Turn on the Waterworks: Hydroponics at StFX

If you’ve noticed a budding sea of green growing up the walls in Bloomfield Cafe or a cart of sprouting leaves on the third floor of the Schwartz Business Centre, then you’ve witnessed a glimpse of a student-led project at StFX that is continuing to grow in every aspect of the word. This week I had a chat with third-year AQUA student Simon Middleton, who has been piloting a hydroponics system at StFX over the past three years.

Hydroponics is an artificial plant-growing system in which plant roots are suspended in circulating, nutrient-enriched water instead of soil. The result is fast-growing plants that can be grown and harvested year-round regardless of outdoor growing seasons.

Middleton began his journey in hydroponics when he received an AeroGarden, a simple home version of a hydroponic system, for his fifteenth birthday, and has since continued to develop his interest in the technology. While attending Dr. John Hugh Gillis High School, he started a system through the school’s environment club, after which it seemed only natural to start one at StFX. He took on the project with support from StFX’s ALPACA (Antigonish League of People Advocating for Climate Action) society. The group proposed the project to Ancillary Services and the school was able to fund it, where it is now located in the back of the Bloomfield Cafe and can hold up to 180 plants.

“When I was taking Business 111, my lab instructor… she heard about the hydroponics system, and said ‘Simon, you should do Enactus’ …and they gave us $500,” says Middleton. The Enactus grant allowed him to establish a second 108 plant system that is now located in the third floor study room in Schwartz.

Since last year, volunteers from ALPACA have been involved in planting and maintaining both systems, and Middleton has overseen the harvesting of what he estimates has now been about 150 heads of lettuce. Volunteers begin by planting seeds in small tubes of growth media, which are used instead of soil. Eventually, the fully-grown produce will be donated to Kevin’s Corner, the campus foodbank in Bloomfield. The entire process takes only a number of weeks. A number of different plants are on the future menu, including tomatoes and hopefully strawberries!

Just last week, Middleton received an additional grant from Enactus. “With $1000,” he says, “I think we can triple or quadruple the [Schwartz] system.” Eventually he hopes to expand the program into the Antigonish community.

Innovations like hydroponics are commonly cited as alternatives to industrial-scale agriculture, which frequently results in the degradation of vast tracts of land and the application of damaging pesticides and fertilizers. Technologies like hydroponics could be powerful aids in tackling the challenges of climate change and feeding the global population. If that sounds inspiring, you’re not alone. Middleton urges anyone interested in helping out to reach out! You can contact ALPACA on Instagram at @alpaca.climateaction, and the next time you pass by Schwartz or Bloomfield, be sure to take a closer look.

Along with other projects on campus including the community produce garden and pollinator garden behind J. Bruce Brown, the hydroponics system is part of an exciting series of sustainable agriculture initiatives led by driven students who are collectively setting the stage for a greener future.

Indigenous Resistance and the Fight for Justice: Lessons from a Week in Guatemala

Over February reading week, I had the incredible opportunity of travelling to Guatemala through StFX’s Immersion Service Learning Program. The trip was organized by Breaking the Silence (BTS), a network of activists across the Maritimes who work with partners in Guatemala to advocate for social justice and give others the opportunity to learn from and experience Guatemalan history and culture. The experience left me and my fellow peers with an unforgettable impression of the colonial oppression which underscores Guatemala's magnificent natural splendor, as well as a profound admiration for the courage of the country’s Indigenous people in their pursuit of justice. 

            The first and last days of our trip were spent in Guatemala City, where we learned about Guatemala’s tumultuous history and the ongoing legacy of political oppression. In the 60s-90s, the Internal Armed Conflict resulted in the massacre, displacement, and disappearance of hundreds of thousands of people, including the genocide of Guatemala’s Indigenous Mayan population. We visited the Casa de la Memoria, which translates to the House of Memories, a museum that commemorates the suffering and resilience of Indigenous people in Guatemala from the beginning of Spanish colonization, to the atrocities committed during the Internal Armed Conflict, to the ongoing government repression that activists face today. These experiences were a heavy but crucial learning experience, setting the stage for us to witness the incredible determination, strength, and diversity of Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples throughout the rest of our trip. 

            We spent four nights at the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute, a field school focused on revitalizing Indigenous food systems and educating visitors about agroecology. During our stay we toured the gardens, learned about endless creative methods of living in tune with the land (including a solar oven and composting toilets!), and participated in a culinary workshop where we cooked and shared a meal made with locally sourced foods. Javier, BTS’ Guatemala coordinator, taught us about Mayan cosmology and the different language groups that make up distinct groups within the Mayan population. 

            Every day of our trip was packed with experiences that gave us a glimpse of how Indigenous people are using their traditional knowledge to thrive in a landscape of ongoing socioeconomic injustice. We participated in a weaving workshop in the city of Santiago, learning about how a co-op of family-run businesses is working to revitalize traditional Mayan weaving in the face of ongoing stigma. In the village of Santa Cruz, we learned about how the community is working to sustain itself and the environment through sustainable aquaculture and farming practices.  

We also had several experiences visiting organizations that are directly resisting political injustice and fighting for their lands. We visited the Campesino Committee of the Highlands and learned from activist Leocadio Juracán, whose advocacy for agrarian reform has earned him multiple federal charges and arrests. On the last day of our trip, we visited a resistance encampment on the territory of the Indigenous Xinka people and learned about their continued efforts to resist the encroachment of a Canadian mining company that has been poisoning their local waters. Each of these experiences impressed upon us the courage of Indigenous groups in Guatemala in fighting to reclaim their lands and livelihoods against ruthless state power and criminalization. 

Ultimately, this was a perspective-shifting journey that truly widened our knowledge and left a lasting impression on each of us. It was a privilege to bear witness to the passion and resilience of these leaders and communities in Guatemala, who are dedicating their lives in a multitude of different ways to the fight for their traditions, lands, and people.  

Note: While there is too much to say about this trip in one short article, I’d recommend checking out breakingthesilenceblog.com/ to learn more about our trip and BTS’ social justice work in Guatemala! 

The U Announces Statue Honouring Father Stan

On Thursday, March 26th, StFX sent out an e-mail regarding a new bust of Father Stan, which is to be put on campus. Reverend Father Stan MacDonald passed away on May 11th, 2025, at the age of 92.  Father Stan was an Xaverian, an athlete, playing hockey, and a member of StFX’s last varsity rugby team. He graduated from StFX in 1954, was ordained in 1959, and served parishes throughout Cape Breton until retiring in 1998. 10 years later, he returned to StFX as the “Priest-in-Residence,” and he would remain as a community figure on campus until his death last year. He was especially present at sporting events and to have this memorialized, the bust will have an “interactive element” where students can “fist bump the X-Ring,”, “just as he did so often around campus and before games.” To learn more about the bust, I reached out to Alessandro D’Aquino, Executive Vice-President of StFX’s Student Union to ask about the statue, the legacy that Father Stan left behind, and the funding of the statue. 

Harrison Stewart: In regard to funding, the email that was sent yesterday, the school is looking to crowdfund the bust. 

Alessandro D’Aquino: Yes. So basically, we set up a donation page, and we are trying to collaborate with the students, with the broader StFX community and alumni, to try to raise this money for the statue. 

HS: Is the university putting any money up front? 

AD: No. There are no amounts as of now from the university. Everything will be raised. 

HS: None of it will be charged as a fee to students or anything. It’ll be all donations? 

AD: Yes, all donations, I’ve had a few students asking if it was a mandatory fee, and my answer was no it's not a mandatory fee. We are doing this because Father Stan had such an impact on the broader community, people are free to decide if they want to donate or not. 

HS: What’s the total amount needed for the bust? 

AD: As of now, the statue could cost around $27,000, but if we raise more, that money will be donated to the bursary that was created by Father Stan.  

HS: What do you think the statue is going to do for his legacy? 

AD: When I came up with this idea, it was I think weeks after he passed away, it was June, I think. I brought this to the team, and in my opinion, it shouldn’t be just a statue, because we know that we have many statues on campus, but when students walk by, it’s like, “who is this person? I don’t know.” And sometimes, there are not even, any descriptions so you don’t even know. You cannot understand. So, I feel like what can make the difference for us is really, like, trying to keep alive the tradition that he has. Like the fist bump, the interactive statue, and we put it like, outside Saputo, which could be potentially the spot, people will be able to fist bump it before the game. And even, like, the first-year students or new people coming to campus can see other students or people in the community going over to the statue and fist bumping it, they would get curious, go in there, and try to understand more about the statue. So, we will have a plaque explaining who Father Stan was, a supporter of the students, supporter of the games; and people will get an image of who he was. And also, a particular thing that we want to put in the statue is like, the material. It’s bronze, and the more you fist bump it the more it’s going to get like shiny. So people are going understand the significance of it. 

HS: And so you think that that will sort of keep his legacy going, the fist bump, along with the plaque that says some information about him?  

AD: Yes, the big smile, the fist bump and the “Go X Go” how he would do in the games. All of these things will keep him alive, you know?  Even if there are first year students who never met him, they are hearing about him a lot, and they are understanding how much impact he had on the community. In three or five years, when new students will see the statue and hear his story, they will understand too and I'm sure they will fist bump it! I think that's the best way to keep him alive! 

H: And you said outside Saputo is the supposed location? 

A: Yes, potentially. That would be our goal, because we were thinking about a location, and then we were not too sure, but I remember like doing this to recognize his support to the athletes of the games, and it was like… definitely then outside Saputo could be a good spot because of the basketball games, people walking to a hockey game, or like even when you go to the football game. For these reasons we thought that was a good spot. 

At this point, I asked Mr. D’Aquino about the statues religious value, as Stan was the “Priest-In-Residence” as well. 

HS: There’s nothing that examines his legacy through the religious aspect of the statue? It’s completely secularized. 

AD: Yes, exactly. So, what we want to explain to the broader community that our goal is to celebrate and do this in honour of Father Stan as the person that he was. Just like, supporting students, smiling to everyone, be always positive and full of energy, not as like a church person. It's important to explain this and avoid confusion, the main goal is to celebrate him as one of the biggest supporter on campus. 

HS: That wasn’t who we saw at the football games, hockey games.  

AD: Yeah. Obviously like, if you asked students who graduated 20 years ago, they would say “I remember Father Stan as the priest who was on campus.” If you asked the students who were here for the last 10 years I think, they would say like “Father Stan was the person who was at the game and was saying ‘Go X Go’” So like, many people did not know he was a priest honestly. So that’s what we are trying to do, like just for the impact that he had and supporting students and the game, and like, honestly, even the first video of Father Stan when he says “Go X Go” at a football game, the best fan in the world, that was my first video I took at StFX and Father Stan. 

HS: Oh, really?  

AD: Yeah. I didn’t know him, I just took the video because like, that’s awesome. There is someone like… this elderly gentleman just like, cheering for students at the game! It’s awesome. Like something I’ve never seen before. And they have the X ring. And it’s like… I love this community. And so like, since that moment, I’ve been like this community is very unified and everyone cares about each other. So, I think that that has a very important meaning for our community. 

Because the statue is in a secularized location, I reached out to Dr. Ken Penner—head of StFX’s Religious Studies—for comment about his thoughts on the legacy of a former religious figure being secularized. In a blog post, Penner states 

“Traditional religious gatherings no longer are the primary locus where community cohesion happens, especially among Canadian university students […] Instead, the athletic stadium, the hockey arena, and the gymnasium take over that function as the modern forges of collective identity. […] Father Stan understood the intense sociology and psychology of these spaces. He recognized that to pastor effectively to the modern university student, he had to enter their sanctuaries. So he became a permanent fixture in the crowd for all varsity sports over a span of fifteen years, providing unwavering support for both the X-Men and X-Women teams, whether football, soccer, rugby, hockey, basketball, or cross country. 

With this context in mind, let’s circle back to the question: Does the placement of a bust of a Catholic priest in a multi-million-dollar sports complex constitute a “secularization” of his legacy? By monumentalizing him primarily as a “Super Fan” in an athletic centre rather than as a priest in a chapel or a library, is the university community stripping away the specific theological and sacramental realities of his lifelong vocation? 

Well, from a strict traditionalist or classical Weberian perspective, an argument can be made that placing the bust in the Saputo Centre secularizes and dilutes Father Stan’s legacy. He was, after all, fundamentally and permanently an ordained priest who served as a spiritual shepherd for nearly forty years in conventional parish settings across Nova Scotia. 

But a post-secular sociological perspective suggests the exact opposite. The placement of a Catholic priest’s monument in a secular sports complex isn’t the dilution or erasure of his religious vocation, as classic secularization theory would have it; rather, it is the most authentic reflection of his incarnational ministry. Father Stan deliberately chose to execute his post-retirement ministry in the secular spaces of the campus. He didn’t wait passively in the chapel for students to seek him out; he proactively went to the hockey arenas, the running trails, the dining halls, and the coffee shops. The concept of incarnation (present in multiple religions) dictates that the divine enters into the messy, physical reality of the human world. Father Stan’s ministry was nothing if not incarnational. He was indeed the “Super Fan,” using the universal language of collegiate sports to bridge generational, cultural, and ideological divides, offering guidance, joy, and spiritual steadying to thousands of students regardless of their personal religious affiliations. 

Viewed this way, the Saputo Centre is the very site of his most impactful work; it’s not a profane space that degrades his memory. To place his memorial in a quiet, purely religious space—a space he frequented but which did not define his public persona over the last two decades—would be an exercise in historical revisionism. Instead, the placement of the bust in the Saputo Centre accurately acknowledges that in the modern, pluralistic university, the sacred is encountered more often in the bleachers, the locker rooms, and the shared pursuit of excellence. “ 

Father Stan’s legacy is being preserved as just as he created it, as someone who cared deeply about this campus, its student body, and this statue will help keep his legacy alive for years to come.  

Special thanks to Dr. Ken Penner, whose comments were used for biographical information about Father Stan as well. Quotations and other information taken from StFX email about information about the Father Stan Bust, and his obituary. 

Dr. Penner’s thoughts on secularism and the Father Stan bust: https://kmpenner.hcommons.org/2026/03/28/secularization-and-memorialization-in-the-father-stan-bust-project/  

Father Stan’s obituary: https://macisaacs.ca/tribute/details/797/Fr-Stan-MacDonald/obituary.html  

To donate to the statue: https://secureca.imodules.com/s/650/lg21/form.aspx?sid=650&gid=1&pgid=4138&cid=7706  

Students Rally at MLA Office Over Budget Cuts: “We Are Paying Attention”

On Wednesday, March 18th, students, faculty, and community members walked from the campus library, to outside MLA Michelle Thompson’s office in a student protest. The protest was against recent austerity measures introduced by Conservative Premier Tim Houston, that included severe post-secondary budget cuts.

The protest came in response to proposed cuts to university programs across Nova Scotia. Cuts that, while partially reversed following public backlash, exposed a deeper and ongoing issue: chronic underfunding in post-secondary education. For many students already struggling with rising tuition, housing insecurity, and increasing living costs, these decisions felt like yet another blow in an already uphill battle.

During the rally, Psychology Professor Dr. Erica Koch reminded attendees what is truly at stake. “When you are investing in education, you are investing in students,” she said. “You are building people who are political thinkers, who are passionate, who are creative, and who have empathy for others.”

Student Union President Jacob Cruchet also addressed the crowd, highlighting the human impact behind policy decisions, reminding attendees: “Behind every budget is a program. And behind every program is a classroom. And behind every classroom is a student with a dream that didn’t exist a few years ago.”

The rally concluded with a call to action that resonated deeply. “History has shown us time and time again that change doesn’t come from silence,” Cruchet said. “It comes from voices—voices in classrooms, voices in communities, voices standing together here on public sidewalks.”

He emphasized that the demonstration was not rooted in anger alone, but in awareness and accountability. “It’s about students saying to their elected representatives: we are paying attention. We care about the future of post-secondary education in this province. We believe that universities matter. We believe that graduate students matter. We believe that the arts matter.”

Student should be angry. They should be angry that, in a time when affordability is already a major barrier, funding for their education is treated as expendable. They should question why institutions meant to foster learning and growth are increasingly forced to operate like businesses, prioritizing cost-cutting over student experience.

Both Premier Houston and MLA Thompson are themselves beneficiaries of Nova Scotia’s public education system. Students are now asking: why is that same system no longer being protected for the next generation?

Coach K Classic: From Class Project to Community Impact

The third annual Coach K Classic basketball game was successfully hosted by fourth-year Sports Marketing students: Courtney Gottselig, Blake Cooper, Travis Michaluk, Cole McLeman, Josh Drysdale, Thompson Petten-Shand, and Meghan Cole, in collaboration with StFX Athletics and the local community. This exciting event featured a matchup between alumni and current players from both the men’s and women’s teams.

The Coach K Classic brings together StFX alumni and current basketball players for a competitive and engaging showdown, all while raising funds for Antigonish Minor Basketball. The event has a meaningful impact on the community by helping ensure young athletes have the opportunity to participate in basketball regardless of financial barriers. Funds raised go toward purchasing equipment, providing registration support, and expanding access to practices and programming for local youth.

“To me, the Coach K Classic became something much bigger than a class project. It was an opportunity to be part of something meaningful and to give back to a community that has given so much. Seeing past and current StFX athletes, students, and community members come together to give back and enjoy the energy of the game was incredibly special. It reminded me how powerful sport can be in bringing people together and fostering a sense of community. I’m really proud of what we accomplished, and I hope next year’s class continues to build on it and make it even bigger and better.”

- Meghan Cole (event coordinator)

With generous community support, several raffle prizes were made available thanks to sponsors including Oak Manor, Cameron Jewellery, Starbucks, The Trap, Paw Pad Retreat, StFX athletics, Micro Hotel, and Kenny’s Pizza. The event also featured a halftime show with Antigonish Minor Basketball’s U12 teams, highlighting the young athletes who benefit directly from this initiative.

On the court, the current X-Men and X-Women players battled hard against the alumni in a close and exciting game, finishing with a final score of 95-92.

“This is my third year playing in the Coach K Classic game and it is more than just a simple basketball game for me. It’s about showing the spirit of the game and the community behind it, by bringing together the men and women, both past and present. I had such a great time laughing, competing, and connecting while being apart of something truly special that goes beyond the game itself” - Kristine Cooper (current X-Women basketball player).

The objective of this class project is to plan and market an event that raises funds for charity. Originally created a few years ago, the Coach K Classic continues to grow as students

carry on the tradition and build on its success. This year’s event raised an incredible $4,500, the highest total in the past three years, highlighting its ongoing impact and success within the community.