Melanie Valente-Leite, News Reporter
IGNITE’s Annual General Meeting, which usually happens on campus, resorted to meeting online due to all Humber campuses being closed because of COVID-19.
“I hope to assure you that IGNITE has your back during this time,” said Ercole Perrone, executive director of IGNITE, the student government at Humber, at the March 27 meeting.
“If this situation has you feeling alone, or isolated, you are encouraged to seek the support of our big warm community here at Humber,” he said.
They commenced the meeting by going through all the successful Board of Directors candidates elected in the March 9 to 13 election week for North, Lakeshore, and the University of Guelph-Humber campuses.
Aisha Ahmad, Anthony Grguric, Eli Ridder and Keithtian Green were elected to represent North, while Aashi Jhunjhunwala, Gabi Hentschke, and Ryan Stafford were chosen for Lakeshore.
Guelph-Humber students voted for Megan Roopnarine and Stefan Thomas.
During the meeting, Monica Khosla, President of IGNITE, listed the achievements IGNITE was able to accomplish in the past year.
“Over the last 11 months, we have positioned the organization to be resilient, and adaptable,” Khosla said. “We look forward to seeing how IGNITE continues to help students shape their world.”
A few of IGNITEs accomplishments included serving more than 7,860 bowls of soup for students at their soup-bar in the LinX cafe, the sleep lounge hosting around 2,000 people to rest and take a break between classes, and providing $390,000 in bursaries for students needing financial aid.
“At the end of the day, the absolute joy in knowing that people are getting fed out there who wouldn’t be able to afford a meal is amazing,” said Tony Zambri, a volunteer at Feed It Forward, the company that runs the soup-bar.
The meeting required an audience of at least 50 students to begin so that enough questions would be asked as IGNITE tried to be as fair and open as possible.
The meeting allowed students to exercise their rights and to hear any updates on IGNITE’s budget and achievements throughout the past year.
“IGNITE believes that you are truly entitled to the best school experience possible,” Khosla said.
