BrainWaves: The Neuroscience Graduate Program Newsletter - Brain Waves Posts , SOMABrainWaves: The Neuroscience Graduate Program Newsletter - Brain Waves Posts , SOMAhttps://www.mindsnews.ca/blogs/somaSun, 14 Dec 2025 12:20:33 -0800http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[You just got served: MiNDS Winter Social]]>https://www.mindsnews.ca/blogs/post/You-just-got-served-MiNDS-Winter-Social

AUTHOR: Jasmine Turna

The students of MiNDS are a busy bunch; most of our waking days are spent in the lab, reading publications or working hard towards writing things of our own. This past February, the Students of MiNDS Association (SOMA) decided to have everyone trek downtown to explore one of the many exciting venues that the city of Hamilton has for us to explore. The setting for the Winter SOMA social was Serve Hamilton, a ping pong bar on King St E.


With our own private room with two tables, it didn’t take long for ping pong balls to start flying all over the place. 
First years Ashley and Shreya
First years Ashley and Shreya
Ritesh showing off his ping pong skills
Second years Calan and Shawna planning to beat whoever is on the other side of that table!
There may not have been an organized ping pong tournament, but competition was still in the air. Ping pong doesn’t exactly generate the image of an intense sport, but these MiNDS students still gave it their all and built a hefty appetite over the night.
Some of the delicious food from the night!
Shawna, Gillian and Cory enjoying some snacks

A combination of the good food and drink and even more wonderful people led to a very enjoyable evening. Some enjoyed a game of ping pong for the first time ever; others discovered a unique new Hamilton venue and some even got in some exercise. For those that missed this event, remember to keep an eye on your inboxes in the upcoming weeks for ideas about a summer social. Those that joined this time around, we hope to see you again!

]]>Tue, 10 May 2016 20:25:00 -0400<![CDATA[SOMA Dodgeball – “Throw first, Think later.”]]>https://www.mindsnews.ca/blogs/post/SOMA-Dodgeball-–-“Throw-first-Think-later-”

AUTHOR: Christopher Rowley and Shawna Thompson

This past fall, members of the MiNDS program banded together to form an intramural dodgeball team that was cleverly named The Lobotomizers. Despite the team name, headshots were forbidden in game play, but that didn’t stop The Lobotomizers from instilling fear in their opponents.


With the weeklong stress and long hours in the laboratory and office, it was incredible that students were able to stay awake and play with such exuberance. Lots of members thoroughly enjoyed their Friday evenings out on the court where they won game after game, finishing the regular season on the podium. If it weren’t for a few lucky throws in the tear-jerking tiebreaker, the Lobotomizers likely would have come home as the new intramural dodgeball champions. The team attributes their success both to great teamwork abilities that were built working in an interdisciplinary program, and the excellent catching skills acquired from handling laboratory rodents.


We would like to thank SOMA for supporting us, and our Grade 2 gym class teachers for instilling the love of the game. We hope to be back to putting the “action” in action potential next year, and will be welcoming new and returning members after the extensive summer training camp. 

]]>Fri, 29 Jan 2016 14:34:34 -0500<![CDATA[MiNDS Welcome Event - Halloween Edition]]>https://www.mindsnews.ca/blogs/post/MiNDS-Welcome-Event-Halloween-Edition

Author: Jasmine Turna

The post-colloquium Phoenix social is a MiNDS tradition, but the Students of MiNDS Association (SOMA) helped shake things up a little this past Thursday following Dr. Goldowitz’s talk. With October 31st just around the corner, the afternoon talk very quickly turned into an evening of food and other Halloween-related festivities. Delicious food and “toxic” treats were laid out on the table while a “spooky” soundtrack played continuously throughout the evening.

Resulting pumpkin creations of the evening

The first activity set for the night was designed specifically with the incoming MiNDS first-years in mind, “grad student speed-dating”.Here, each first-year student was provided the opportunity to have all of their questions answered and to get an idea of what grad school is really like first-hand, from an upper year student.

Here we have PhD student Simon, receiving this month’s MiNDS recognition award from Kathy.

With Halloween being the theme of the night, attendees soon tapped into their creative side and started pumpkin carving! The resulting pumpkins ranged from neurons and microglia (of course!) but Jack Skellington made an appearance, as did a pumpkin that obviously had a little too much “fun”. Overall, based on the level of laughter it is safe to say that the event was a success. Of course, thank you to everyone that came out and here are some pictures for those of you who couldn’t!

Pumpkin carving in the works!
]]>Tue, 03 Nov 2015 16:25:31 -0500<![CDATA[SOMA Corner]]>https://www.mindsnews.ca/blogs/post/SOMA-Corner

AUTHOR: Bill Simpson

With summer on its way out, it’s time to put away the Birkenstocks and start planning for September and the start of the next academic year. Over the summer, SOMA has been busy getting ready for next year. Here are a couple of highlights:

 

A new executive!


We are pleased to announce a new executive team who will continue SOMA’s mission to enhance student life for MiNDS students. For a bio of each new exec member, visit somamcmaster.ca and click on PEOPLE.

 

Co-President: Jasmine Turna

Co-President: Cory Richman

Dir. Finance: Gésine Alders

Dir. Communication: Calan Savoy

Dir. Outreach: Elyse Rosa

Dir. Member Relations: Shawna Thompson

Dir. Events: Crystal Mahedeo

 

Student Handbook released!

 

The 2015-2016 student handbook is now available to all new and returning students.  In it, you will find all the information you need to navigate the MiNDS program, written for the students by current and former members of SOMA. Download it directly here or check out the online version on the SOMA website here. 

 

It’s been a great year for SOMA, have a great rest of the summer and we’ll see you in September!

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