28 September 2009

The Chico Project and IPCSA Election 2009

IPC Students Association Third General Assembly

By Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake.

IPCSA office holders in traditional costumes from countries other than their own

The strong, rhythmical beat of the IPC Kodama Taiko Drum Team opened the third IPC Students Association (IPCSA) General Assembly at the Rec Centre on Thursday, 10th September. This was followed by an announcement that it is time to recruit new drum team members as 4 of their current members will graduate this December. "The first time it is difficult but as you play, it becomes addictive," said IPC lecturer, Taro Prutisart, who is a member of the team.

In his opening talk, IPCSA President Gregory 'Greg' Ng introduced some students who were wearing traditional costumes. What was interesting was that the nationality of the wearers was not the same as the nationality of the costumes. For example, a student from Japan was wearing a traditional costume from Taiwan, while a student from Vietnam had on a costume from South Korea.

Greg also introduced a project that is the foundation of all the current events run by IPCSA, the Chico Project. The project was born out of a discussion between Greg and another IPC student who graduated last year, Francisco de Assis Fernandes Pereira Filho, whose nickname is Chico. "IPC for him was the greatest place he has ever come to because of the people," Greg said. Some of the aims of the Chico Project were to encourage friendship between students of many nationalities, to promote the use of English, and to remind people of what they have at IPC. One of the ways to achieve those aims was by establishing the House Competition. In this, the residents of the 10 Halls of Residence were divided into 3 teams to participate in competitions organised by IPCSA.

A representative from French Polynesia promoting the Sakura Festival Tahitian food stall

A surprise appearance of Monkey King Hanoman to promote the Sakura Festival Indonesian food stall

One such competition was the IPC Olympics, which was held on 4th and 5th September. Greg announced the winners of the IPC Olympics. The first place went to the Yellow team (Halls 3, 5, 9, and 10), the runner-up was the Red team (Halls 2, 6, and 8), and in last place was Blue team (Halls 1, 4, and 7). The representatives of each team were called onto the stage and presented with the IPC Olympics trophies. Greg ended the session with these words, "Be like Chico. Take the chances we have here."

The next section was the IPCSA Election for 2009 where two candidates for IPCSA President 2010 went up to the podium and delivered their campaign speeches. The first candidate to give his speech was Louis Baillat, a 2008 student from French Polynesia, and the second candidate was Hirotaka Ota, a 2006 student from Japan. After the speeches, Greg, as the current IPCSA President, explained to the attending students how to fill in the voting slips that were handed out before the assembly started. Students were to drop their slips into the election box provided when the assembly finished.

After that, IPC President Prof. Wayne Edwards delivered some news about IPC students' achievements in the past 2 months. One was the nomination of IPC Kodama Taiko Drum Team for the TrustPower Palmerston North Community Awards last week. The second news item was about the Student Awards Ceremony where students who had achieved at least A- in each paper of the term were awarded Certificates of Excellence. The last was the involvement of IPC students and staff in the widely celebrated musical "Miss Saigon", which played at the Regent on Broadway theatre last August. "These (students) are the stars of the future!" Wayne stated.

In addition to the news, Wayne announced a new parking regulation on IPC campus which will be enforced from 1st October (Go to http://www.ipc.ac.nz/en/parking for more information), and he introduced a new security official, Lewis 'Koro' Williams. Lewis was born and raised in Palmerston North, so he knows the city well and welcomes any questions about facilities and places in the city.

The representatives of the winner, runner-up, and last place teams accepting the IPC Olympics trophies

Several other announcements followed. First was a reminder about scholarship hours from IPC Senior Scholarship Manager, Moira Blake. Second was the introduction of the new Hall Leader for Hall 6, Andre Wicaksono Maningkas (a 2008 student from Indonesia), and the new Assistant Hall Leader of Hall 10, (a 2008 student from Thailand).

An announcement from the IPCSA Fashion Show Committee was not so positive, as due to the economic crisis, they had had a hard time finding sufficient sponsors for this year's show. As a result the traditional Fashion Show has been cancelled. However, a different kind of fashion show is being planned in the place of the expected one.

Some explanations about club funding were also given, and these were followed by notices from the organizers of the upcoming Sakura Festival and Students' Day Out. There were also food stall promotions from students from French Polynesia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea. Each did their best to attract the attention of the other students by offering discounts or using a surprise appearance of another student in dance costume.

Also at Sakura Festival, there will be a raffle to raise funds for the charity SA is supporting this year, and on the Students' Day Out, there will be a Charity Music Concert. All the proceeds will be donated to the Manawatu-Wanganui Child Cancer Foundation. The Chairperson of the foundation, Leanne Fecser, delivered a special thank you on behalf of the children whose treatments were funded by the foundation.

The IPCSA Election 2009 voting result was announced the day after the General Assembly with Hirotaka Ota being selected as the IPCSA President for 2010.

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