Page 38 - 06_September-2024

MARC DUMOUCHEL, GENERAL MANAGER OF THE UASU, AND LEVI FLAMAN, VP OPERATIONS AND FINANCE
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, standing centre stage inside the newly renovated Myer Horowitz Theatre, Marc Dumouchel recalls taking a water balloon to the face in this exact spot 34 years ago during a student election forum.
“I thought it was the best possible thing that could have happened to me,” he says, looking at the empty theatre.
Luckily, the water balloon was a dud, bounced off without breaking, and Dumouchel didn’t skip a beat in his speech. He won that election (as a vice-president) and the following year’s vote when he ran for president of the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU).
Up on the catwalk, he points out the spots where students, that same year, poured buckets of water onto unsuspecting candidates as they walked up to the podium. Down in the seats, he recalls coming here
as a teenager to see Canadian rocker Kim Mitchell. Closer to the stage, he mentions how he helped put on a rambunctious showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show when he was a student leader.
38 EDify. SEPTEMBER.24