Category: SAMU Blog

STEPPING STONES: SEASON 2

Getting the email confirmation that SAMU was invited back to the Edmonton Urban farm was truly the BEST daylight savings treat. An opportunity to grant our students more avenues into community building in a common place, outside with nature right in our city.

I immediately began to reflect on the crops planted last year that would make for a great humus layer to enhance the black gold (soil) nutrients. I bundled up Early April and head out to the plot to assess what was still standing from our winter season. Dill, Peruvian Mint (Huacatay), Corn Stalks, marigold, and a few others I couldn’t identify until rubbing my fingers against them. Creeping thyme, it’s back…it’s green, oh my!

I returned only but a few weeks later to see such luscious WEEDS! And knew then, my work would truly begin in preparing for our exciting growing season.

With the 2 Acres of plot land for over 50 farmers, we are no strangers to weeds that erupt within our plots. What I learned from urban farm school this year, taught me that I’d put in a bit of extra effort in identifying weeds this season. To begin, I observe what weeds I’ve seen other cultures within the farm consume or use for remedies as often they look like seedlings until they smother your crops of course.

I made my way with some clever weeding tools and moved through stinging nettle, dandelions, quack grass, crabgrass, and more dandelions. Tough labor for sure! But, it’s rewarding to better understand what can be beneficial for us humans is not always the best for our crop growth and soil health.

Join us at the farm every Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. to learn about plot maintenance, how to identify weeds, and what to do with them once you’ve uprooted them.

-Macey Nortey, SAMU Programs Manager

It has been an incredible and challenging year filled with amazing milestones, achievements and progress. We are so proud of everything that has been accomplished at SAMU this year and we couldn’t have done it without our wonderful part-time staff, full-time staff, volunteers and student groups. To celebrate the year’s achievements and recognize those that helped make SAMU so successful this year, we hosted an Awards Night on March 31, 2023.  Check out our recap of the award nominees and winners here.

We’re finally back in school! As we all readjust, whether returning from break and getting back into the swing of things or perhaps joining us at MacEwan University for the first time (and if this is the case, welcome!), there are all kinds of emotions in the air right now. Some of you might be feeling excited and exuberant, which is incredible! However, perhaps it is even more common to feel anxious and alarmed. After all, the expectation of functioning in front of hundreds of students roaming from pedway to classroom is ridiculous. 

For many of us, the terrifying aspect of returning to campus is being surrounded by tons of strangers, which can sometimes make us tense up and go throughout our day while avoiding everything. Is someone giving out free goodies and snacks? I’d rather not. How about a drop-in event where you can socialize and make friends with others? Maybe some other time. If this describes you, I PROMISE you are NOT alone. What I described above applies to almost everyone. 

For some individuals, these feelings boil down to the fact that the university experience can sometimes feel alienating and isolating. Every familiar face follows one hundred unfamiliar faces, and for most of us, it takes years to develop a solid network of friends. During some of my campus-wide interviews last semester, I asked students how they would respond to a stranger initiating a conversation with them in class. Unsurprisingly, the majority stated that they would be open to this idea. In fact, many students said they’d love to have this when entering a class for the first time, where a nearby classmate helps get the ball rolling and eases others into having a conversation. However, when I asked students if they would be open to being the conversation initiator, most said they would never do that. But, considering that we all want to make friends, why is it so hard to get the ball rolling? Well, one might feel this way for a million different reasons, from mental health concerns to an overall lack of interest, but for this blog post, I want to focus on the absolute basics. That is, learning how to initiate conversations with strangers on campus.

Let’s imagine for a second that you enter a class and arrive late. None of the good seats are left, and you can no longer hide in the back corner! So, you sit in the middle, sandwiched between two people. There are five minutes before class starts, and some people pull out their phones and scroll social media. Others are awkwardly waiting, fidgeting with their pen or shuffling through their notes. This is a great time to make friends if you’re in this position! So, what do you do next? Well, this goes back to getting the ball rolling. You might have a million thoughts circling your head along the lines of “Oh my goodness, what do I say? I don’t want to come off as weird or embarrass myself!”. As previously mentioned (and according to most students I interviewed), most students are open to a stranger striking up a friendly conversation! So go ahead and take your shot. It’s already established that you are in the same class, so why not start there? 

“What are your thoughts on the homework assignment?” 

“Do you enjoy this class? What do you think of the prof?”

“Hey, could you share the last class’s notes with me? I rushed my notes in the end, missing some details.”  

At this point, you’re talking to the person beside you, which would be a good time to segway into a casual conversation before or after your class. Talk about your courses, what you’re majoring/minoring in, plans after graduating, or what you do for fun outside class. Talking about slightly more personal details like these further helps form a bond with the person you’re next to, and usually, at this point, the other person would be interested in getting your contact information. 

So, you’ve gotten to know the person next to you, and you can safely say you have a friend in your class. Great job, you are now a certified befriender! And if you were successful with this guide, then I challenge you to repeat this every time you enter a class. Get to know the people who sit close to you and introduce your new friends to one another to develop a solid circle. And if you’re up for it, get to know your professors too! They’re also interested in getting to know students better, and lots of them would appreciate it if you came by and said hi! With your new friend circle (or even by yourself), attend some of our incredible events, join and make clubs, volunteer, and have fun outside class! There’s a whole world of things to do on campus, and every little event is one massive opportunity to meet new friends!

Remember, developing a solid network of friends takes time. But, with some commitment and practice, we can all do this to help each other out and feel less isolated on campus. Loneliness is one of the most significant predictors of depression and anxiety, so by all means, go and say hi to a stranger on campus today. You never know what will happen next! 

Midterms are here, and exams are close by. As students, we’re likely to devote a massive chunk of our attention and efforts to study, and we might cut out important things like proper nutrition, communication, skin care, physical activity, and so many other things that we consider to be everyday aspects of our lives. However, as we cut out these necessities, we may end up focusing on what we’ve lost, potentially spiralling into the negatives and everything wrong with our situation. This could translate into many unwanted and unnoticed changes in our lives, such as waking up and going to bed late, having less energy throughout the day, and not being able to wind down and relax.

Let’s imagine, for a moment, you arrive on campus and begin your day by getting your favourite coffee (or whatever you love to have most in the morning!). The barista hands you your drink with a big friendly smile and wishes you a great day. Next, you head to your favourite class of the semester, and your professor discusses something you’re passionate about. After class, you and some classmates make some jokes here and there, followed by you telling them what the rest of your day looks like, which in this case, is studying for your midterm. You then head to your favourite study spot, and the act of studying overwhelms your mind with negative thoughts. Now you’re back to how you’ve been feeling this entire week, and this process repeats the next day.

However, this raises the question, why do we only focus on the negatives even after having one, two, or a couple of positive things happen in our day? According to research, we’re more receptive to negative information for many reasons, including our proneness to make decisions based on potentially threatening stimuli and our inclination to interpret negative information as more truthful. But even if this is the case, is this negativity bias really the ideal way to live our lives? 

It turns out it isn’t! In fact, many studies within the realm of wellness psychology show that implementing gratitude throughout our day allows us to live happier, improved lives simply because gratitude enables us to divert more attention toward the positives and less toward the negatives. Studies show a significant correlation between gratitude and enhanced mental health and well-being during times of hardship, and being grateful for random things (think about the example from above!) throughout the day is also associated with increased academic performance, greater life satisfaction, and a decrease in negative thoughts. So, considering this, how do we incorporate gratitude into our lives? 

Gratitude journaling is an easy way to accomplish this, where you write down a few things you’re grateful for at any time of the day. Another great idea is writing a thank you note or letter to a friend or faculty member (professors deserve love, too!) or even going up to a classmate and telling them that you’re thankful for their notes or their initiative in asking a good question. And if you’re short on time, even being thankful mentally and counting your blessings, where you think of a few things that you’re grateful for and why you’re thankful for those things, are great options too!

So, the next time you’re studying for an exam, working on a project, or just not having a good time, it’s worthwhile to take a few moments from your schedule to reflect on some of the things you appreciate. Whether it’s the warmth of a room during a snowstorm or the first sip of coffee in the morning, there are many small things we can be thankful for, and actively appreciating these little details can make a huge difference in our well-being.