU has over 6,600 transfer agreements around the world (including with this institution).

TRU’s 2013 Campus Master Plan, which was recently reviewed last month, is progressing exactly as planned, says TRU vice-president administration and finance Matt Milovick. Originally designed to create a “destination campus and a prominent identity,” according to Campus Master Plan Overview presented to TRU’s Board of Governors, the plan looks to densify TRU’s campus and create a welcoming public community.

While the Nursing and Population Health building is expected to be substantially completed

by May of 2020 and the developments behind Old Main by 2021/2022, Milovick and TRU’s administration are looking much further into the future.

Over the next few decades, the university will look to fill out an addition 1.9 million sq. ft. of academic buildings (compared to 1.1 million sq. ft. currently on campus) and 2 million sq. ft. of trust developments.

“I think it’s a great plan. People who haven’t been to this campus for ten years, if they came back, they’d be sufficiently impressed by what’s happened here,” Milovick said. “I think the important thing for the community to note is that we can expand our academic space from 1.1 million sq. ft. to about 3 million sq. ft.”

In relation to the Trust

developments, the university’s next plan is to develop the corner of Summit Drive and McGill Road.

“As it relates to the Trust developments, the next property of interest that we are looking at developing is 800 University Drive, which is the corner of Summit and McGill. That is really the crown jewel of the Trust developments,” Milovick said. “We view that as a mixed use, so their will be 40,000 sq. ft. of retail on the ground floor and a mix of office and residential above, probably in three different buildings with underground parking.”

While Parking Lot E will end up being removed to make space for the new developments, this fits with TRU’s plan to push parking to the extremities of the campus and densify its centre, says Milovick.

However, Milovick assures the TRU community that there will always be enough parking in what the master plan calls for. In fact, compared to the Campus Master Plan’s minimum requirements for parking, which is 2,481 stalls, the university currently has 2,850 stalls.

“There is enough parking in what the campus master plan calls for, it’s just to push all that parking to the perimeter,” Milovick said. “Parking in perpetuity will exist behind the tower residence and A&E. Pretty much all the interior lots are going to disappear. We’ll have some accessibility parking where we need it,

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but not a lot, almost zero, interior parking.”

As parking will slowly be pushed to the edge of campus and TRU will try to conserve as much green space as possible, Milovick believes the construction of a parkade is unlikely. In addition to this, the project becomes even less feasible when costs and topography are factored in, he says.

“A parkade would quadruple the cost to park on this campus.

We were using figures based on normal topography and we don’t have normal topography, so you’d have more challenges and more costs,” Milovick said. “And we are by no means going to subsidize parking through tuition fees or grants. We have bought a lot of property on the periphery of campus. A lot of it had parking included, but we didn’t buy it for that reason.”

Yet for students and staff worried about parking, Milovick says that they can now check lot distance to buildings through TRU’s website to determine where is best to park.

“We are going to put that on our parking website so students can determine just how far a parking lot is to where there classes are going to be, their first stop of the day. It doesn’t make sense for a student to drive around a lot when they could go park somewhere else and walk for five minutes,” he said. “It’ll be on the website first and then we’ll build functionality into the TRU app.”

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JANUARY 16, 2019

NEWS

TRU history professor Plan for new library in the works publishes his first book Proposal could see the House of Learning Wilson Bell talks about his new book on Stalin’s gulags during World War II Christian Varty NEWS EDITOR Ω Reproductions of Soviet-era propaganda posters hang on TRU history professor Wilson Bell’s wall above and across from large bookshelves full of books about Russian history.

“I’ve always been drawn to these grim chapters in human history,” Bell said. “Part of my interest in Russian history is because it’s a very dynamic history but there’s also a lot of suffering in that history. I’m very interested in how people can inflict suffering on other people and how people deal with these situations.”

Bell’s new book, Stalin's Gulag at War: Forced Labour, Mass Death, and Soviet Victory in the Second World War, is a unique offering to the world of Russian history. While there have been many other books discussing Stalin-era gulags, many of which you will find on Bell’s bookshelves, Bell takes a look at how the gulags were utilized for the war effort.

“The book is organized roughly thematically,” Bell explained regarding the structure of the book.

“The first chapter is more of a background chapter talking about the development of the region

and the gulag before the war,” he said. “And then the three main chapters on the war itself, the first one is about the economic mobilization of the region for the war. Every subcamp in the region in Western Siberia was converted to wartime production. For example, a musical instrument factory where prisoners were working in Tomsk was converted into producing artillery shells.”

Source material for the book has largely consisted of declassified documents from the Russian government as well as memoirs of people being held prisoner in the gulag system.

“There’s two main groups of sources. One is sources written by the authorities and the other is documentation from the prisoners,” Bell said. “On the administration side, there’s a variety of documents available. So, in fact, there’s way too many for any one researcher to look at. Some of the main ones I focused on were operational orders to the Gulag coming from Moscow.”

Bell’s book is out now and is available for purchase through the University of Toronto Press website at utorontopress.com/ ca/stalin-s-gulag-at-war-2. In the future, there will likely be a limited amount of copies in the school bookstore, and at the local Chapters store.

converted into the university's only library Juan Cabrejo BUSINESS EDITOR Ω

TRU is in the process of formalizing a final strategic five-year plan for a new library development to house all academic references under one roof.

The proposal is to convert the House of Learning into the primary TRU library instead of accommodating more than 400,000 books, numerous journals and online resources in two separate locations, one being the current TRU library building as well as the second floor of the House of Learning. A Steering Committee, made up of library staff and faculty, oversees the planning process.

University librarian Kathy Gaynor describes her ambitions for the plan, along with her experiences as a member of the Steering Committee, by consulting with various interest groups to identify the priorities that should be emphasized in the development.

“My primary goal is that when we do consolidate the two libraries into one, that it will be resourced appropriately; meaning to make sure we have more collections, be that books or journals that would be supportive of the teaching, learning and research that happens on campus,” she said.

“We’ve been engaged in some deep consultations across campus as well up in Williams Lake; we held a series of focus groups, met with TRUSU caucus and spent two days up in Williams Lake talking to students, faculty and staff up there.”

The House Of Learning could soon be TRU's only library. (Aidan Grether/Ω) Gaynor mentions how the Steering Committee is sifting through the survey responses as quickly as they can while and identifying strategic priorities. She aims to have the final document completed by late February to early March.

“There were many thoughtful and insightful comments and right now the strategic planning Steering Committee is sifting through that, identifying strategic priorities and we should have a document available for the campus by the end of February, hopefully, the beginning of March,” she said. “That will guide the next five years for us.”

Throughout October to December, the Steering Committee, with the aid of an external strategic planning consultant, gathered information and perspectives on the project by consulting with stakeholders directly along with disseminating surveys across campus.

“In addition to face-to-face conversations we sent out a series of surveys to the entire campus community,” Gaynor said. “We spent the last month or so going through all of that feedback and it was quite voluminous, I was pleased with the response we got.”

Implementation of the development is scheduled to commence in January, however, until the full revision of the final document is completed, the changes to library space, resources and services will have to wait. Considering her 20-year experience as a TRU librarian, Gaynor is realistic about the five-year project timeline.

“Five years is my goal, but I’m also realistic to know that every plan never works out as smoothly as you wish,” she said. “Should something happen unforeseen we might have to adjust our timeline, but I’m pushing for five years.”

Food service consultation marked as a major success Over 2,800 students, faculty and staff gave their thoughts on how to make food service at TRU better Wade Tomko EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ω Early last month, over two years of work by the TRU Students’ Union culminated in the final report of the campus food services review. The review, which was initially undertaken as a response to TRUSU’s Hungry for Choice campaign in 2016, was made possible by the participation of 2,815 students, staff, faculty and administration in the food service consultation survey.

“You look at our survey results, we had almost 3,000 people participate in it,” said TRUSU president Tatiana Gilbert. “I’m just ecstatic, it is so rewarding to see what happens when students go beyond what they’re learning in the classroom. Their input and their participation has the power to change a lot on campus.”

While the company who drafted the final review, Porter-Khouw Consulting (PKC), may have finished their role, much work is still to be done in implementing the

Some of PKC's short-term recommendations included expanding TRU's retail offerings and extending hours at central locations. (Aidan Grether/Ω) recommendations they outlined.

In their review, PKC suggested that TRU implement the following short-term enhancements (changes to be made within one year) to the university’s food service: expand the number and variety of food trucks, improve the existing spaces by looking at ways to add seating and provide more variety, identify additional spaces to expand retail offerings, consider expanding the hours of operation at one

or more of the centrally-located retail locations and expand menu offerings to include more breakfast items.

However, before many of these changes take place, executives from Aramark will be coming to campus to specifically address PKC’s recommendations.

“In the short-term we are going to renew our contract with Aramark for the next five years,” said TRU vice-president administration and finance

Matt Milovick. “They are going to come visit us in January and meet with the Food Services Committee and say here’s what we can do in respect to the short term recommendations and they might have ideas on the long term recommendations.”

Milovick adds that perhaps the easiest and most-common sense short-term solution will be to allow a fourth food truck on campus.

“In the immediate short term the plan is to add a fourth food truck on campus,” he said.

In addition to this, the Food Services Committee will be replaced by a food services advisory group and become a more permanent fixture on campus.

“While the Food Services Committee will meet for the last time in January, we will put together a food services advisory group that will likely meet quarterly or once a term, just so we can provide updates,” Milovick said.

In the future, TRU may decide to construct a dining hall in the bookstore as part of PKC’s medium-term (two to five years) recommendations.

However, PKC admits that this

isn’t an optimal scenario. As well, Milovick believes that the university would be better off investing in a large centrally-located dining hall, as per PKC’s long-term recommendations.

“We’ll look at it, but my gut says no. I don’t want to put a small scale dining hall that can ultimately undo the success of a major project,” Milovick said.

“Even with the bookstore dining hall, you’re still looking at $5-6 Million and I’d rather invest that in a proper collegium.”

While a dining hall at TRU may be more than a few years away and much work is still to be done in the immediate future, both administration and TRUSU have reason to celebrate the consultation’s success.

“None of this would be possible without the input and help of the entire campus community,” Gilbert said. “Just to put this into perspective, when we do our student budget consultation we’ll get around 400 people participating in that and we’re out campaigning for two weeks.

Compared to that, this is just unreal. We’re so happy with all the support that we got.”

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Downtown Performing Arts Centre gets okay from city council Ron Fawcett’s new and updated proposal for a arts centre draws a large crowd at Kamloops City Hall Justin Moore STAFF WRITER Ω Last week at Kamloops City Council, Ron Fawcett took to the podium to delegate a new proposal for Kamloops' own Performing Arts Centre that would be constructed downtown on Seymour and 4 Ave. Joining Fawcett at City Council were members of the Western Canada Theatre, the Kamloops Symphony and the Kamloops Art Gallery. Many other small businesses of Kamloops and their staff were also present at the Jan. 8 proposal.

This proposal comes four years after the initial referendum for a performing arts theatre and parkade in 2015, which was later shut down by the Kamloops public.

Fawcett's project builds on some of these initial plans, with some new ideas including a larger facility after Fawcett and his team toured other theatres and performing

centres in the Lower Mainland.

In addition to the proposed building which would house three new theatres with roughly 1785 seats between all three, Fawcett has also donated an existing building into the mix: the former annex to the Telus building. Reconstruction of that building will be overseen and paid for by Fawcett, with an estimated donation of $8 to $10 million.

“No other community in the interior of B.C. and even in comparable communities in western Canada has the quality of the orchestra, the theatre company and the art gallery that we do in Kamloops. We believe this centre will elevate and support all three organizations," Fawcett said.

If the new centre is constructed, it would be the new home of operations for the Western Canada Theatre that is currently housed in the Pavilion theatre. The Kamloops Symphony and their music school would also base their operations inside of the proposed building.

There was talk of other groups renting and using the theatre for events and conferences hosted by TRU, Tourism Kamloops and possibly even the Rocky Mountaineer.

“This is a community building with many, many partnerships still to be exposed," Fawcett added.

The issue of parking was brought up during the proposal, with summer shows possibly interfering with parking spaces that would be occupied by Blazers fans during the same evening.

Currently, there are approximately 70 underground parking spaces in the Performing Arts Centre proposal, with two more underground floors being a rather expensive but achievable option.

At the end of the presentation, Mayor Ken Christianson called the project "transformational" for downtown Kamloops, which was later motioned unanimously by the city council into the 2019 Strategic Plan. This was was met by clapping and large smiles by the majority in attendance.

TRU sees the ‘world premiere’ of Wells Gray’s newest cave Justin Moore STAFF WRITER Ω It's not too often that a hole in the ground makes global headlines and the front page of the New York Times, yet the recent discovery of what geologist Catherine Hickson calls 'a honking big cave' grabbed the eyes and ears of much of the world.

It was Kamloops, however, that was the first of many communities to learn more details of the cave in a presentation by Hickson at TRU on Jan. 10.

Hickson spent just over 45 minutes describing in detail a timeline of what she called the first "modern discovery" of the cave, referencing the ongoing dialogue with local Indigenous groups as to if this cave has significance with the area's first residents.

While Hickson wasn't part of the initial team, a Cariboo census operation, that located the cave on April 22 of 2018, she was later sent pictures taken by the helicopter

team on May 2. It was then that Hickson began assembling a team to investigate the soon to be internationally renowned discovery.

Only teasing the location of the cave, which is being undisclosed at the request of B.C. Parks, Hickson, who was all smiles, recapped her over 50-minute helicopter ride from Clearwater to the cave last September.

The images on the projector behind Hickson displayed pictures taken by the crew from both air and land as well as video that was instrumental in later creating a 3D rendering of the cave measuring up to 100 meters across and 60 metres wide. Using laser instruments, the team measured a rough depth of 137 metres. Hickson compared this estimated depth to another local spectacle, Helmcken Falls, which stands at 141 metres and an amusing graphic of the Statue of Liberty, 93 metres tall, swallowed by the cave.

Further research of what's inside the cave will be conducted over the next three years, but there was no

Though it has yet to be fully explored, the cave could be the largest in Canada; measuring approximately 137 metres deep. (John Pollack)

denying Hickson's excitement when she proclaimed that "it could, in fact, be one of the largest caves, if not the largest cave in Canada.

“Here it is on your doorstep," she said.

Hickson then continued to show images taken inside of the cave by her teammate Lee Hollis, a veteran caver and the only person in noted history to descend into this cave.

A map of northern Wells Gray was also shown, created by Bert Struik who did extensive work in Wells Gray Provincial Park in the 80s around the same time that Hickson was also completing her PhD fieldwork in the park. Struik has since been included in the research and ultimately came very close, almost 500 metres to discovering the cave himself back in the 80s, claimed Hickson.

Hickson and an assembled team are now preparing for another September departure this year with the intent to explore the inside of the cave more, with donations of rather pricey cave exploration equipment from other organizations eager to learn more about the cave's composition.

When describing the journey she's had as far as the media attention, Hickson compared the extensive exposure to the activity around Mount St. Helens in 2004, an event she was mostly apart of as a volcanologist.

Hickson was ultimately the one who pushed the news of the discovery of the cave to the public, calling her Kamloops lecture "the world premiere."

Hickson then ended her presentation with a Photoshopped image of the Sarlacc from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi emerging from the snow-covered cave.

Kamloops residents, local organizations and media crowded City Hall last week to hear the desicion on the Performing Arts Centre. (Justin Moore/Ω)

B.C. post-secondary students to get 24/7 mental-health support Morgan Hunter CONTRIBUTOR Ω A new 24-hour mental-health support line for students will soon be coming to B.C. The B.C. government recently posted a notice of planned procurement on their website, BC Bid, looking to find a company to create the software.

At the time of writing this, there is no provincewide resource available to post-secondary students and where there are resources many students often lack any type of after-hours access.

When asked about this new program, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training Melanie Mark said that the B.C. government understands that pursuing a post-secondary education can be very stressful.

“Adjusting to a new environment, learning to balance classes with new jobs, new friendships and relationships can be challenging for students who may be living away from home for the first time, far from friends and family,” Mark said. “Whether mild or severe, mental-health concerns are very real among post-secondary students who have been calling for action to this important issue on- and off-campus. That’s why our government is working to develop a mental health service that is available to students around the clock, provincewide.”

The project hopes to create a service that includes phone, online chat, text and email capabilities. It comes at a crucial time for students, with recent statistics showing a need for the system.

The 2016 National College Health Association survey of Canadian post-secondary students found

a significant number of students are experiencing mental-health problems and illnesses.

In the survey, 44.4 per cent of students reported that at some point in the previous 12 months they felt “so depressed it was difficult to function”; 13 per cent had seriously considered suicide; 2.1 per cent had attempted suicide; and 18.4 per cent reported being “diagnosed or treated by a professional” for anxiety.

Another survey was done by the Canadian Mental Health Association showing the need for a system for even younger students.

15,000 grade 7 to 12 students in British Columbia were asked a multitude of questions with the following results: 34 per cent knew of someone who had attempted or died by suicide, 16 per cent had seriously considered suicide and 14 per cent had made a suicide plan.

Additionally, seven per cent had made an attempt and two per cent had required medical attention due to an attempt.

A Statistics Canada study also found that for people between 15 to 34, suicide was the second leading cause of death, preceded only by accidents.

Because they do not generally die from natural causes, suicide represents a relatively large percentage of all deaths for younger age groups (15 to 34). In 2009, 202 individuals aged 15 to 19 committed suicide in Canada.

That number has grown exponentially with more than 5,800 Canadian children and youth having died by suicide during the past 13 years in Canada — some as young as 8 years old, according to data compiled by a Toronto Star/Ryerson School of Journalism investigation from coroners’ offices in all provinces and territories except Nunavut.

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JANUARY 16, 2019

ARTS

Getting around town without a car Kamloops may be a car city but that doesn't mean you can't have fun without a vehicle Cassandra Elonen CONTRIBUTOR Ω Kamloops may be considered a small town but as many students are aware, what to see and do are limited without your own vehicle.

When asked, seven out of ten students mentioned that they would rather stay at home instead of being out socializing and discovering what the town has to offer. Not because they want to nor need to study and therefore lack time, the reason for not exploring simply comes down to not having access to an automobile on a daily basis.

In fact, many students are afraid of what would happen if they were stranded in unknown territories and, mostly out of security reasons and want to eliminate the uncertainty of not knowing how to get home. While this sad statistic and the revelation that comes with it are true, there are ways to be creative and get around Kamloops without a car.

Cycle and the city Rent an electric bike at TRU for free TRU staff, faculty and students have the opportunity to rent electric bikes free of charge at the university. Remember there is only a limited amount of bikes available and they get rented out fast on a first-come-first-serve basis. For

more information email jgordon@ tru.ca or mesmith@tru.ca.

Tip: If all electronic bikes happen to be rented out, do not give in to despair, it is still possible to kick it old school and ride an ordinary bike through town. The city of Kamloops has invested greatly in a bicycle master plan that includes separate lanes, broader sidewalks and more. Although most of the bicycle master plan is for future rewards, it has already been set in motion and currently, all city buses have bike racks for when the road gets a bit too hilly.

Read upcoming transportation news at www.kamloops.ca.

Great deals on wheels Rent a Zipcar by the hour or per day at TRU TRU has a collaboration with Zipcar, a company that presents car-sharing in a whole new light and offers a fairly economical and convenient way to rent a car for short periods of times. Pick up and drop-off is right at the campus and the price includes both insurance and gas, which other car rental companies usually add on as unpleasant surprises. However, research the route and plan ahead since the affordable price is limited to 200 kilometres per day, after that the rates change. For price inquiry check

out www.zipcar.com.

Tip: To save a buck and contribute to saving the environment at the same time, keep a lookout for different rideshare groups. Here local inhabitants post whenever they have free spots in their car, what day and direction they are driving, so that if someone wants to tag along they can. There are even carpools to school available. Sign up for TRU’s Rideshare program here: www. trurideshare.com.

Other mentionable rideshare groups include: www.poparide.com www.carpoolworld.com www.ridesharing.com

Explore the urban outdoor Book field trips at TRU Operate smart and book excursion tours that include both adventure and transportation. The Adventure U Club is a student based group that offers a lot of hikes and other outdoorsy experiences within and nearby Kamloops area. To book an excursion visit www. truadventureu.com.

Tip: While the buses stop running early, www.bctransit.com enables transportation almost wherever you desire in the city. However, sometimes a shuttle out of the city is what you crave the most. For current fares look into www.myebus.ca and www. bestsunpeaks.com.

Despite Kamloops being fairly spread out and quite hilly, there are lots of options for fun and excitement for those without a vehicle. (Alan Levine/Flickr)

No skis? No problem, try ziplining this winter

Skiing no longer the only major winter attraction Whistler has to offer Cassandra Elonen CONTRIBUTOR Ω As I stood at the top of the valley I could feel sweat dripping along my lower back, a reaction caused by equal excitement and nervousness for what was about

to come. Mist was forming in the air while I breathed heavily, trying to build up courage and at the same time appreciate the dramatic yet stunning landscape before me.

What if I told you there is a way to be able to enjoy the view of snow-covered mountains and

experience the same thrill as when skiing from an even higher altitude, without the hazard of misfitting boots and sore aching muscles?

Almost synonymous to the area is the pleasure of skiing and I dare to guess that if it’s not associated on the first thought, it is high

If you aren't very good on skis or a board, but still looking for a rush, ziplining may just be for you. (Superfly Ziplines)

up on the list of activities to do when visiting Whistler. I also dare to challenge skiing as the natural first choice of winter fun, since Whistler is offering another exhilarating experience. Something that is becoming popular and is competing for that first spot of the most exciting thing to do while there.

Superfly Ziplines is open all-year-round and is offering a three-hour tour, including five variations of ziplines, each being longer, shorter and faster than the prior since they are designed for different effects. Make sure you discover and use all of your senses during the ride. The tours are both family friendly and deliver adrenaline for the more adventurous type.

My journey began at 600 ft. and was an extreme ride where amongst the constant rush you also got to feel moist snow in your face. The time was about 3:00 p.m., which meant that I would spend half of the tour in daylight and the other half in pitch-black darkness, wearing only a headlight. Gazing out on what was over a kilometre long zipline, I was thankful the tour was built with four side-by-side ziplines, allowing me to share this beautiful

moment together with a friend.

The fact that two people can soar the same zipline at once enhances the adventure and doubles the amount of fun. One of the ziplines even provided the opportunity to hold hands during the ride. The unique side-by-side system also offered the choice to support and lend each other courage when needed or alternatively compete with one another.

In-between every zipline my group members and I had to walk on treetops bridges, surrounded by a massive forest, in order to get to the next platform. The view was spectacular and I felt as if I were a kid again, filled with curiosity and had landed in a mysterious Peter Pan-movie.

Besides me and my seven other group members, there were two Superfly Zipline guides with us along for the road. From the moment I got on the bus towards the zipline location, until the very end of the tour, I felt taken care of. The staff put in a tremendous effort and truly added to the value of the experience, ensuring our safety and engaging the group with a dry sense of humour every step of the way. For more information and price inquiry visit www. superflyziplines.com

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ARTS

7

Gruesome puppets come to life in Kamloops theatre Chimera Theatre brings to life the dark tales of The Brothers Grimm Cailyn Mocci ARTS EDITOR Ω Chimera Theatre will be bringing to the stage a new type of cast: puppets. In a tale originally by the Brothers Grimm, TRU alumni Andrew G. Cooper adapts the dark tale The Robber Bridegroom.

The choice to use puppets instead of a live action cast was one made by Cooper in an attempt to really draw the audience into the storybook tale. The production will be almost entirely silent with the exception of the introduction and conclusion narration and the musical scoring. The choice for silence works was made to break

down possible barriers in language and culture, making this an extremely inclusive production.

The Robber Bridegroom is a tale of an impoverished miller who seeks a better life for his only daughter. To save the mill, they arrange for her marriage to a wealthy man from out of town.

Of course, following the known

Prepare yourself for a unique reimagining of the Brothers Grimm later this month. (Andrew G. Cooper/Chimera Theatre)

darkness of the Brothers Grimm, this marriage does not go as smoothly as expected.

“I’m still trying to figure out what genre it is. It’s part horror, part suspense, part thriller, part fairy tale and part puppet show,” Cooper said.

Through the use of puppetry and physical theatre, Cooper and Chimera invite Kamloops to experience this dark adaptation that explores intuition and the uncertain nature of humanity. The show is being advertised as 16+ because of the often violent and gruesome scenes that are depicted through the puppetry.

“We found that doing that with actors is possible, clearly there’s a lot of shows that have violence on stage,” Cooper said. “We’re finding it’s more effective to do with puppetry and so far we found that once people believe in these puppets, which isn’t hard to do, once that violence happens to puppets it quite a different experience. It enhances the belief in the storytelling.”

On top of the puppetry, this story is largely told without spoken word. Sound designer and TRU student, Lukas Vanderlip, brings to life the story through the musical scoring which will carry the audience through the fairy tale.

This production has a large portion of their cast and crew

originating from TRU with Cooper and his co-director Melissa Purcha as TRU alumni.

The Robber Bridegroom will also be taking on a more politically charged role on the topic of violence against women. Throughout history, women’s voices were often silenced and they were used as pawns.

“We’re trying to get the female side of this story and make people see that point of view and open up a question and dialogue, ” Cooper said.

Cooper hopes that through this production they can answer questions of responsibility and start to reconcile violence against women.

“As a male and someone who is running the company, I thought it was important to get a bunch of female artists onto this show to collaborate and to lead the charge on this show so that we can have their voices in the art,” he said.

The Robber Bridegroom will be running Jan. 23 to 26 at the Pavillion Theatre. Students are encouraged to attend the opening preview show on Jan. 23 with a Q&A after with the cast. Tickets for the production can be purchased at tickets.kamloopslive. ca on by calling the Kamloops Live! Box Office at 250-374-5483.

Chimera Theatre will also be hosting a pay-what-you-can matinee on Jan. 26.

No Man’s Land Film Festival showcases women in adventure

NO MAN’S LAND

UN-DEFINING W H AT I T M E A N S TO B E A W O M A N IN ADVENTURE, SPORT AND FILM.

JANUARY 24th

2019

THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY A D V E N T U R E S T U D I E S D E PA R T M E N T, TRUSU + THE ADVENTURE CLUB

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805 TRU WAY • KAMLOOPS, BC

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Later this month, on Jan. 24, The No Man’s Land Film Festival will be taking place in the Clock Tower theatre for all to enjoy.

Riley Clark, the coordinator of this event, has been working on the film festival since October 2018. Clark is the social media ambassador for the Adventure Studies program at TRU and was trying to find an event to showcase women in adventure when she discovered No Man’s Land Film Festival. Clark added that many films consist of all sorts of women in adventure, including photography, skiing, mermaids, an amputee swimmer and lots more.

Clark hopes that this event will inspire people and that the festival is “mainly just to have something for people to attend, [and to] get people stoked on something.”

“The event itself was cool because it supports women in the industry,” she said. “There’s not very many of us and it can be difficult to be a part of an industry when your role can be small.”

NOMANSLANDFILMFESTIVAL

CONTRIBUTOR Ω

positive.”

The festival is compiled of 13 short films with the total time coming to approximately 1 hour and 33 minutes. The event will begin with a few opening words and then move straight into the films. There will also be popcorn available but viewers are encouraged to bring their own bowl as the club is hoping to keep the event as waste-free as possible. All proceeds from the event will go towards supporting adventure in Kamloops.

This is the first film festival Clark is hosting and she hopes to host again in the future.

Clark is currently planning another film festival, the Reel Paddling Film Festival, another event TRU is sponsoring.

As for the No Man’s Land Film Festival, the doors for the event will open at 6 p.m. on Jan. 24.

Tickets are $5 and are available at Cliffside Climbing Gym, the TRU Adventure Studies Office, TRU Adventure U Club booking, eventbrite.com and from Clark herself.

“I would love for even just one person to show up,” Clark said.

“One little thing in this film will hopefully inspire someone or give them a good night.”

F I L M

Elizabeth Nygren

No Man’s Land Film Festival also hopes to showcase the struggles women go through and why there are fewer women in adventure, says Clark.

“Women in adventure tend to have a shorter career because of having families, being pregnant and stepping away from the lifestyle to raise a family,” she said.

“These films showcase women’s lives and show how to have a family and children as well as supporting an active lifestyle.”

The No Man’s Land Film Festival is a U.S. company based out of Colorado, anyone can approach them to host the event.

This film festival promotes women in adventure, sport and film from all over the world. All women from around the globe are welcome to enter their films into the festival.

Clark went on to say that the festival is not anti-men whatsoever but that the films are based around women entirely.

There are some films with male directors but the films do have to be about women with women as the main character.

“It’s not like extreme feminism or anything like that,” Clark said. “It’s just showing women: strong, powerful and

F E S T I V A L

TRU Adventure students partner with No Man’s Land Film Festival to create an empowering event

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JANUARY 16, 2019

ARTS

Album review: Hot Summer Chicken

The Aquafit Soundtrack's newest album lack consistency and that's great!

Christian Varty NEWS EDITOR Ω Consistency is a trait that is seldom found on this album. At times that’s a good thing, such as the diverse range of influences and styles that are blended together with ease and at other times it’s the tendency for the band to step outside of the conventional song structure and tempo. Can’t Keep My Mind, the fourth track on the album, embodies these qualities perfectly. The song begins with funky guitar noodling and with groovy bass accompaniment before being blasted by a dense fuzzy guitar tone with the lead singer becoming more and more disorderly as the song continues.

Perhaps the most succinct way to describe the overarching themes The Aquafit Soundtrack

manage to create on Hot Summer Chicken would be simply, desert punk. The guitar tones on this album are crunchy and drenched in fuzz pedals giving the music a dusty feeling while the drums are bombastic and indulgent. The melodies throughout the album are groove-heavy like on the track 25 Years or the melody is forgone for the sake of a discordant riffing.

The Aquafit Soundtrack have arranged a variety of influences into a recognizable style on this new album but unfortunately fall short of anything prolific. Garage rock with punk sensibilities and a fuzzy guitar isn’t anything too genre bending but the oscillation of the composition and songwriting of this record, routinely switching from gentle to heavy lends itself well to the style The Aquafit Soundtrack dons.

Typests, a mostly instrumental

track on the record is perhaps the most optimistic song that dips into the ether with the layering of guitars and synthesizer before the dreamy vocals come in. The vocals on the rest of the record are far more rooted in angst rather than beauty as is the case on Typests. They sound distant on the rest of the record, often being heavily affected by reverb making them sound hollow. A notable exception is the following track, Living in a Cell which goes back and forth between the dense shoegaze-esque wall of sound and subdued guitars paired with hushed vocals.

Overall the band has created a record that is authentic to themselves. Hopefully, the future will see their skills honed.

7.1/10 - A new pair of ski goggles

CFBX TOP 30 CFBX 92.5 FM, 350 Watts Kamloops, BC Music Director: Steve Marlow Charts to January 10, 2019 * indicates Canadian Content ** indicates a local artist Artist - Album (Label) 1) David Gogo* - 17 Vultures (Cordova Bay) 2) Autogramm* - What RU Waiting 4? (Nevado) 3) Dan Mangan* - More or Less (Arts and Crafts) 4) Castlecomer - Castlecomer (Concord) 5) Problem Patient* - Patient Problems (Independent) 6) Waax - Wild and Weak (Independent) 7) Anthony Gomes* - Peace, Love and Loud Guitars (Independent) 8) Colin James* - Miles to Go (True North) 9) Kandle* - Holy Smoke (Sleepless) 10) Wishkaah* - After (Independent) 11) Monty Greig* - Big Bad Wolf (Independent) 12) Shad* - A Short Story About a War (Secret City) 13) Belle Plaine* - Malice, Mercy, Grief and Wrath (Independent) 14) Kym Gouchie and Northern Sky* - For the People: Live in Concert 2018 (Independent) 15) John Scofield - Combo 66 (Verve) 16) Delta Moon - Babylon is Falling (Jumping Jack) 17) Joe Strummer - 001 (Ignition) 18) Jock Tears* - Bad Boys (Inky) 19) Mother Sun** - Flower/One Eye (Factotum Co.) 20) Samskaras* - Lithification (Independent) 21) Did You Die* - Royal Unicorn (Blew//Rose) 22) Marker Starling* - Trust an Amateur (Tin Angel) 23) Joshua van Tassel* - Crossworlds (Backwards) 24) Jim Allchin - Prime Blues (Sandy Key) 25) Nearly Dead* - Something Stronger (Independent) 26) Kristina Bazan - Ephv1 (E.47) 27) Ingeborg von Agassiz - O Giver of Dreams (Independent) 28) Regina Bonelli - Love Letters (True Groove) 29) Kaia Kater* - Grenades (Acronym) 30) Neon Saturdays - Freaks in the Ocean (Solid Sounds)

Venturing into the Spider-Verse Morgan Hunter CONTRIBUTOR Ω Into the Spider-Verse recently won the Golden Globe for best-animated film and for good reason with its dazzling animation, creative story and heart-filled characters. Into the Spider-Verse follows Miles Morales, a young man growing up in Brooklyn until he is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains the same abilities as Spider-Man. The best thing about this movie is its animation, giving it the feeling as if you’re watching a comic book come to life. The facial animations, as well as its visuals, are super creative and detailed, with small things like a chase scene in the snow being so well designed that it’s truly an animation feat. The film brings a top-tier level of production throughout its design that it leaves the audience with a visual mind trip and leaves a heavy impression with its viewers.

The characters themselves are super entertaining as well, doing the adaptation of the comic Ultimate Spider-Man Series justice in introducing Miles as a lovable up-and-coming superhero trying to learn the ropes from a very experienced yet jaded Peter Parker.

The side characters themselves are also very memorable with each holding a very lasting impression with one in particular, Spider-Noire, being a standout with his comic timing as well as his persona in general. However, another

strength that the picture holds is presenting an original version of Spider-Man that has never been seen before or explored.

The humour that’s added to this as well also creates some unforgettable moments.

A very touching aspect that must also be addressed is the Stan Lee cameo that almost all the Marvel movies have. In the film, Lee talks about the idea that anyone who wants to make a difference in the world can become a superhero and how abilities are a very small part compared to the mindset that heroes have in general.

Now, usually soundtracks don’t interest me. Songs can elevate a film, though tend to steal a part of the pacing of the story. However, this soundtrack carries with it such relevance to the characters, the setting and the pacing that it even had me taken aback.

The antagonists of the film are also relatable and charismatic, however, do take a back seat to the heroes. They definitely are great alternative versions of their comic counterparts, yet are more in the background until their spider counterparts converse with or fight them.

The thing about Into the Spider-Verse is that it didn’t have any business being this good, yet came back as the biggest dark horse. A show about Spider-Man would have been easily popular enough to get people to come to see it but this film took every opportunity to make a good idea into a brilliant one and that what makes it a must watch.

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ARTS

9

Vice looks at the life of Dick Cheney Mary Poppins Returns It’s Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Morgan Hunter CONTRIBUTOR Ω The idea of talking about politics in today's modern age can have a regular member of the public feel a bit uncomfortable if the message comes off aggressive. The issue with Vice is that it comes off so aggressive and keeps jumping backand-forth between its themes that it really feels like Hollywood elitism more than anything.

Vice is the story of Dick Cheney’s rise to power as the vice-president of America and the actions that he took to get there.

Despite its problems, there are great performances from both Amy Adams and Christian Bale.

Just seeing the transformation that Bale took in order to play this role was jaw-dropping and the conviction that he holds on screen is something to be admired. Amy Adams also holds her own as Lynne Cheney, who not only makes every scene that she’s in more impactful but humanizes such an unknown person in the history of this political figure.

There was also one thing that the show did that was incredibly clever and that came in the middle of the film. Unfortunately, it is one of those moments that should be seen rather than heard. As well as great performances from both Sam Rockwell and Steve Carrell who do give a more round side of President George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.

The biggest issue of the film though, that takes the rest of it down the tubes, is that this political drama can’t hold onto one continuous theme and that makes it come off as pretentious.

In a successful political film, the talent of the filmmaker comes from showing a side that he holds yet respecting the other oppositional ideology and represents both as

Disney does it again! Over 50 years later, we get a taste of the essence of a Disney icon. Mary Poppins Returns retains a lot of what we feel when watching the original, almost like watching a reboot or a remake of the 1964 film. The story is relatively simple; the children of the original film, Jane and Michael have grown up, and are facing financial difficulties that could cost them their house, all the while Michael is struggling to be a father of three after the death of his wife.

Enter Mary Poppins, who brings a sense of fantasy to the children and offers her services to aid the adults in their endeavour. While someone could say that the film is a rehash of the original, it makes a lot of sense for it to go in that direction. Both stories have a similar structure, from a wacky character that Mary has a familial relationship with, to the father of the family reuniting with his inner child, to a beautifully hand-drawn animated scene and to the songs managing to follow the same pattern of events as the first film.

That doesn’t change the quality of the story, if anything it makes a lot more sense to follow the same type of storyline when it comes to a nonsensical story like this. You know what they say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

The settings and costumes are very reminiscent of the styles of the 1964 film, with the sets being

a perfect match to the original.

As well the costumes look bright and colourful, especially for the hand-animated scene where the they look as if they literally leapt from a sketchbook.

The characters are all very dedicated to their roles, each actor giving 110 per cent. Emily Blunt gives an incredible performance that completely captures the role as portrayed by Julie Andrews. Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Jack, our stand-in for Bert who does a fantastic job in repeating the same kind of mannerisms as Dick Van Dyke.

The Banks family, which consists of the grown-up versions of the kids from the first film, Michael’s three children and the family maid who is played by Julie Walters, are all a bit flat, but they all work together really well and each has their own likeability. There’s a couple of memorable performances given to us by cameos featuring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Dick Van Dyke which you should definitely look out for.

Finally, there are the songs. While many seem very similar to songs from the original, each one is fun and definitely get your toes tapping and a huge smile on your face, including “There’s Nowhere to Go but Up”, “The Cover is not the Book” and “Trip a Little Light Fantastic”.

In the end, Mary Poppins Returns has brought us a film that invokes childhood whimsy and imagination.

With a heartwarming story, stunning visuals and a wonderful cast, it is “Practically Perfect in Every Way.”

himself to help organize and promote concerts in Kamloops.

Bands that are touring around British Columbia or even Western Canada now have an easier time finding booking in Kamloops, particularly at the Blue Grotto.

Lancaster’s band At Mission Dolores is playing a show in Kamloops at the Blue Grotto on

Jan. 24 before travelling out of province. If you’re interested in discovering Factotum, a great way to get started is listening to the Engine Noise Compilation available on the Factotum Bandcamp page. The compilation features many Kamloops bands as well as other Canadian artists associated with the Factotum label.

Kait Lampard CONTRIBUTOR Ω

two different paths to be taken.

The film ultimately must follow the protagonist yet never lets the character disrespect the ideology the antagonist holds with examples such as Thank You for Smoking or All the President's Men. Vice doesn’t do that.

Vice decides that at one moment, it generally wants audiences to empathize with Cheney’s character and decisions. Yet it then, right after, makes a full scene having Cheney and his employees/friends being portrayed as devils. It makes a viewer feel stupid because they wanted to watch a film and try to

connect to the protagonist of the story. If the film does that, it isn’t a failure that the audience didn’t predict what the director was thinking, it is the failure of the director for not providing a better communication of his vision.

All-in-all, anyone who would be interested to know the history of Cheney or are diehard fans of Christian Bale or Amy Adams should watch this film. Though if it is someone who doesn’t want to feel like their at a dinner with an overtly rude uncle who only wants to talk about politics, Vice isn’t the film to watch.

Revitalizing the Kamloops music scene City welcomes new tape-based record label Christian Varty NEWS EDITOR Ω Factotum Cassettes and Oddities is a new tape-based record label operating in downtown Kamloops. The owner grew up in Kamloops and returned to the city after an academic career in Vancouver at UBC and currently plays in the band At Mission Dolores.

“Kamloops is still a little culturally stunted,” JP Lancaster owner and founder of Factotum CO told The Omega. “I think there are more and more people wanting to make interesting things happen here.”

The first release by Factotum was in October of 2016 and since then there have been ten physical releases and additional digital releases through Factotum’s Bandcamp page. Factotum started as a way to promote

local music and to recapture the excitement behind a music scene that was once popular.

“With Kamloops being a small city it was interesting that there was a punk-focused CD store, this was before records came back, and then a hip-hop CD store,” Lancaster said about the history of music distribution in the city in years prior. “It’s interesting to have these two fringe stores in a town that at the time probably had about 70,000 people.”

Sadly, both of those stores have come to pass but Factotum certainly picks up the torch of fringe, releasing the physical copies of their label’s music solely on cassette tape.

“Factotum’s goal is popbased but with some degree of weirdness, both geographically and stylistically it’s not on the mark,” Lancaster said. “With cassettes, the biggest thing is

practicality for production.

Being able to do a lot of releases on cassette, if I were to do vinyl we’d only be able to do one release a year and you would make more on that investment, but it’s a lot to put up upfront.

Whereas I thought tapes were cool because you could bang out a whole bunch and it’s easy enough to break even on it.

You’re not going to make a lot of money or get rich but that’s not really the point.”

Originally the label started out as a locals-only avenue to promote Kamloops artists.

However, since the amount of people in Kamloops producing music is shy of demand, Lancaster has started to bring in artists from other cities around Canada. Winnipeg natives Lounge FM and Vancouver residents the Prettys have both released music with Factotum.

Lancaster also takes it upon

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Puzzle of the Week #11—2019 (in the January 16, 2019 issue of The Omega)

Using the numbers 2, 0, 1, and 9 each exactly once, and any of the operations addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, come up with expressions that evaluate to the integers 0 to 9. (n! is product of the integers from 1 to n. 0! = 1.)

This contest is sponsored by the Mathematics and Statistics department. The full-time student with the best score at the end of the year will win a prize. Please submit your solution (not just the answer but also why) by noon next Wednesday to Gene Wirchenko (<genew@telus.net>). Submissions by others are also welcome. The solution will be posted the Wednesday after that in my blog (http://genew.ca/). Come visit the Math Centre (HL304): we are friendly.

JANUARY 16, 2019

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SPORTS

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TRU looks to hire new women’s soccer head coach The WolfPack women’s soccer team will be going into the 2019 season with a new coach at the helm Alvin Mutandiro SPORTS EDITOR Ω The TRU women’s soccer program will now be looking for a new head coach after Kelly Shantz announced his resignation at the close of 2018.

Shantz was the program’s second head coach and had a 7-30-4 record in his three years in charge. Shantz had a 3-9-2 record in 2018.

His resignation will ring in a new era in the women’s soccer program, an era that WolfPack director Curtis Atkinson is awaiting with excitement and a wave of optimism.

“We are excited about the opportunity to move the program forward,” he said. “Over the three or four weeks after the season, we had discussions with Kelly and it was there he decided it was time to step down and pass the reins onto someone else to move the program forward.”

Atkinson stated that the search is in its final stages as the hiring committee is getting ready to start interviewing candidates in the coming weeks.

“We have had a lot of applicants from across the world and the depth of quality in the applicants is quite impressive,” Atkinson said. “We want

someone with the background at a high-performance level, preferably with women’s high-performance sport and at the college or university level.”

Atkinson went on to explain that the school is still open to hiring candidates who don’t have university level experience.

The most important thing for him is finding an individual with an established recruiting network.

He outlined the kind of person that TRU, a young and growing program, will need.

“Whether someone has 20 or five years of experience doesn’t matter, if we think that they can bring that combination of experience and ability to motivate players together with a high level of communication, then we will be interested,” Atkinson said.

He stated that the number one goal for the program is to find someone who will have the capabilities to take the program to new heights.

Change can sometimes be a good thing as different people have different ideas, a fresh perspective can help reinvigorate a program.

TRU hiring a new head coach could help the program grow in leaps and bounds.

Shantz served as the head coach of the women's soccer team from 2015-2018. (Andrew Snucins/TRU Athletics)

'Pack women's basketball split games with Wesmen Women’s basketball split a pair of games with the Winnipeg Wesmen in their second week of 2019 Alvin Mutandiro SPORTS EDITOR Ω The TRU women’s basketball team lost to the Winnipeg Wesmen in a low scoring game, 63-55, on Jan. 11 in Winnipeg at the Duckworth Centre.

The WolfPack were outscored 17-9 in the first quarter of the contest but were able to produce a better performance in the second quarter by scoring 22 points.

Winnipeg led the game 39-17 going into halftime. Both teams had nine steals each in the game and were tied in turnovers at 16.

The top performer for the ’Pack was Michelle Bos with 18 points, four steals and seven rebounds. Jordan Haggerty had 14 points, eight rebounds and two steals whilst Kanesha Reeves had 12 points and four defensive rebounds.

TRU head coach Scott Reeves gave a very honest assessment when he spoke with TRU athletics after the game.

“Our Achilles heel all year has been our ability to shoot the ball on the road,” he said. “We didn’t shoot it well in the first half tonight but we came out in the second and started to knock down shots and limited our turnovers a little bit.”

Reeves concluded by stating that his team has to learn to produce a full forty-minute performance.

It seems as though as Reeves’ words

(TRU Athletics/Shanlee McLennan)

were heard by his players as they produced a much-improved performance on Jan. 12, winning 65-61.

This victory ended a five-game losing streak for the ’Pack. Things didn’t go as planned from the start for TRU as they were down by ten in the first quarter, 22-12.

Despite the bad start, TRU

rebounded strong and had a dominant third quarter where they outscored Winnipeg 19-8, which was crucial in helping them secure the win.

Michelle Bos led the way with ten points in the first half and had 18 points and 12 rebounds overall.

Emily Vilac had 18 points and six

rebounds and Leilani Carney had 11 points three steals and an assist.

Despite the win, TRU had more turnovers in the game with 15 compared to the Wesmen’s 13.

“Really proud of our kids tonight.

To bounce back after last night is unbelievable,” Reeves said. “We didn’t shoot the ball great. We dug ourselves

a hole but I am really proud of the second half effort defensively and rebounding wise. We hit the shots when we needed to and got a split on the road which is always a positive thing.”

The ‘Pack now sit at 3-10 and will be hoping that this win will be the game changer their season needs.

12

THE OMEGA

/TRUStudentsUnion

@TRUSU15

JANUARY 16, 2019

@TRUSU15