Raising money, raising roofs

Lin Lin Ngu, Ally Farran, Samantha Eisen and Pooja Krishnaswamy are members of the student society SOS. (Bruce Bottomley Photo)

The Dalhousie SOS chapter offers help in two ways. The first is by leading review sessions before midterms and exams, available to Dal students for a modest donation. The second is by using those donations to contribute to sustainable development projects in Latin America.

According to its Facebook page: “Dalhousie University SOS chapter raises money to raise roofs through raising marks during our Exam-AID group review sessions, taught and coordinated by student volunteers.”

Founded by Greg Overholt, a student at Wilfrid Laurier University in Kitchener, Ont. in 2004, SOS now has 15 university and high school chapters from coast to coast. Dal’s chapter was established in the fall of 2009 and managed to raise close to $14,000 in its inaugural year, money which was used to build teacher accommodations in a Nicaraguan village. As well, nine students with the student society paid their own way for a two-week trip to Nicaragua to pitch in with the project.

SOS executive member Samantha Eisen was on that trip, and she described how amazing the experience was. She says the students were there to build housing for the school teacher, who had been commuting four hours each way (two by bus, two on foot) to get to the tiny village. This resulted in a lot of days when the teacher simply did not show up. Now the teacher lives in the village during the week, says Ms. Eisen, a third-year psychology student.

SOS volunteers also constructed a dining hall and vegetable garden for the school, providing a greater incentive for families to send their children to school each day, where the children receive a meal. “They had been waiting a long, long time for this improvement,” says Ms. Eisen.

Exam-AID sessions

The project, including building materials and salaries for local builders, was entirely funded through donations; students contribute a modest amount, about $10 to $15, to attend Exam-AID sessions. The tutors for Exam-AID are upper-year students who have recently taken and excelled in the course.

“The sessions are for everybody—for the students who didn?t pay attention and are freaking out, but also the students who want to push themselves from an A to an A+,” explains Jesse Guth, a third-year marketing student.

The tutors invest hours in creating a comprehensive presentation that goes over basic course material, discusses past exam questions, and, of course, offers lots of opportunities for students to ask questions. In some cases, tutors work with professors to make sure they are covering the most important information.

There are Exam-AID sessions for a number of first-year classes, including psychology, chemistry, biology, math, and — new this year — economics.

Participants are even sent home with a review booklet, which is why SOS asks students to pre-register for Exam-AID sessions. If they know how many students are expected, they know how many booklets to prepare.

So far, the student society has raised $6,000, with the goal of raising $20,000 altogether.

In the lead-up to exams, there are several Exam-AID sessions in the works:

• Calculus review session: Tuesday, Dec. 7, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Scotiabank Auditorium, Marion McCain Building.
• Psychology review session: Saturday, Dec. 11, 10 a.m. to 12 noon in MacMechan Auditorium, Killam Library.
• Biology review session: Sunday, Dec. 12, 1 to 3 p.m., Scotiabank Auditorium, Marion McCain Building.

LINK: Dalhousie SOS