President's Perspective: FSU Pres' heads cheering section

Welcome students to Fanshawe College. As corny as it may sound, you have made a wicked decision coming to Fanshawe. This is my 3rd year at the college, and honestly, I have no idea how they are going to get me out the door at the end of my term.

My name is Christine Thomson and this year I will be representing you as Fanshawe Student Union President. My job duties are numerous and aren't for the faint of heart, so I will spare you the lengthy details. Basically, I am here to make sure that you have a great time at Fanshawe, that the college is accountable to the students and that the FSU runs like a well-oiled machine.

What I wanted to write to you today was about things that are cool. I know that sounds weird, but I'm totally serious. Over the past few weeks I have been watching my brothers' lacrosse team slowly go from Ontario champs onto Canadian Nationals that are being held in Windsor. I have been coordinating with all of the Ontario college student leaders from the different cities, and bringing them all into the hot, sweaty arenas to watch these games. (17-21 year old men…..perfect!) And not only did we bring two car loads of people, but we had two car loads of my family members. My brother Sean has the hugest cheering section out there!

And to make it worse, my girlfriends and I made up some signs saying “We're partying with Sean tonight”, and “London girls love the Buzz”. And I mean, the poor kid. He was acting like he didn't know us. He is 21. Signs aren't cool when you are 21. And so he ignored us. But all of the other teams were very interested. Asking who was the hottie with the sign. (Yup, that was me! What an ego boost in the sweaty arena!) So then he thought, well maybe this isn't that bad. They are just holding signs, clearly wanting to support my game. I guess I won't disown my sister forever.

But on Wednesday night I headed down with my signs again, friends and family in tow. And not only did we have the signs, but we all had matching t-shirts on, that said “We got a good Buzz going” (Their team being the Oakville Buzz). So you have about 14 people, ages 76 to 11 wearing these matching shirts holding “I'm Sean's grandma” signs, yelling profanity at the other team, and basically having a wicked time. The other parents on our team were getting into it and the guys were loving it.

Point of the story? Being a good family member is cool. Being a supportive friend is cool. Standing out in a crowd with a positive attitude is cool. What I want to see from every student this year is to leave your drama behind and start anew. Try something you have never done before. Put yourself out there, like I know you can do, and see what kind of result you get. It's cool to be the person who makes a difference and is the first one on their feet.

It's what my job lets me do every day and you know what? I love it. You may see some crazy antics from either myself or my team mates this year, and when you are laughing at what we do, I know you will be thinking that you want to be up there, getting out and being a leader just like us.

So take the chance, and join us. We'd love to have you. Stand out and be heard. Fanshawe Student Union is looking for you.

I am looking forward to meeting many new faces this year. I wish you all much success and I encourage you to come visit me in the FSU office, or to say hi on campus. Here's to a great year Fanshawe students!
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