KSA to Attend Leadership Conference in Oregon

$7000 released for exec. team and others to participate in NWSLC

The Kwantlen Student Association approved the release of $7,000, which will cover the cost of student politicians attending February’s Northwest Student Leadership Conference, on Jan. 19. The conference will be held in Portland, Oregon’s Benson Hotel from the 24th to the 26th, and calls itself “the largest and most exciting, student-led leadership conference in the Pacific Northwest,” as written on its website.

The conference provides workshops on organizing and advocacy, networking opportunities, and a platform for relevant, political conversations. There will also be keynote addresses by activists D Pei Wu and Aubrey Harrison, who will each speak at different times on the 25th.

KSA President Alex McGowan has been to NWSLC twice before and was satisfied with both trips. He says that some overarching themes of the conference are social justice, hosting events, on-campus engagement, and figuring out what students want.

“One of the key reasons that we like to go to the Northwest Student Leadership Conference is that it’s held in February, which allows us to do it at a key time where a lot of students are expressing an interest in getting involved with the KSA, and then we can kind of put an open invite out,” says McGowan. “We can bring a fairly large group and give our up-and-coming student leaders the opportunity to learn about how to be student leaders, and they can learn about how American student unions operate and their policies down there.”

While the fact that NWSLC is held in February is helpful to those just poking their heads into politics, it is also a last-ditch effort to learn for those leaving the office. The KSA General Election is on Feb. 7 and 8, and although both McGowan and VP Student Life Natasha Lopes are opting out of running for re-election, they will join the rest of their executive team on their trip to Portland. The KSA pays for their participation in the conference.

“We try to bring everyone who wants to, and in the past we’ve been able to do that. Then the entire current exec. team is invited to go, with the expectation that the outgoing executives can sort of mentor and teach the incoming group of students,” explains McGowan.

The External Affairs Committee is scheduled to select which non-executive delegates will attend NWSLC on Feb. 10. These delegates are usually current councillors, those running for council, and anyone else showing a strong interest in being involved with the KSA over the next year.

“I’m really hoping that a new group of student leaders in the KSA can have a great experiences and learn a lot about how they can do their jobs better in the coming year.” says McGowan. “It’s also a really good opportunity to connect with other student leaders who have their own experiences to learn from.”