Winter

On Saturday, November 26th, students from Dalhousie’s Rowe School of Business came together to celebrate among classmates, friends, and faculty at this year’s annual MBA Winter Formal. The evening took place at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel and featured a cocktail hour, delicious dinner, awards ceremony and dance to finish off the night. Each year the event gives students a chance to take a break from all of their hard work, laugh and appreciate one another along with their professors.

The event is organized by devoted MBA students, and presents ample opportunity to get involved. In addition to the event organizers, there were MCs for the dinner and awards ceremony, and students running the lights, sounds, and music at the event. We spoke with this year’s lead organizer – Emma McGinn, and the group’s host for the evening – Geoff Hutchinson – on what they gained from the experience.

Having the opportunity to plan the Winter Formal made me truly appreciate how many details go into event planning. I learned to balance my Winter Formal to do list with my school work and worked hard to make sure everything was perfect for my close colleagues and professors. It all seemed to pay off in the end, and I’m so thankful for everyone who helped out along the way. In January I’ll be starting my residency term as an event coordinator for BMO in Toronto. I know my experience managing the Winter Formal this semester will help me immensely on residency. – Emma McGinn, Culture Representative, MBA Class of 2018

MBA Class of 2017

So much of our professional development has focussed on the day-to-day reality of working in a large organization, but very little has been discussed when it comes to events such as these, where the culture of your organization is reinforced. I’ve always been a confident public speaker, but speaking about the people that you work with every day, about your mentors and leaders (whether they’re faculty, or your management team), is a vastly different experience, requiring a totally different set of presentation and preparation skills. I think being involved this year really helped me to develop a feeling for how I should navigate the cultural life of an organization, and gave me an appreciation as to how difficult it is to make any large event run smoothly.” – Geoff Hutchinson, Academic Representative, MBA Class of 2017

A welcomed change to this year’s formal from previous years featured the removal of each class’ Best Professor Award. Instead, students gave short speeches thanking their professors for the semester, and shared a few memories from the classroom. Faculty members had the following kind words to share about the event:

Great job in organizing and pulling off the event so smoothly! Your time and efforts are much appreciated… In addition, nice change to do individual ‘thank yous’ to the Faculty. I think they went over really well! – Jim Power, Professor, Rowe School of Business

MBA Class of 2018

While I missed the dinner (but got their for the drinks, sorry no dancing), I understand from talking to some faculty members that it will go down as the best MBA Formal in memory (and some of these people have some long memories)! Loved to hear that you warmly recognized all the faculty members in attendance, they were really happy they went! It is a credit to both cohorts! My heartiest congratulations to the committee for the great work they did pulling off this event in the middle of a busy fall. Such a great sense of spirit and a great way to blow off some steam before final exams! – Dan Shaw, MBA Program Director, Rowe School of Business

Another consistent highlight of the event is the photo hour where students get shots taken with their group members, intramural teammates, society members, dates, committee members, and any other friends or classmates! The photos will serve as a reminder for years to come of the friends they made at Dalhousie, and the memories they’ll cherish from nights like the MBA Winter Formal.

Written by Matthew Cheung

You wake up and it’s cold, your alarm clock blares like a siren, cheerfully letting you know that class begins in 15 minutes. With a groan you halfheartedly pull the blanket off your frigid body and stumble your way to the bathroom. On the way, you happen to shamble past a window and casually, you take a look outside.

Strange…. to your poor, confused, sleep addled brain, it looks as though someone had left a white Instagram filter over your window. It takes a moment before you realize that what you’re seeing is snow, snow covering the ground, the trees and the people outside. As you stare outside, a pile of snow slides off the roof of a nearby house, straight on top of an unlucky passerby.

You walk back to your room and crawl back into bed. You’ll need 5 more minutes.

Welcome to your first Canadian winter.

To those of you (like me) who are new to Canada, your first Canadian winter can be a bit of a struggle. Especially if you (again like me) come from a place which is sunny and warm every day of the year.

So, to help us along, I asked around and prepared 5 key Canadian tips on lasting through the winter.

Tip #1: Gloves are key.

My first winter left my hands in terrible shape, the cold would often cut and crack skin around the knuckles. A nice, thick pair of gloves are essential, especially if you feel the urge to touch and play with snow!

Protip: If you text a lot, get a pair of gloves that are compatible with your smartphone screen.

Tip# 2: The Devil may wear Prada, but you wear Boots.

When stomping your way through the snowed out pavements, you need the right shoes to match the job. Boots not only help keep your feet dry, but they have good traction, stopping you from sliding and falling all over the place!

Protip: For those of you doing a Co-op, leave your dress shoes/heels at your office and simply change into them each morning.

Tip# 3: Schools out! Check online.

Occasionally the snow gets so bad that Dalhousie would declare a snow day, letting everyone crawl back into bed to catch up on Netflix. Don’t be one of those people who turn up to a cancelled class! Before you leave the house, check mydal to make sure that it’s not a snow day.

Tip #4: A chocolate a day keeps the frostbite away.

This one is simple. If you’re feeling cold, drink something hot!

Protip: Ask for whipped cream.

Tip #5: Turn down the heat

For those not living in residence, winter can be an expensive time where utilities are concerned. Where possible, turn down the heating and bundle up. Or at the very least, make sure you turn off the heat whenever you leave the house/apartment.

Protip: If you live with roommates, it’s not a bad idea to set some house rules for when the heat should be on. (Especially if you have that one roommate who insists on turning his/her room into a sauna)

Finally, while winter may have its challenges, it is also one of the most beautiful times of the year in Halifax. Don’t forget to have fun!

MBA Winter Formal: Friends, Faculty and Frosty

Winter Wonderland – Surviving Winter At Dalhousie

Archives for Winter