ESS NAVIGATING PANDEMIC AND MAKING CONNECTIONS
Education Students ' Society ( ESS ) 2020 / 2021 Executive L-R : Danielle Maeder ( VP Social ), Hanna Gross ( Secretary & VP Finance ), Kiah Holness ( VP Professional Development ), Paige Hamann ( VP Community Relations ), Jordan Balfour ( President ), Sara Tokarz ( VP Communications )
When Jordan Balfour was voted in as Education Students ’ Society ( ESS ) President for 2020 / 2021 , he didn ’ t expect he would be navigating a pandemic .
“ The world we are living in now , it isn ’ t what I signed up for from the start . There have been a lot of bumpy roads , and still are . I ’ m still trying to figure out how to navigate , how to communicate , how to represent the students , how to communicate with faculty and represent that to students . I wasn ’ t sure how to do this — it ’ s really been a complete adjustment .”
Balfour is a busy third-year secondary Education student , with a major in Biology and two minors , who is also working on a second degree in Indigenous Environmental Sciences . Despite the difficulties of remote studies and pandemic restrictions , Balfour with the ESS team are finding their way and making connections .
The addition of a new executive role , VP of Community Relations , is one way that the ESS is reaching out . “ I thought we didn ’ t have enough representation in the community , so we created a new position called community relations ,” says Balfour .
The position was offered to Paige Hamann , new to the ESS and in her second year of the Secondary program with a major in Social Studies and a minor in English . Hamann says , “ I inquired about how to become an ESS member , had an interview to see what team I would fit best in , and then they offered me the position on the executive because of my experience with nonprofits .” Hamann had started her own photography business in Grade 10 and then last summer , following the loss of a friend who struggled with mental health , she incorporated Inside the Box , a nonprofit seeking to address stigma around mental health within the sports culture .
Hamann says her vision for ESS community relations involves , “ letting the community know that the University of Regina ESS wants to support them . We want to do as much as possible to help everybody in our community .”
The Community Relations team of five has been providing opportunities for students to volunteer and creating spotlights on local organizations that support education , such as the Inspiring Young Minds book store and Ascendant Martial Arts .
The ESS is reaching out through donations as well . Balfour says , “ we donated $ 500 to five schools for PPE funding because we could not go to the schools and volunteer our time . We also provided Street Culture and Rainbow Youth Centre a large sum of pumpkins and donated time to carve pumpkins with youth .” And they have purchased gift cards to contribute to giveaways for student draws .
Balfour says there have been many changes because the social events typically hosted by the ESS are restricted . “ We just had a social event that we were worried about hosting . A month ago we rented a movie theatre , and we had to follow the COVID-19 restrictions , limiting our numbers from 20 to 15 . We were worried about how it would go . We did get some backlash ,
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