Author: Sara Chahrour

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Student Life

Practicing mindfulness with Moksha

Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Take a break and reconnect with your mind, body and spirit through yoga

Juggling work, studies, and trying to maintain an active lifestyle isn’t easy. We all dream of being fit and healthy, but not everyone is up to the commitment of subscribing to a gym, paying the monthly fee, and going three to four times a week. Some people may have it all scheduled perfectly, but for those who don’t, you’re not alone.

I treasure my down time spent on the sofa, with one hand in a bag of chips and the other queuing up Netflix—heck, I need those relaxation days. But I can’t argue with studies like the ones outlined by Natalie Gil in The Guardian, that show a staggering correlation between physical activity and academic performance. According to the article, students committed to routine physical activity are more likely to possess skills such as self-discipline, time-efficiency and leadership than those who are not. The issue with these articles is that they aren’t convincing enough, at least not for me.

For those, like myself, who are not a fan of aimlessly jogging, chasing after balls in a field, or hate going to the gym, I’ve found yoga to be a great way to stay active as well as in tune with one’s mind, body and spirit. “What I love the most about yoga is that it gives me a chance to check in with myself everyday,” said Julia Speirs, a Concordia student, front office secretary and regular student at Moksha Yoga in Griffintown. “I always feel a hundred times better when I leave the class. It gives me the chance to just reconnect my mind and body and breathe for an hour.” There are Moksha Yoga locations in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) and on St-Laurent Boulevard as well.

Moksha offers hot yoga, which is different than a regular practice because the classes are held in a humid room, typically at 35 °C to 40 °C. In general, yoga is not just a great way to sweat out the toxins in your body, it’s also conducive to overall good mental health. “It helps with stress management and, especially [since] Moksha yoga is hot yoga, it’s really soothing to my muscles. Afterwards, I just feel so much healthier and so much more energetic,” said Speirs. If you’re ever having a bad day and want to get rid of some negativity, Moksha might prove to be something that works for you. Am I not convincing you to drag your butt out to the studio? I get it. It’s easier said than done.

Despite all the benefits of yoga and its trendiness in pop culture, many feel intimidated by it. We walk past Lululemon advertisements with people practicing yoga so gracefully and with such precision. We see Instagram videos of people holding handstands for minutes on end with apparent ease, while we can barely reach our toes—how can we not feel intimidated?

“I always remind myself and the clients that you don’t practice yoga to be good at yoga. You practice it for yourself and the benefits you feel from it,” said Speirs. She explained that, while practicing yoga does require strength and concentration, most importantly, it requires respect for our bodies.

“A yoga room is a place of peace. If you feel like just laying down the whole class and focusing on your breathing, that’s perfectly fine,” said Speirs. “Yoga is about connecting body and mind, and each person has [their] own way of feeling that connection.”

Some Moksha classes are $5 or pay what you can, and there is a Facebook group where instructors working towards their Moksha certification offer occasional free classes! If you don’t have your own mat and towel (and you will need a towel), they’re only $2 to rent. More information about classes offered at each Moksha location can be found on their respective websites.

Feature image by Alex Hutchins

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Student Life

Printers from hell

Graphic by @spooky_soda.

How to ensure printing an assignment doesn’t hold up your day

Assignment deadlines are the worst, but not only for the obvious reasons. Writing the assignment is one task, but the hassle of having to use Concordia’s printing stations after all of that hard work makes due dates so much more stressful. This is how my day usually goes when I have papers to print and submit:

The bus arrives 15 minutes late, it’s pouring rain, and the printer is out of ink. There’s now all of 10 minutes to get it done and get to class. But hey! Ten minutes to print a mere two pages is plenty of time, right? Think again.

“I never rely on the printers,” said Stephanie Ricci, a second-year journalism student at Concordia. “I just print at home and avoid the risk.” This is a nice alternative, and you can spend about $40 on a half-decent printer at the Concordia Bookstore and most other tech stores. But for those of us who haven’t invested in this, what choice do we have?

“If you’re counting on printing here, just make sure you come really early,” said Catherine Hansen, a student at Concordia. Aiming to arrive at least 30 minutes before your lecture starts is essential. Here’s why: the nearest two printers will likely have four people in line waiting to use them; the other three printers either have paper jams, are out of ink, or both. There’s always that one person who randomly pushes all the buttons and takes forever. There’s also the chance that there will be an  issue sending your file through the server.

“I tried printing here a few times and the printers were always out of order,” said Camille Perrin-Ridgway, a journalism student at Concordia. This is another possible outcome when trying to print on campus. When this happens, you honestly have no choice but to go find another printing station.

If, somehow, everything goes smoothly up until you have to swipe your student ID card, you’ll realize you haven’t loaded money on to it. Oh, you also don’t have any cash on you. Realistically, you must account for all of the above.

On the Loyola campus, there are printing stations on all floors of the Vanier Library. You can also print through the bookstores on both campuses, and in the LB building on the Sir George Williams campus, there are printing stations on the second to fifth floors.

All this to say, never assume printing at Concordia will be easy. Like, ever.

Feature graphic by @spooky_soda.

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Student Life

Paving a career path

Moradi is an active member of the Concordia volunteer community and in May 2018 was presented the Young Alumni Award for her outstanding contributions to the university. Courtesy of Concordia University.

Niloofar Moradi speaks about fueling her ambition with passion

“For all aspiring engineers, find and follow your passion, work hard, work smart, get involved, feed your soul through volunteer work, and remember to carry the torch for the next generation,” said Noolifar Moradi, a Concordia University alumna and recipient of the 2018 Concordia Young Alumni Award.

The award is given to an alumni who has graduated in the last 15 years and continues to be involved in the Concordia community.

Moradi has always been an exemplary student. In 2010, she completed her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at Concordia, and in 2015, gained a master’s in applied sciences at the École de technologie supérieure.

Her passion and commitment to aerospace engineering and her contribution to its community also led Moradi to win the Elsie MacGill Engineering Award for 2018.

Each year, eight women across Canada are nominated by the Northern Lights Aero Foundation (NLAF) for the Elsie MacGill Awards. Established in 2009, the NLAF honours outstanding women who have made a significant contribution to their field and continue to lay the groundwork and encourage other women to excel in the industry. Nominees are chosen based on their determination, perseverance, enthusiasm and personal accomplishments in aviation or aerospace engineering, as well as their ability to inspire others.

Moradi started as a turbo dynamics engineer and then shifted her focus to turbine mechanical design. She began her professional career at Rolls Royce Energy, but was still drawn to aerospace and aviation. When Moradi was offered a position at Pratt & Whitney, a top player in the aircraft engine manufacturing world, she accepted the challenge. Ever since then, Moradi has devoted her career to turbine aerodynamics and turbine design.

Despite having a lot on her plate at work, Moradi always makes time to give back to the university. “I do simple volunteering activities at Concordia,” she said.

When the university hosts its annual open house, it calls upon a group of alumni to spend a day talking to possible future students about what it’s like to study at Concordia. Moradi hasn’t missed the event for the past five or six years.“I find it so rewarding to be able to explain to people about my journey,” she said.

Moradi also attends numerous seminars and speaks to first-year students about the current job market, her experiences and what she’s taken away from that. “What I love about Concordia is that they made such a huge effort in preparing the students for the real world, by giving them talks, courses on software packages, it’s basically hands-on engineering,” she said. Moradi hopes to inspire students and push them to set goals for themselves.

“I do not see myself doing anything else on a daily basis,” says Moradi. “I truly believe that if you do what you’re passionate about, it won’t feel like a job, it will feel like following your passion.”

Feature image courtesy of Concordia University.

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Student Life

Saving the world with a french-fry car

Lidstone poses with his Volkswagon Jetta which he drove using WVO for over eight years. Photo courtesy of Randy Lidstone.

Repurposing waste vegetable oil for fuel could save the environment

Randy Lidstone, or the guy with the french-fry car, as some of his colleagues call him, is a passionate environmentalist with one objective: “To make the world a better place than when [he] got here.”

For over eight years, colleagues knew Lidstone to drive a Volkswagen converted to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO) from the cafeteria of Pratt and Whitney Canada, where he has been working for the past 37 years. Lidstone’s modified engine produces 79 per cent less carbon dioxide and zero nitrogen oxide compared to diesel.

Every day after work, Lidstone would stop at the cafeteria to collect the leftover vegetable oil that would usually be thrown away at the end of day. He would take it home, strain and filter it, then feed it to his WVO converted car.

“Those who were interested thought it was cool, those who didn’t thought it was messy. I thought it was great for the environment,” said Lidstone.

Lidstone discovered his love for the environment at a very early age. When he was in elementary school, he would reuse the same paper lunch bag every day for a month to save trees. As Lidstone grew older, his passion grew with him. Today, he is a proud sustainable development focal (or SD focal) at Pratt and Whitney Canada.

SD focals are a team of 18 employees that set a good example of ways to help the environment. They also pilot their own projects to help attain the company’s 2020 sustainability goals, which include reducing water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and eliminating hazardous substances.

Lidstone’s french-fry car journey began with a 1981 Mercedes 300SD that he drove for five years before moving on to his 2002 Jetta TDI. With his Jetta, Lidstone travelled nearly 5000 kilometres with only $65 of diesel fuel, saving him thousands of dollars every year. Although saving money was not the purpose behind converting his cars, it was definitely a bonus.

“Many were intrigued on how my engine worked without diesel, but it didn’t.” Lidstone explained that his car relied on diesel both when the engine was first turned on and shut off. Antifreeze would warm up the WVO, and with the flip of a switch, the car ran on that. “In order for a WVO [car] to be used,” he explained, “the engine has to be modified because the oil is too viscous for the engine to process. A biodiesel converter is installed in the engine to reduce the viscosity.”

Whether he is eating at a restaurant, walking through crowded streets or sitting behind his desk, Lidstone always has an eye out for new ways to save the environment.

“One day I was sitting in a restaurant and the waitress asked me if I wanted a straw with my drink. I responded ‘why offer plastic straws if you could have paper straws?’”

According to Lidstone, the key to influencing others is to simply give them food for thought, encourage them to take a step back and look at their actions.

As an SD focal, Lidstone suggested the use of compostable plastic utensils and containers, which are now available in all of the company’s facilities. He also replaced Keurig pods in his department with compostable coffee pods, and distributes free compostable containers to those interested in composting at work. At home, Lidstone actively recycles, composts and uses energy efficient light bulbs.

Dedicated to the environment both professionally and personally, Lidstone believes that every environmentally conscious decision, no matter how small, helps preserve the world for future generations. He said simply: “I’m just trying to do my part.”

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Student Life

Welcoming a new community one hand at a time

Petites-Mains offers women from around the world the opportunity to gain work and language skills. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Petites-Mains offers women from around the world the opportunity to gain work and language skills. Feature photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Petites-Mains provides female immigrants in Montreal with job opportunities and language courses

“Petites-Mains is much more than a training centre; it is a family that welcomes people as they are with open arms,” said Suzanne Tremblay, the president of Petites-Mains. Located on St-Laurent Boulevard, Petites-Mains has changed the lives of thousands of newly arrived women in Montreal ever since it opened its doors in 1995. From work experience programs to interviewing skills, the organization offers all the necessary tools to help immigrant and marginalized women succeed in Quebec.

“We offer training programs in sewing, cooking and office help, as well as social integration programs, work experience programs and French classes,” said Katy Howick, the organization’s intervention specialist. Using funding from Emploi-Québec, the federal government and donations, Petites-Mains offers its students training in a program of their choice along with workshops that help diminish cultural and language barriers—all while paying the women a minimum wage salary.

The organization has 50 spots to offer each year, but with 910 hours of free job training and subsequent employment opportunities, the organization reported a waiting list of 420 people for 2016-17. “Once they’re done here, they find a job immediately,” Howick said. “They finish here on a Friday, and they’re set to go to their jobs on Monday.”

The sewing atelier currently has a waiting list of 53 local businesses looking to hire students from Petites-Mains. “It’s crazy how much Montreal lacks qualified sewing machine operators,” Howick said. “It’s ridiculous.”

A glimpse at the Petites-Mains sewing atelier. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Due to its reputation, the organization has numerous contracts with clients such as Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal. As part of their training, Petites-Mains participants make all the polos and T-shirts for the city’s firefighters. The cloth kit bags handed out to Concordia students during frosh week are also sewn by Petites-Mains women. As a social economy enterprise, Petites-Mains supports local designers and startup businesses by offering cheaper market prices for their sewn products, including clothes, bags, uniforms and baby apparel.

A good reputation in the local sewing industry is not all Petites-Mains has achieved. The organization also includes Inter-Mission, a catering service founded in 2007 that proudly attained a 98 per cent client satisfaction rate last year, reported the organization’s website. According to Howick, many women come to Petites-Mains with no work experience, but one of their main skills is cooking for their families. With the training Petites-Mains offers, Howick said the women’s cooking skills are transformed into refined culinary expertise that opens up job opportunities with local catering services, restaurants or even hotels.

“A lot of women say they don’t have any skills, yet they’re capable of making a meal plan for a family of four under $60. This is a skill I don’t have,” Howick said. In order for each participant to find a job they’re well-suited for, interventionists such as Howick help the women develop their self-esteem by recognizing their skills and putting them on paper. Job interview simulations and workshops on how to put together an impressive CV are also an integral part of the learning process.

A portrait of Katy Howick, the intervention specialist at Petites-Mains. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Not only do newly immigrated women and mothers have special needs when it comes to integration, but their children do as well. Therefore, Petites-Mains is in the process of building  a daycare to prepare participants’ children for a successful integration at school. This will also allow participants to drop off their children and focus on their training. “We try to have as many open doors as possible to help answer the needs of as many profiles as we can,” Howick said. “We believe the daycare is essential.”

Howick described her job as exciting and rewarding, but also challenging. “One of the challenges is that it is not stable; the workforce is based on what is happening in the world,” she said. Depending on influxes of refugees and immigrants from different regions, Petites-Mains must adapt to the varying skill sets and values of participants arriving from those countries. “Participants from Congo and Haiti have very different values and life experiences than the ones we had last year from Syria,” Howick explained. “So we have to constantly update and adapt to this new workforce.”

 

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Student Life

Embracing cheesy alternatives

Sheena Swirlz, the Concordia Greenhouse services programming coordinator, hosted a workshop on how to make plant-based cheeses.

Concordia Greenhouse workshops teach students how to make plant-based cheeses

From creamy cashew cheese to silky nacho dip and crumbly parmesan, students can learn how to make plant-based cheeses on Jan. 19, a workshop hosted by Sheena Swirlz, the services and programming coordinator for the Concordia Greenhouse.

“Cashews, lemon juice, salt, water and a bit of herbs, and that’s all you need to make animal-free, gluten-free parmesan,” Swirlz said at her most recent workshop, held at the greenhouse.

Since becoming vegan 16 years ago, Swirlz has created a website and hosted workshops to share easy recipes for vegan alternatives to many people’s favourite foods. At her workshops, she goes through the steps it takes to make all sorts of flavourful cheeses using simple ingredients. Among the recipes she has shared are a blue cheese dip, parmesan, nacho cheese sauce, cashew cheese and tofu ricotta.

Making each type of non-dairy cheese involves only four or five easy steps. Ingredients such as almond milk, cashews, nutritional yeast and spices can be used to create dips and cheeses that are spreadable, meltable or grateable—all without dairy. Rich in vitamins, cashews add a creamy and nutty flavour, Swirlz explained, while nutritional yeast helps give the cheese its “cheesy” taste and yellowish colour.

According to Swirlz, the only downside to homemade, plant-based cheese is the same as dairy cheese—it requires patience to properly ferment and develop the cheese’s smooth texture.

“Some vegan cheeses are sold for around $13 at the store, but if you make it yourself, it will cost you about $3,” she said. Swirlz explained that some people are skeptical about veganism because they think it’s costly, while others are unwilling to sacrifice the foods they love, although she insisted they don’t have to.

“You can find all of these ingredients right next door at Le Frigo Vert, the anti-capitalist food store,” Swirlz said. With veganism growing in popularity, she reassured those at the workshop that healthy eating has never been as simple and cheap as it is today.

“I chose to be vegan for animal ethics, and I honestly find it very simple because it just becomes a way of living, a lifestyle,” said Stephanie Plamondon, an organizer of the Montreal Vegan Festival, who attended the workshop on Jan. 12. “Once you have the vegan staples in your pantry, you’re good to go.”

“I’m probably the last person in this room to turn vegan, but this cheese is pretty damn good,” said Carl Bérubé, a workshop attendee, as he sunk a second nacho chip into the nutritional yeast cheese dip. Swirlz’s recipes seemed to please the crowd, many of whom said they heard from others that the cheese tasted delicious and were encouraged to attend the workshop, despite their varying palettes and diets.

Regardless of whether attendees were lactose intolerant, animal lovers or cheese fanatics, the takeaway was the same—homemade vegan cheese is not only delicious, but good for you, your pocket and the environment.

“I want to encourage a more sustainable lifestyle through diet,” Swirlz said. “For the environment and for the treatment of animals in Canada.”

For full recipes and information about upcoming workshops, check out Swirlz’s Facebook page or visit her website.

Photo by Sandra Hercegova

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Student Life

Competing for a sustainable outcome

The winning team of the 2017 sustainability case competition. From left, Carolanne Ryner, Anaïs Roger, Boris But, Erin Wen and Romane Yang. Photo by Sara Chahrour

Students seek strategies to attract target market to new eco-friendly taxi service

Students from all over Montreal came up with recommendations and strategies to attract customers to an eco-friendly taxi service at this year’s John Molson Sustainable Enterprise Committee (JSEC) case competition held on Nov. 17.

The Concordian group paired up with Téo Taxi, a cab service that is 100 per cent electric,the company is looking to create a new service geared toward students, called TéoPool. Based on the idea of carpooling, Téo customers could choose to share their ride with a stranger headed in the same direction to split the bill, diminish the number of cars on the road and have the opportunity to socialize. For this competition, students had three hours to develop a marketing strategy that would attract the target market while keeping in mind the company’s brand and commitment to sustainability.

Students gathered at Concordia’s John Molson sustainable case competition to present their solutions to a panel of judges. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

“We want the leaders of tomorrow to leave this competition determined to educate others on sustainability,” said JSEC co-president Anthony de Souza. “Our goal is to spread the word to all Montreal students.” In teams of four or five, students from different backgrounds, universities and majors—ranging from industrial engineering and economics to English literature and anthropology—presented their ideas to a panel of judges, including a Téo Taxi representative as well as John Molson School of Business professors and alumni.

“We focused most of our strategies not so much on leveraging the whole eco-friendly aspect, but more on how to target students who are very price sensitive,” said Anaïs Roger, an international management student from McGill and a member of the winning team.

Among the strategies presented by Roger’s team was “gamifying” the application, which would keep loyal customers enthusiastic by offering them rewards and cheaper rides. Other ideas included, such as collaborating with Tourisme Montreal to introduce the brand to foreign students,  and offering women-only rides catered to women who would feel more safe and comfortable sharing a ride with other women.

“I don’t think there is any contradiction between profit and sustainability, and you students have given us amazing solutions and a glimpse of the future,” said Patrick Gagné, CEO of Téo Taxi and a member of the jury, at the end of the event.

“As millennials, we actually do care about the environment because, if we don’t do something right now, the way things are going, there will be nothing left for us in the next 20 to 30 years,” said Safwan Hye, another one of the competitors and a Concordia student double-majoring in accounting and business technology management. Although there could only be one winner, the teams ended the competition with new connections and the motivation to keep an eye out for future sustainable solutions.

Photos by Mackenzie Lad & Sara Chahrour

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