February 9, 2010 News

One month to Moncton

by Hugo Pilon-Larose

PHOTO JEREME DIONNE

repping in the CJ building at Loyola Campus, 33 communications and journalism students are getting ready to end Concordia’s reputation as a loser.

After years of finishing next-to-last at the all-in-French competition, they are convinced that this is their year to be at the top of the Communications Games.

“We are serious and we want to succeed this year. Concordia was seen as a beginner in past years and that really didn’t represent how good our program is,’’ said Julien Gauthier, the co-head of the team.

Unlike other faculty competitions, the CommGames puts an emphasis on professional challenges. Ten of the 13 challenges are directly related to the media and are judged by professionals in communications and journalism.

Past years were hard for Concordia, coming in last in several challenges. To change its standing, this year’s delegation decided that more practice was needed. For the past five months delegates have had weekly Sunday practices. The impact of their training will be seen on March 2 in Moncton, N.B.

“This year for the first time, we are an official [Concordia Student Union] club,” said Gauthier. “Our objective is now to be recognized [...] by the communications department, which is hard because some teachers think we are only going to Moncton to party.”

“I have met the communications chair to work out the professional side of the games, as delegates will miss one week of scheduled classes,” said the Communications Guild President and co-chief Charles D’Amboise. “We have been informed that students will still lose points for their absence.”

For journalism students, the games are where they prove their skills, according to the team’s other co-head, Sabrina Allard. After her news-writing performance at last year’s games, Allard received an offer from the Métro daily to contribute stories.

“Networking is a plus at the games, because we are able to prove our abilities to people in the industry,’’ said Allard.