X HELPING HANDS
The minds behind X Helping Hands
BHAVPREET SINGH ARNEJA
A dedicated Computer Science student with a minor in Mathematics at St. Francis Xavier University, Bhavpreet is passionate about data science and software engineering. He is proficient in a wide range of programming languages, including Python and Java, with expertise in machine learning, data structures, and data science, as well as strong skills in database management.
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Bhavpreet is the award recipient of the McKenna Leadership Project Grant (2024- 2025), has been named to the Dean’s List, and represented StFX at the Science Atlantic 2023 Conference at UPEI. He also participated in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) for the Northeastern North American region at Université de Moncton, collaborating with students from various countries to solve time-bound programming challenges focused on algorithm design, data structures, and debugging.
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In his free time, Bhavpreet enjoys engaging with community organizations and has been an active member of CMTOLC as well as X Patrol.
TAVNEET KAUR
An inherent team leader, Tavneet is a licensed Secondary Math and English educator under the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and is currently working in this role with Chignecto-Central Regional Centre for Education (CCRCE) in Nova Scotia and is an alumna of StFX.
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With a first-class honours degree in Mathematics from the University of Delhi, India, Tavneet's areas of interest include developing computational techniques, algorithms, and mathematical theories for analyzing and manipulating data on NVivo and Wolfram Mathematica.
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Tavneet is an active member of the community and has worked with various community- focused organizations, including CMTOLC, X Oceans, and the Clean Foundation. Combining her passion for photography and art, Tavneet started an Instagram page, art_nouveau___, where she captured the intricacies of life through her lens.
Editors' Note
I arrived in Halifax on December 13, 2022, and travelled to Antigonish with my sister, Tavneet, during Nova Scotia's first major snowstorm of 2022, which had over 30 cm of snow.
With temperature as low as -10°C, blowing snow and winds gusting up to 70 km/hr. we got stuck in storm outside the Keating Center. Scared and overwhelmed, with two heavy bags and no help around, my sister called Anu Joshi, a community member, she had met in 2021. Anu aunty's car was stuck, but she sent a cab to help us reach home safely. This experience of receiving help from the community inspired me to propose this project, aiming to share the struggles of newcomers in Antigonish.
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Building on Tavneet’s project, X Helping Hands (funded by McKenna Leadership Project Grant 2022), I want to highlight the hardships faced by newcomers, including international students at StFX, migrants, and refugees in Antigonish, while showing how community members are helping them make this place their “home away from home.”
This project will also compile easy and accessible resources for newcomers (on website), including information about housing, local landlords, local businesses, healthcare, and mental health services by collaborating with community.
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- Bhavpreet
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Travelling non-stop for over three days, through four different countries, changing five different flights, missing one of them, staying at the airport for nearly 16 hours to catch the next connecting flight, and all this in the middle of the pandemic, defines my journey to this amazing school and the town.
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During my first month, I got involved in requesting a Nova Scotia identification card and getting ready for my classes. I did had to learn to make a monthly budget, which could help me in planning my monthly rent, bills, and grocery. Through conversations with other students, I realized that they were also experiencing similar challenges. This is not just my story, but probably that of many other international and domestic students who start their post secondary education, away from their town, province, or country.
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However, the support of the amazing professors and students at X along with the members of this community, helped me to be a part of the beautiful town of Antigonish, which I proudly call 'My Home.'
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These experiences led me to start "X Helping Hands," a community driven platform where international and canadian students could share experiences like these, through providing information and resources to help incoming, new, and current students at StFX. This may not immediately improve some of the systems but will surely help create awareness about them, thus leading to discussions where we, collectively as a community, can think of some solutions.
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-Tavneet
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The Impact
For successful outcome in student need and expectation, as well as addressing challenges faced by students, this online platform would serve as a ‘change’ that would not only involve the students, faulty, and the Student Union at StFX but also the Town of Antigonish and the Council. This would be a significant resource for the recruitment office of the university, the international student advisor, as well as for the incoming and current students at StFX, thus, helping the existing student bodies, ongoing research, the administration at StFX, and the authorities at the Town of Antigonish, to improve and address the experiences shared by domestic and international students at StFX and in the town.