2013-2014

MEdUSA Executive Council

Thursday, March 20, 15:00

A607

Minutes taken by: Heather Worling (VP Communications)

Minutes to be made available: by request to VP Communications (medusa.mcgill@gmail.com)


Present:

✓President (Rebecca ‘tMannetje)

✓VP Communications  (Heather Worling)

✓VP Social (Chris Middleton, David Peretz-Larochelle)

✓VP Academic  (Naomi Garrett)

✓VP Professional Development (Kathleen Booth)

✓VP Finance  (Gillian Chen)


Absent:

First Year Representative (Wes Dunham)


Welcome: Meeting begins at 15:12 motioned by Becky seconded by David


Announcements:

Young Alumni Panel is tomorrow!


Approval of Minutes: Becky motions to approve, Chris seconds.


Approval of Agenda: Chris motions to approve, Naomi seconds.


Agenda & Proceedings:

Reports

  • BEd Subcommittee: They talked about problems that the BEd students have, for example with registering for courses. They want more advance notice about what classes they can take and what potential problems there are. We could make a smaller Footbook specifically for Advanced Placement so that we can send it to them in May or June. We want to make sure it’s clear that they can graduate in two years. They don’t have access to the practice rooms, so we’re going to fix this. We also want to make sure that it’s clear that they can get free tickets for concerts. They also don’t feel like they are prepared for their stages, which is a problem for us as well. We are going to try and find out about a course called Movement, Music, and Communication. We are going to test the waters for possible new courses by having workshops that focus on these topics. For example, elementary school music, adult ed, private lessons, balancing life and work.

  • QBA: The conference will be three full days this year. Becky is making the powerpoint for the 10th Anniversary Presentation. The dates are October 24-26. Lisa and Sarah are going to have a meeting with the Associate Dean of Education for a follow-up from the QBA-McGill meeting. Becky is also going to be organizing a conducting symposium with McGill and QBA for summer 2015. May 9 is the QYWE concert. Tickets are $10. The QBA Meet and Greet is September 18.


Social

  • Drum Circle: Becky, Heather, and Naomi had a meeting with Shawn yesterday about a possible drum circle. A student proposed this directly to Sara Laimon as a de-stressing activity during exams. Shawn said that this would not be possible without MEdUSA, since they’re our drums. The student wants this to be open to all students at McGill. This would require online registration so we can limit the amount of people to 30-40. We would also need to speak to Sara Laimon about getting regular room booking for next year. This could also lead to having World Drumming more often. To move forward we need to make a meeting with Sara Laimon. Naomi also thought that the parents of Little Musicians might want to be in a drum circle as a new format for Naomi’s class.

  • Young Alumni Panel: It’s tomorrow! The panel is going to be in C204 and then we’ll be going to Old Dub after. We’ll order some snacks and run a tab. Becky can’t be there right away so Heather will be facilitating. The council will also be there early so that people don’t enter the room early, as it’s booked until 7.

  • Showcase: We got an email asking if we needed C304 or the 8th Floor Lounge, so Chris confirmed that we needed both. We have the liquor license. We’ve ordered 2 bottles of wine through Lisa. We have three acts so far. It would be fun if we did something with the council. We’re thinking of doing So Long, Farewell from the Sound of the Music since the council has the perfect composition for the song.


Professional Development

  • Steve Dubinsky Wrap-Up: Steve was very excited about the workshop. He invited everyone to come and visit his repair workshop. It was very interesting, but it would be nice is the workshop could be more hands-on, like the percussion one was. Attendance was good: there were 17 people there.


General

  • New Council: We are going to start inviting Doug to our meetings, since he’ll be on the council next year.

  • Final Potluck: Wednesday, April 23 at 18:00 at Becky’s apartment.

  • CLC: Community Learning Center. They organize at least 25 different activities at St Lambert Elementary, plus there is another center that works with two high schools. If enough people sign up for a class in the fall then it can happen. Becky finally spoke with Natasha Macdonald and Barbara. These activities are run at lunch and after school. There are two sessions: September to December and February to April. You get $50 for one class (which is 45 minutes to an hour). We want to get more students involved for the teaching experience. We can brainstorm clubs that we think would get interest for us to help out with. Becky will start a Google Doc for us to brainstorm on.

  • New Horizons: Next week they are having sectionals again. David is looking for volunteers for this.

  • Next Meeting: Normal time (Wednesday) at 17:30.


Adjournment: Chris motions to close the meeting at 16:06, Kathleen seconds