Sara Hall (centre) with students from the St. Francis Xavier club in Antigonish, NS
The National Campus Life Network works with pro-life students to maximize the promotion and effectiveness of the pro-life message on Canadian university and college campuses. Over the summer of 2009, it hired a new director to work with students in the Maritimes. Sara Hall was hired for this part-time position and began serving students for the fall 2009 school term.
She is a graduate of New Brunswick Community College and currently lives in New Brunswick with her husband, Matt. Prior to working with NCLN, she was comfortable initiating and joining discussions on the life issues to offer her pro-life position. The research she did on her own provided a solid foundation of knowledge that has led to doing pro-life presentations for youth groups. While NCLN executive director Theresa Gilbert was travelling in the Maritimes in the fall of 2008 to visit campuses there, she met Hall and they talked about the possibility of a Maritime director position. Hall was open to the idea of working in the pro-life movement and the two stayed in touch.
NCLN is excited about this expansion. Gilbert told The Interim, “We were able to start a position in Western Canada in 2007 and this seemed like the natural way to go. We’re very happy to be able to give this added attention to the Maritime groups.” Prior to having Hall serve the Maritimes, the executive director would travel East for a few weeks a year to provide presentations, training and support.
Hall will serve students in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. Currently, there are three active campus clubs: at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John (UNBSJ), St. Francis Xavier University (St. FX) and the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI). Students at St. Mary’s University (SMU) are applying for club status this term. Hall will also be working with contacts at Dalhousie, Mount Allison University, St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. She explained, “I plan to strengthen the existing groups and work with students to start new clubs.”
In the fall 2009 school term, Hall was able to visit UNBSJ, St. FX and SMU. Plans are in the works to visit UPEI, as well as organize a leaders’ retreat at the end of April for current and upcoming leaders of the club.
The national office in Toronto has established two new initiatives to help network campuses from East to West. It offers monthly campus leader newsletters and term conference calls. Both provide an opportunity to share information with all of the leaders and demonstrate how widespread and connected the campus pro-life movement is.
The two key things Hall requires for her position to be a success is student contacts and financial support. Students on a campus in Atlantic Canada can contact her at maritimedirector@ncln.ca.
