Hudson Campbell once dreamed of running restaurants. He may have put down his kitchen knives since starring on Food Network Canada’s Wall of Bakers (true story), but his segue into studying political science was smooth as butter. And a few months ago, at just 20 years old, he proved it with his election to the Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows Board of Education as B.C.’s youngest new trustee. 

As part of the school board, Hudson helps oversee the quality of education in his school district. He’s balancing his four-year term with ongoing studies, having recently finished his program at Douglas and transferred to the University of the Fraser Valley to complete his Bachelor of Political Science. Now a few months into his term, we caught up with Hudson about his experience breaking into the political sphere. 

What led you to run for school board trustee? 

I find that people get involved in politics in two ways. Some people want to break into politics however they can, so they go for whatever positions they can as the first steps toward their long-term goals. The other option is to hold out until there’s an opportunity that really resonates with you.  

For me, I was also very passionate about schools. In high school, I was one of the only kids there at the school board meetings, advocating for more funding and such. I felt like not enough was getting done when I was a student, so I waited until the next election I’d be eligible to run in, and I just went for it. There was never a thought for other positions because I specifically wanted to be on school boards. 

What do you want to achieve during your time in office? 

I ran under three key ideas: sustainability, truth and reconciliation, and student voice. I really want us to be working more closely with our Indigenous communities in how our school system runs. And I want us to really be listening to the people who are working and learning in the classroom, whether that be students, teachers, principals or others. That’s how we can make improvements that answer people’s needs. There’s a demand for safer schools, not in the sense of more policing, but in the sense of physical infrastructure and constructing new buildings. And in general, we need more funding in public education. 

No matter what level of government, there’s often a big disconnect between the people and the governance. People don’t know how they can create change. Overall, I’d like to work on empowering the youth and staff, so we can make some of that change together. 

What is your best memory from the campaign trail? What’s the worst? 

My best memory was just getting out and meeting everyone. That was so much fun: going to all the events, going to all the meet-and-greets and round tables, having great conversations with different community members, meeting so many community leaders, whether they won or lost in the election. 

The worst part, though, would be how overpowering it all felt. It’s a two-month whirlwind, two months of holding your breath, walking on eggshells, checking messages every minute and answering questions. You’re always on the campaign trail, if that makes sense, whether you’re just going and grabbing a bite with your friend or you’re at an event.  

How did you manage the stress of the campaign?  

I found myself getting a lot better about putting my phone away before bed. Before that, I would catch myself scrolling through social media for hours, answering comments, looking at what other candidates were posting. It was so consuming, and eventually it became such an echo chamber, too. 

Much of the buzz around your campaign centered on your how young you were compared to other candidates. Did you feel conscious of that age difference on the campaign trail? 

It was absolutely a part of things, whether or not I wanted it to be. The media, especially the local newspaper, really picked up the fact that I was one of two fairly young people running for school board seats. The community had mixed feelings about it. A lot of people thought it was great to have more youth voices involved, while others said the opposite — we were so young, so what did we really know?  

What did it feel like when you heard that you won? 

It was so unreal. I mean, people who didn’t even know me were checking off my name on their ballots, just from reading about me in the newspaper. That’s unbelievable. That’s just so cool to me. Since then, I’ve even had people stop me at the grocery store, like, “Oh, I voted for you.” I’m just so honoured to have been the chosen candidate. 

What has your time in office been like so far? 

Honestly, the board that we were elected to is awesome. We have a great superintendent and great upper-level district staff, all of whom welcomed us with open arms. They’ve given us all the resources that we’ve needed and put us through rigorous training. We even did an eight-hour lecture on Roberts’ rules of order at the beginning!  

Over the past few months, how have your original goals evolved? 

They’ve definitely gotten more specific. For example, when I was running for office, I campaigned on “student voice” in a broad sense. While I certainly had a high-level sense of what I wanted to work toward, I lacked a practical sense of what the execution and methods to achieve that could look like. Now I have specific policies that I want to target to be able to improve student voice. The same goes for my other goals, like sustainability. I have more direction now, and I know exactly what I need to do. 

Your term in office is four years. What do you want to do after that? What are your personal goals? 

At the end of the day, I’m only 20; I have so much in my life ahead of me. So I’m open to whatever comes next. But I’d love to keep working in politics. Along with the school board, I also do constituency work for my local MLA. And I’m still aiming for my degree in political science, so I want to finish that at my own pace, too. Once I’ve served my full term on the school board, I’ll look for my next opportunity to do the work I want to keep doing. 

For Evan MacNamara, drummer extraordinaire, the Diploma in Music at Douglas College was the perfect opening act. It laid the groundwork for him to transfer to UBC’s Dual Bachelor of Music and Education, one of Canada’s most prestigious music programs.

“Douglas was an approachable first step to the education I wanted,” Evan says. “I jumped on the train late when it came to studying for a music career. The program gives you a really strong base even if you’re starting from zero. So I had the chance to build myself up until I was ready to impress any panel of judges, even in the most daunting of university auditions.” 

Evan made an impression at Douglas from the very start. In his first year, he earned the prestigious Marg Beaudoin Memorial Music Scholarship, worth $2,000. He also performed at Douglas’s graduation ceremonies in 2022. 

The band marches on 

Now a third-year student at UBC, Evan’s program allows him to move deftly between the classroom and the stage. He’s getting more opportunities than ever to build his ensemble experience and collaborate with his classmates on hands-on projects. Thanks to that, he’s growing the type of professional network that’s essential for many musicians to build community and find opportunities.  

But his most eye-opening experience happened in neither a university classroom nor a stage. Instead, it was in a high school while acting as an assistant teacher for a choir. Every Friday, he went to an East Vancouver school’s practices to help students develop their musical skills. Though “not a choir person,” he felt his own skillset gave him a unique perspective that let him connect with the students and support their learning. 

“With my general knowledge of musicality, I still managed to bridge the gap and help them understand the principles they were having trouble with,” Evan says. “It landed outside my expectations of what teaching would be like. But that’s part of what made the experience so valuable.” 

Read more: “Top brass: This music alum and her saxophone build community through their sound“

Finding his beat 

Evan’s been playing the drums since elementary school, but he didn’t consider a career in music right away. He started out studying information technology at another institution before making the switch. The Diploma in Music at Douglas seemed like the best pathway to a career in music.

From the quality of instruction to the friends he made, the program’s supportive community gave Evan a sense of home. 

“You spend your time  in nearly all the same classes as one another,” he says. “In our time as a cohort, I probably spent more time in our music hallway than I did in my actual home.” 

Though Evan’s class has graduated and gone their separate ways, he hasn’t lost steam on his musical journey. He’s continued to secure gigs and carve out his place in the local music scene, playing at all sorts of events – and getting paid. 

“It’s really cool, that first time you’re able to call yourself a paid gig musician,” Evan says. “You get your name out there, and suddenly you’re getting invited to ceremonies and weddings and more. Your reputation only snowballs from there.” 

Meanwhile, back at UBC, Evan’s deciding what level of education he wants to teach. His instructors at Douglas have inspired him to aim for college classrooms. 

“All my instructors were super experienced. They’ve done everything,” Evan says. “I’d love to be someone like that, ready to teach what I know to musicians starting out.” 

Learn more about Douglas College’s Diploma in Music program here.

By Ming Yeung, Marketing and Communications

As a trans non-binary personal trainer, Anna Parrish knows better than anyone how hard it can be for trans folks to take part in sports and recreation. The feeling of alienation they felt in the gender-assigned facilities nearly stopped them from participating. That’s why Anna is asking policymakers to create trans-inclusive policies and staff training within recreation facilities via their research. 

Since they earned their Bachelor of Kinesiology at the University of Alberta 10 years ago, Anna has been training a wide array of people while fighting to create safe and inclusive recreation spaces for gender-diverse populations.

Finding a holistic approach to health

One of Anna’s first opportunities to support their community was by creating TransFit in 2019 – B.C.’s first provincially supported trans-centric fitness program. Unfortunately, shortly after the TransFit program started, all classes had to move online due to COVID-19. 

The pandemic upended Anna’s life. All the gyms temporarily closed, leaving Anna to lose the majority of their work for six months. They began to consider what else they could do for a living, but they didn’t want to completely switch gears or abandon their realm of expertise. So once Anna discovered Douglas’s Therapeutic Recreation program, they applied right away, ultimately entering as a Third Year Access student.  

Anna is glad they made that choice. “What I love about Therapeutic Recreation is that it blends the physical aspects of health with other forms of health. It’s more based on counselling and supporting people emotionally. And that’s what was missing for me from personal training. It’s that extra piece of overall mental health, emotional health, social health, all these other things that don’t fall into the realm of physical health,” Anna says. 

When choosing a research project for one of their classes, Anna saw an opportunity to explore a topic close to them – the factors that increase recreation engagement within the transgender community in the Lower Mainland. 

“A one-size-fits-all approach is not going to be effective because of all the variation in trans people’s experiences, so it is important for policymakers to be educated on the different experiences within the community.”

They wanted to explore this topic because much of the existing research on transgender recreation engagement focuses on trans men, trans women and medical transition. Meanwhile, Anna feels that non-binary people are being left out.  

“The studies that I’ve read are often reinforcing stereotypes around trans people and who they are. They don’t really include a lot of people like me who are other genders outside the gender binary,” Anna says.  

“I wanted to look at what makes recreation better and safer, and what actually works. Rather than focusing on all the barriers that prevent trans people from engaging with recreation, I’d ask what creates more safety and inclusion, and what actually helps people feel they can access things safely.” 

Getting older and feeling less safe

Anna collected data through an online survey of 13 anonymous transgender individuals, ages 26-53, who engage in recreation.  

They found that trans people’s feelings of safety within recreation were shaped by all kinds of factors. One major factor was the environment – participants felt safer when there were universal washrooms or changerooms available. But the study reveals that internal factors such as body satisfaction and fear of transphobia also have a significant impact. And that fear could hinder trans people from using them. 

“On the one hand, they feel scared that they’re going to be discriminated against. On the other hand, they may feel unhappy with their bodies and unsafe moving them in front of other people.” 

One significant finding in Anna’s study was that as trans participants got older, they felt less safe in gender-segregated spaces. Anna explains that trans people’s experiences in childhood and adulthood dictate how safe they feel about participating in recreation activities.  

“People have pivotal and formative experiences around recreation in school when they’re playing games with their classmates,” Anna says. “Very often, these groups are segregated based on gender. There are different changerooms in school based on gender, so trans kids often feel uncomfortable from a pretty young age.” 

“Maybe they don’t know they’re trans yet, but they know they don’t fit in.” 

Anna’s study also looks into the impact of social and medical transition on trans people’s participation in recreation. The findings revealed mixed phenomena. Some people felt they could engage better post-transition and felt more affirmed in their bodies. But an equal number felt it decreased their engagement, and almost as many reported that their engagement levels didn’t change.  

“I think that there’s a common misconception that transitioning fixes all problems. It doesn’t,” Anna says. “The experiences of transgender people can’t be generalized, because many factors impact internal narratives, experiences with transition and experiences in recreation.” 

Educating policymakers and frontline staff

Trans-inclusive policy has been rolled out in different recreation organizations in the last few years in the Lower Mainland, but Anna points out that it’s important to recognize that the use of trans-inclusive policy is uneven within the Lower Mainland and even more so in the rest of B.C. and Canada.  
 
In Anna’s opinion, these policies often fail to provide clear, specific direction on what to do when discriminatory situations arise for trans patrons. And that stems from a lack of consistent and appropriate staff training in the organizations. 

“If you don’t know how to address the problems when they arise because the policy lacks clear guidance on what to do if and when people do certain things, chances are that the behaviour will not be addressed. The trans person in the room is the one who will be hurt,” Anna says. That’s exactly what Anna wanted to change through their research and advocacy. 

“What I’m trying to do is make trans people feel seen and understood. I’m hoping to educate people about the complex experiences that trans people have, especially within recreation, and try to create motivation to revamp or create trans-inclusive policy.”  

Anna believes policymakers and frontline service providers need to better understand the importance of removing gendered language and gender-segregated spaces. Organizations like QMUNITY and TransFocus provide training on this information, but it’s an area that is under-researched and needs more attention.   

“A one-size-fits-all approach is not going to be effective because of all the variation in trans people’s experiences. It’s important for policymakers to be educated on the different experiences within the community,” Anna says. 

Looking ahead, Anna plans to work as a recreation therapist with queer and trans individuals. Helping them find the confidence they need to engage in recreation and leisure activities that are meaningful to them. 

Anna’s study won first place this year at Student Research Days, an annual event for students to present their research to the larger Douglas community.