At the annual Corporate General Meeting of the AMS Board of Directors on Thursday evening, representatives of services and groups from across the AMS packed themselves in to the New Medical Building to listen to a presentation on budgets for the year and the future of Queen’s corporate services.
Retail Services Manager Leo Burns Scully summed up the meeting in his opening by stating, “you guys are going to walk out of here and not know what any of these numbers meant.”
With the regular presentations on budget updates regarding the various retail, media and service industries on campus, it was acknowledged that the changing nature of corporate services under the control of the AMS needed to be addressed in a number of different aspects in order to continue providing a high quality of experience for students.
Certain examples of this that were discussed included the ability of the P&CC to adapt to less students printing textbooks or course packs, The Underground dealing with an increasing deficit and the relevance of The Journal’s print edition in the digital age.
Finally, as one of the last orders of business and what Board Chair Quinn Giordano described as “the moment I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for,” the board elected four new members to their ranks.
Mike Blair and Tyler Lively were selected as the new one year representatives, each running on a platform rich in experience.
Lively, as the outgoing AMS president, took a moment in his closing statements to share a rare personal glimpse of the student who has been such a public figure at Queen’s in the past year. “I’m from Nova Scotia” he said. “Both my parents didn’t go to university, and I had never been to Queen’s when I decided to come here.” He continued by saying “I have been blown away by this community and all the chances it’s given me.”
Going in to his sixth and final year at Queen’s, Lively concluded with “this is kind of the only thing I want to do.”
Blair also pointed to his extensive breadth of experience when addressing the assembled voters.
“I have the commitment, I’ve spent about 300 hours volunteering for the AMS over the past few years,” he began. “Secondly, the motivation. The AMS can provide a lot of value to its students and I think I have the capacity to do it efficiently.”
While the four candidates for the one-year term were forced to wait another few hours before their results were announced, the two-year term nominees were more fortunate.
Aniqah Mair and Mikela Page, as the only two candidates, left the room and were both chosen unanimously in a vote of confidence by board members.
The same was done for the incoming Community Director, John Neretlis who has had an extensive career of his own — serving in the Canadian Forces as well as running a butcher shop and graduating from Queen’s in 2015.
After three and a half hours of presentations, reports and elections, the motion to adjourn was finally moved by Carling Counter and excitedly seconded by Liam Dowling.
Tags
AMS, board representatives, community director, corporate general social meeting, Finance
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