Music for a good cause Open mic night raises money for cancer victim. Page 3 MONDAY, JANUARY 9 , 2012
SPOKE
A LEARNING NEWSROOM FOR JO U R NA LI SM S T UD EN TS
CONESTOGA COLLEGE, KITCHENER, ONT.
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Faneill back In action Kitchener Ranger skates again after serious head injury. Page 8 44TH YEAR - NO. l l
Ironclad resolutions By KAREN HAYNES
The stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve marked the start of 2012 and all the reso lutions we made to ourselves. Although these resolutions vary, many involve healthy eating and personal fitness. Included in each full-time student’s tuition payment is a membership to the college’s fitness facilities, including the weight and cardio rooms. The gym is located in the college’s recreation centre and is open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and weekends 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Students can also become involved in intramural sports, participate in the arena’s free skate or the centre’s group fit ness classes, and use the squash courts. Information is available on the college’s web site, www.conestogac.on.ca. Students who already rou tinely go to the rec centre may see an increase in traffic over the next few weeks. The spike in students with a newfound appreciation for fit ness and its health benefits may affect those who already work out on a daily basis. John Spoenlein is a firstyear fitness and health pro motion student who already uses the college workout facil ity five or six times a week. Working the lower body muscle groups, including glutes, quads, hamstrings and abs, is his favourite, Spoenlein said.
PHOTOS BY KAREN HAYNES
John Spoeniein, a first-year fit ness and health promotion stu dent, lifts weights at Conestoga College’s fitness facility. Spoeniein uses the college’s weight and cardio rooms five to six days a week. “My favourite exercise is
squats,” he said referring to an exercise that has a weight ed bar put across his shoul ders while he squats up and down as if sitting in a low chair and then standing up again. Spoeniein plans to earn a university nutrition degree after completing his two-year program at Conestoga College and dreams of training a pro fessional sports team. Those who recommit them selves to personal fitness can count on seeing Spoeniein in the college rec centre using the workout facilities.
College not as green as it should be By JESSICA MARTIN
If you had $15,000 to improve the environmental status at Conestoga College, how would you spend the money? That is the question Conestoga Students Inc.’s (CSI) board of directors are facing as they prepare to write a proposal of environmental ideas in an effort "to receive a $15,000 grant from Waterloo Region’s environmental fund. “The college is not practis ing what it’s preaching at all,” said Zoey Ross, director of
sustainability, at the CSI meeting on Nov. 30. “Many other campuses have solar and wind energy. Conestoga in general has fallen behind extremely and basically gone off the sector.” Ross said it’s time to take environmental action. “We need to take it up to the next level, especially since the college has a strong focus, on environmental engineering right now. We need to actual ly show that we care about the environment.” A community garden, a waterfall to create hydro elec
tricity, solar panels and a green wall full of plants were all ideas discussed around the table. The board has until Jan. 16 to finalize and hand in the proposal for a suggested course of action. In other business, CSI direc tors decided to spend $3,000 to spend the day with Catherine, M. Rosa (CMR) Governance Consulting to update their policy manual which hasn’t been revised since 2003. 'This means we would be get ting a brand new governance
structure, a well-trained board every year, brand new policies and procedures, a constitution that follows the new corpora tions act that will be coming out shortly and make sure everything flows together so that we can be effective and cohesive,” said CSI president Ciara Byrne. The board is planning to meet with CMR in January, after completing a survey to help CMR understand the issues. “The workshop will be cus tomized to our board and what she sees in our policies,
our constitution and our gov ernance process,” said Byrne. The changes to the manual would not be effective imme diately. “The full implementation, if we change our governing style and everything, would have to be something this board would start and the next board would carry to comple tion,” she said. "This year we can start with changes to the constitution, recommenda tions and policy changes. But as for governance structure, it would have to start the 2013/14 year.”
NEWS
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Monday, January 9 , 2012
Smoking an R-rated behaviour? Now deep thoughts ... with Conestoga College Random questions answered by random students
Have you ever followed through with a New Year’s resolution? “I don’t think I’ve actually ever made one in fear of not following through with it.” Zack McGillivra,
public relations
“No, I wanted to go to B.C. but I haven’t done that yet. But I’m going to do it this year.” Hayley Halls,
public relations
“For a short time, I did quit smoking for a couple months.” Christina Nabar^jah,
post-grad human resources
“Yes, to come to Canada and study here.” Arun Kumar,
post-grad human resources
“I stopped making resolu tions because I never keep them.” Scott Meagher,
second-year mechanical engineering
“Last year I was deter mined to work out and get in better shape for the vol leyball season.” Julia Struyf,
second-year broadcast journalism
Smile Conestoga, you could be our next respondent!
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. At least at the movies these days. There’s a lot of pressure right now, from the World Health Organization and from thousands of concerned parents, to give movies that feature smoking an automat ic R rating. If you ask me, the suggestion, though wellintended, is a little extreme and unlikely to do much good. The R rating is supposed to make filmmakers think twice before allowing their stars to smoke onscreen. PG-13 movies (14A in Canada) gross twice as much as R movies, so that means a lot less people would be watch ing. I’m not a smoker and I don’t necessarily support tobacco use, but I believe in creative freedom. It’s not cen sorship, because the film industry decides on their own ratings. But it’s a lot of unnecessary pressure on filmmakers. So far, movies with historical figures who smoke and movies that show the dangers of smoking are still left at a reasonable PG rating. Is showing smoking really so bad? Sure, statistics say that kids who watch smoking
Elissa Den Hoed Opinion in movies are four times more likely to take up the bad habit themselves. But it’s still a personal choice. Nobody’s forcing them into it. Back in the day when a cow boy in a western would puff on a Marlboro, most people didn’t realize the dangers of smoking. Today it’s pro claimed everywhere, even on the cigarette packages. Kids may be immature, but they’re not stupid. They know that smoking is bad for you. I watched Peter Pan many times as a kid and not once did wanting to smoke cross my mind, even though Captain Hook was my hero at the time. I think Hellboy’s pretty darn cool, but would I take up smoking just so I could be like him? No. Smoking kills, and that’s a known fact. But it’s legal, and it doesn’t harm anyone else as long as they aren’t
standing downwind. Twenty per cent of Canadian teens smoke during high school and college, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation; but Health Canada says Ontario has an impressive overall quit rate of 49 per cent. For those who do form a lifelong addiction, I blame peer pressure - not movies. Seventy per cent of American adults want to see ratings changed to protect their kids, if an independent national survey done in 2006 is accurate. But they’re for getting that kids see smokers in real life (increasingly less, but still) every day. Changing movie ratings to “protect” kids is totally redundant. There are more important elements to pro tect them from that they wouldn’t see every day. You know what those things are. One last thought: obesity and inactivity, not smoking, is the more pressing health concern for many people today. Sixty per cent of Canadians are overweight or obese, compared to the 25 per cent who smoke. If you want to protect your health, get out of that movie theatre and get some exercise.
NEWS
Monday, January 9 , 2012
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Open Micfor Andy’s Fight raises $1,191 By RYAN HORNE
First-year recreation and leisure services students are doing their part in the neverending battle against cancer and they’re having fun in the process. A fundraiser — dubbed Open Mic for Andy’s Fight — was held in the Sanctuary on Dec. 1. Andy is Andy Houston, a family friend of a student in the class, Cara Smith, who was in desperate need of some help over the Christmas season. Houston is a police officer who was diag nosed with small intestine cancer and is now unable to work. With a stay-at-home wife and three kids all under the age of four, his fight against cancer will be all the more difficult especially on the financial side. So Smith and the rest of the recreation and leisure services students stepped in to do what they could to help their friend. The $1,191 raised for the Houston family at the fundraiser was a huge suc cess according to Smith. “The money is going straight to his family so they can use it for whatever they want,” she said. Students came up with the fundraising idea in their dynamics of leadership class, deciding to combine a silent auction with the open mic to create one elaborate fundrais er. ‘W e had to stand up in front of our class and tell what our groups were doing,” said
Smith. “We decided to com bine them. Now there are 18 or 19 of us that have come together and made this event happen.” The open mic portion gave Conestoga students the chance to display their musi cal talents. Smith took part, performing an original piece, and Sam Schwier and Brendan Hancock sang a duet of Kid Rock’s classic, I Put Your Picture Away. The headlining act came from local up-and-coming artist, Scotty James. James used to serenade people at their front door to pay the bills, but now he’s ascending Canada’s Billboard Charts with his hit single Wanna Be Loved. At the silent auction, stu dents could bid on such items as perfume, watches, stuffed animals, pillows, a signed Kitchener Rangers jersey and all the Tim Hortons’ mer chandise you could ever imag ine. A raffle draw for Ranger tickets also raised money and a spontaneous flash mob per formed by the students enter tained the audience in the Sanctuary. Recreation and leisure serv ices students kept the Christmas spirit going throughout December. Events such as Gowns for Grads, Bowling for Dollars and The Amazing Race @ Conestoga all strove to help less fortunate individuals in the community during the Christmas season.
PHOTO BY RYAN HORNE
First-year recreation and leisure services students dance in a flash mob at their open mic fundraiser (above) on Dec. 1 while local up-and-coming musician, Scotty Jam es (below), performed in the Sanctuary for the Open Mic for Andy's Fight fundraiser.
Conestoga College shows off new wing By VANDA DOBRITOIU
The Health and Life Science Centre, also known as the Fwing, had its open house cer emony on Nov. 29. The three-floor addition at the Doon campus is over 70,000 square feet and worth $19.6 million. Students, friends and family were invit ed to visit the campus and see the hard work that’s gone into the facility. There are approximately 3,400 students enrolled full time in 27 programs and 200 full tim e faculty and staff. T h e F -w in g h o u s e s p r o gra m s th a t sim u la te p rosional practice and that are interactive, connected and complex. The equipment there is easy to use and not costly to oper ate.
The centre is designed with three types of space for the students: spaces for student and faculty engagement and gatherings, group rooms and classrooms for active learn ing, as well as real-life learn ing environments.
I love it. It’s like our own campus. - Matt Nusselder
I lo v e it ," s a id M a t t Nusselder, a first-year nurs ing student. “It’s like our own campus. It’s all modern and feels like a university set ting.” Aside from the spacious and
learning-friendly classrooms, the new F-wing comes equipped with a study/lounge area where students can spend some quiet time Almost all the classrooms are video-adapted, as many of the lectures and examples shown are in video-format. The practice classrooms are furnished with real-life hos pital equipment such as rolling beds, high-tech dum mies and heart-pressure monitors. “So far, so good,” said Kim Myre, program assistant. "I see a lot of interaction; the s t u d e n t s a r e m a k i n g u se of t h e o p e n s p a c e . “It’s not just nursing stu dents, but also paramedics and respiratory therapy stu dents as well, people they might be working with down the road,” she said.
PHOTO BY VANDA DOBRKTOIU
Conestoga College first-year nursing students spend their time in the F-wing’s lounge area, studying for finals.
NEWS
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Monday, January 9 , 2012
Let’s get networking By TORIE ROTH
Do you have a special time within your program to net work? The business pro grams do. “Networking is one of the most important skills that people can have today in any career, but particularly in the business arena, it is important for people to know how to effectively communi cate,” said Barbara Fennessy, chair, School of Business and Hospitality. On Nov. 29, the Experience Entrepreneurship program hosted an event called Let’s Get Networking in the Sanctuary at Conestoga College. It is the third of six events. Experience Entrepreneurship is a new, free co-curricular program that is designed
LIFTING SPIRITS in
to enable students from across all disciplines to develop entrepreneurial characteristics and skills and to learn about processes involved in starting a small business. “People from the community who believe in young people and their potential to join businesses, now have the opportunity to meet with them,” said Carly O’Brien, principal and lead achieve ment advocate at The Achievement Centre. “The key for meeting people in business is making yourself to be mem orable in a positive way.” Seventy students are par ticipating in the program and so far there are 58 men tors registered. The program is still looking for about five more mentors. Some mentors agreed to be
W a t e r l o o r e g io n
matched up with more than one student. “The students choose what type of business they are interested in and are then matched up with a mentor that is in that area of busi ness,” said Michelle Clarke, a second-year general business student. If the mentor the student is matched with could not make it to the event, they still get to meet them at another time. “We ask that mentors spend a minimum of 10 hours with their mentees over the next three months,” said Fennessy “This can range from coffee meetings to tours of their business.” Students who don’t know what they want to do in the business world still came to the event.
“I’m interested in meeting people,” said Marcey Moore, a second-year general busi ness student. “I’m not exact ly sure what I want to do, but I think if I meet people, I will get some ideas.” Students such as Moore say they would like to be matched up with anyone in any business. “Mentors take an evening out of their personal lives and they wouldn’t do this if they didn’t feel strongly about it,” said Julie Gibson, academic administration, School of Business and Hospitality. “We’ve worked on co-ordinating this pro gram of events since September.” The final event, which takes place at the very end of the year, is called Let’s Venture, which is a pitch
TOYS AND CLOTHES f o r
competition that will involve prizes, including a hot air balloon ride with an entre preneur. The theme for this program is Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude. “We wanted something colourful that represents that reach for the sky theme,” said Fennessy. “The hot air balloon is an extreme activity that students would like and a neat way to pro mote entrepreneurship because it’s exciting, just like those kinds of activities are.” Conestoga Students Inc. contributed $5,000 toward the program. A few of the other contributors are: the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the Alumni Association of Conestoga and the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.
t h e s a l v a t io n a r m y
PHOTO BY JAKE ROBINSON
The Kinsmen and Kinette Club of Preston spent $4,000 on toys and clothes for the Salvation Arm y to give to families in need on Nov. 30 at Giant Tiger in Cambridge.
PHOTO BY ELISSA DEN HOED
World champion figure skaters Jam ie Sale and David Pelletier per form to The Prayer at The Aud on Dec. 4. Pelletier won this year’s Battle of the Blades with his skating partner, Tessa Bonhomme.
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Monday, January 9 , 2012
A sneak peek at sweet seats Conestoga’s interior decorating students bring life back to old chairs B y ALYSHA MILLER
Conestoga’s second-year interior decorating students are bringing a whole new meaning to the word charity. This is after Leslee Squirrell, a professor in the program, came up with an idea for a project for her stu dents in which they would bring life back to old chairs and then auction them off. From there, the plan unfolded into a creative endeavour involving everything from iron to faux fur, with all pro ceeds from the sale of the fin ished products being donated to the Hospice of Waterloo. ‘We had to take an existing old chair and completely rebuild it,” said Brittany Chabot, one of the students involved in the project, while perched on the ottoman that accompanies her group’s project. “Each one fea tures an element of design ours was pattern, so we used a combination of patterns and textures in ours.”
‘W e’ll be selling tickets closer to the event,” Squirrell told those looking at the chairs, which were displayed in the Ewing at Conestoga’s Doon cam pus on Nov. 29 so they could be professionally photographed and seen by passersby. The event itself — titled Chair-ity Gala 2012 — won’t be until April 3, but planning is already well underway. Program co-ordinator Margie Hedges was present at the photo shoot to provide more information on what’s to come. A silent auction will be held to sell the student-made chairs and a live auction will be held for a chair designed by a famous interior decorator. “Students have designed and refurbished these from basically garbage chairs,” Hedges said. “They’ll contin ue to work on them up until the event,” she added, noting that they have to be profes sional. Brenda Halloran, the mayor of Waterloo, and other high-profile people are sched
MoBros and MoSistas flaunted By DREW LOGAN
Students got their ’stashes appreciated at Conestoga Students Inc.’s “’Stash Bash” - a night of appreciation for all the males - and females who participated in the event. Valid student and photo ID was required to attend the event held Nov. 30 in the Sanctuary. Appetizers were provided and the bar was open. The event was emceed by Dini Dimakos, and fea tured the comedic acts of Trevor Borris and Eddie Della Siepe who have performed at Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club. “All Mo-participants are invited to take part in our judged Mo-contest in order to win some fantastic mo-prizes,” read the event description on the CSI website. Movember was held during November to raise funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer. “This was the first year we’ve ever done this event, and it was a great test trial,” said CSI president Ciara Byrne. There were seven ca te gories which were judged by the audience. They were: | The Lame Mo which was an encouragement award for the moustache on a student that produced a wispy effort.
| The Ultimate Mo was awarded to the student who went to the effort of carving his moustache into something unique. | The “Best Moustache Brother and Sister Combination,” which was awarded to a male/female duo who resembled a historic famous couple. | Best Mo Team | Best Mo in Character. | Miss Movember - award ed to CSI graphic designer Kelsi Wilson. | Man of M ovember awarded to second-year woodworking student Frank Lupo. Miss Movember and Man of Movember were given to the two people who did the best job of hyping the event, showing team spirit and promoting it at the school for the entire month. All category winners won $25. Miss Movember was awarded $50 and the Man of Movember received $100. The Sanctuary wasn’t packed, but the cheers and noise sure made it seem fullyoccupied, said Byrne. “We’re looking forward to doing this again next year, perhaps during school hours next time to get more stu dents involved,” she said.
Michelle Maikawa (from left), Daniella Bonnell and Brittany Chabot, all second-year interior decorating students, sit on the chair and ottoman they designed. uled to attend. “A lot of teamwork and hours have gone into them,” said Daniella Bonnell, anoth er second-year interior deco rating student. Each of the 33 students in the program was put into groups of three or more to produce a total of 15 chairs — some in sets of two, some including ottomans, all doubling as artwork as well as furniture.
PHOTOS BY ALYSHA MILLER
Students, faculty and staff at Conestoga College’s Doon campus were given a preview of chairs that were refurbished by interior decorating students and will be auctioned off at a ‘Chair-ity’ fundraiser in April.
Celebrate Family Day I appreciate my dad and all he’s done Before passing away in 2007, Dr. Paul Pearshall said, “Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the sur vival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted.” On Feb. 20, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan will be celebrating Family Day. The holiday is on a Monday with both schools and most businesses being closed. The main purpose of the holiday is to enable people to spend more time with their fami lies. Another reason for introducing this day was that there is no holiday between New Year’s Day and Good Friday, a span of over 100 days. The holiday has been cele brated in Alberta since 1990 but more recently introduced to Ontario citizens in 2008. As a teenager, I think of this as a great opportunity to hang out with the family for another day and not have to worry about anything else. It’s a day to embrace how hard everyone works. In my case, it’s a day to remember the great impact my father has had on my life
Jeff Bomben Opinion
and understand how much he’s done for me in my life. My father had to overcome losing his wife while having two young children. He has been a leader from day one and has never let us down My dad challenges us to embrace the tragic death of my mother and take some thing from it.
I challenge the staff, faculty and students of Conestoga College to embrace the holiday and try to take something from it. He works a lot and the days can be extremely stress ful but the key is that he comes home and always has a smile on his face. We know she is still with
us and I can only be hon oured that she has left this incredible person that I am super lucky to call my dad. Family Day can be kind of tricky. It’s a day where most people just want to do as much as possible to be ready for the upcoming week, but we always fail to see the big picture behind the holiday. The government has given one day to be with our par ents or children. Just hang out with them, go out and enjoy yourselves. It might be as simple as watching a movie or going on a day trip. Set up Family Day tradi tions making them fun and worthwhile. Being thankful is another huge aspect of Family Day. Everyone comes from a dif ferent background and has a different story. Some people are rich, some people are poor but no matter what the situation is, people work extremely hard. During the next Family Day, I challenge the staff, faculty and students of Conestoga College to embrace the holiday and try to take something from it. Embrace that person who is near and dear to you, and be thankful.
COMMENTARY
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Monday, January 9 , 2012
Au revoir 2011 By ERIC MCKENZIE
The year of 2011, like its predecessors, was a year filled with calamity and diversion. Students were too busy to notice in March when earthquakes in Japan gave us a worldwide shudder, killing 15,828 people. The Arab Spring movement, which saw revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia and a Libyan civil war which ended with the capture and death of Muammar Gadaffi, only became viral in North America when news that the Internet had been censored or banned reached our online discussion boards. Most Canadians were watching or talking about the royal wedding in April, according to the top Google searches of 2011. With many Canadians living below the poverty line what makes us so obsessed with an affluent ceremony for a family we don’t even know? We only nodded our approval for a brief second after Osama Bin Laden was killed and thrown off a boat. There was a larger and more profound impact on young Canadians after they found out former leader of the New Democratic Party Jack Layton, and then tech nological guru Steve Jobs died. Many felt as if their flocks had lost their way in 2011, losing brave and competent shepherds. Some could not take the injustices they saw and attached themselves to the international occupy movements across the planet. Occupy Wall Street, a diverse collective of activists camped in New York City’s financial district, spawned numerous other public tent cities, many even becoming violent. “Occupy the world” was short-lived but the emergence of public upheaval in 2011 shows that it will be remembered as an important origin point when the movement likely resurfaces. When it came to the election, where were we? Not at the polling booths. Studies showed Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 had a voter turnout of about 37 per cent in the 2011 federal election. Maybe it’s because young voters were too busy search ing for Rebecca Black’s Friday on YouTube, which got almost 10 million views this year. Whether you were talking about how awful her song was or how amazing it was, you were talking about it. Black and her wealthy parents are the physical embodi ment of the popular culture craze and how in 2011 money rules all. In retrospect 2011 was a year in which we should have chosen action but instead we chose distraction.
The views herein represent the position of the newspa per, not necessarily the author.
Letters are welcome Spoke welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be signed and include the name and telephone number of the writer. Writers will be contact ed for verification. No unsigned letters will be published. Letters should be no longer
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With the rocky 2011 economy, Santa found business at the mail extra busy. He's hoping for a quieter 2012.
Create new habits and achieve your resolution If you really want to change you’ll have to work at it As we enter 2012, more than half of the population has made a promise to them selves: to succeed in their New Year’s resolution. According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology, about 50 per cent of people make these commitments each year. The top resolutions include quitting smoking, weight loss, increased exercise, bet ter money management and to get out of debt. Although almost everyone starts out with good inten tions and a clear view of the goal they’d like to achieve, the vast majority falls short of their target. Resolutions are a form of “cultural procrastination,” as termed by Timothy Pychyl, a professor of psychology at
Carleton University. In other words, people are using the new year as a way to motivate themselves into reinvention. A date on the calendar is not going to moti vate you to go to the gym at 6 a.m. every morning - you have to want it, and you have to work hard to achieve your goal. The challenge is not only being specific in choosing your resolution, but planning it out. Being unrealistic can not only cause you to fail, but
it can be damaging to your self-esteem. People may think that if they lose 10 pounds or pay off their loans their entire life will change. When it doesn’t, it can lead to discouragement and cause them to fall back to old habits. If you’re not ready to change your bad habits to make room for new ones, your unrealistic goals and expectations are going to fail - another year, another unmet resolution. If you’re serious about your resolution, you have to focus on new behaviours and use them as stepping stones. Ultimately, don’t take your self too seriously. After all, there’s always another new year.
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Monday, January 9 , 2012
NEWS
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Conestoga offers free training in trades By VANDA DOBRITOIU
Conestoga College is offer ing 24 lucky students inter ested in trades a free educa tion. Funded by the Government of Ontario, the college is accepting applications for their two new pre-appren ticeship programs: pre apprenticeship general machinist and pre-appren ticeship commercial vehicle and equipment technician. The pre - apprenticeship general machinist program, offered at the Doon campus, will give students a peek into
trades such as general machinist, machine tool builder integrator, toolmak er and tool and die maker. The program runs full time for 32 days and it has eight weeks of work placement experience integrated in the course. The second program, pre apprenticeship commercial vehicle and equipment tech nician, which will be held at the Guelph campus, also runs for 32 days and has eight weeks of work experi ence integrated. This pro gram will train its students for trades such as heavy
duty equipment, truck and coach, power lift truck and farm equipment technician. “I think it’s a good idea,” said Alejandro Romero, a second-year architectural construction engineering technologies student. “The people that like these trades have a great opportunity ahead of them, especially if they come from low-income families.” For more information, con tact Kristen Goetz at 519748-5220, ext. 5484 (Doon) or 519-824-9390, ext. 5484 (Guelph), or email Goetz at kgoetz@conestogac.on.ca
Here’s the simple secret to your pursuit of happiness H int: It involves the little things Spread a little joy and make someone smile today. It seems like a pretty easy thing to do, but it’s amazing how many people forget how it’s the little things in life that can make someone’s day. All of last month’s Christmas commercials and messages were overflowing with cheer and happiness. However, it shouldn’t be just for the holidays. Every day should be Christmas. There should always be moments that make you feel excited, relaxed and overjoyed. It should be Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and all the days that celebrate someone all the
Mariana Morales Opinion
time. You don’t need a cer tain day to make someone feel special and important. If you open a door for some one or greet someone with a smile, that could very well brighten his day. We’re all strangers but we all know respect when we see it and appreciate it when it’s given to us. We’re so stressed out with school, family, relationships
and jobs, but that shouldn’t take over your life. It’s unhealthy, and sometimes it’s just not worth it. Everyone is focused on what makes their life difficult rather than the small things. Relationships with other people make us happy. When we’re with our friends, we become ourselves. We learn about who we are, our strengths and weaknesses. Gratitude makes us happy too. If we surround ourselves with positive energy, you will be feeling better too. The pursuit of happiness is like a train: it’s a long jour ney to your destination but the many stops can make you smile.
Ski for Life offers gear and lessons Classes held on Jan. 14, Feb. 1 and 22 By KENNETH BELLIVEAU
Have you ever wanted to learn how to ski without the hassle of having to buy all the equipment? Ski for Life, a local company specializing in cross-country ski training, is offering you just that. Starting in January they are offering free use of equipment when a lesson is booked. These will cost $30 for adults for a half day and $20 for children under 16.
The lessons are suitable for people between the ages of nine and 90. Ski for Life instructor Dan Mahony said that it is just him and his wife Joan giving their time to the community. “We are just trying to help people learn, the sport. There is a skill set involved. A lot of people are not aware of that, and just end up walking on their skis.” Mahony said it’s usually just learning the fundamen
tals. “It will just be a basic threehour lesson, and then people can go to Laurel Creek and rent skis for $10 and apply the skills we have given them.” The lessons will take place between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and will be on Jan. 14, Feb.l and Feb. 22 at Bechtel Park in Waterloo. For more informa tion you can email Ski for life at skiforlife@execulink.com or phone Dan Mahony at 519842-4652.
SPORTS
Page 8 ♦SPOKE
Monday, January 9 , 2012
Fanelli’s Head Strong needs your vote By ANDREW OMRAN
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Perseverance, determina tion and a single dream is what it took for Ben Fanelli to make his remarkable return to hockey following an on-ice injury that nearly ended his life. In a game in October 2009 at the Aud, a gruesome collision took place that silenced over 6,000 fans when Mike Liambas of the Erie Otters hit Fanelli into the boards, causing him to be knocked unconscious. Fanelli was airlifted to hos pital in Hamilton; he had a fractured skull, a fractured orbital bone and required a breathing tube. The Kitchener Rangers defenceman returned to the ice this season and is also the poster boy for brain injury awareness across the Ontario Hockey League. He is trying to raise money for a cause that has been a big part of his life. “I wanted to figure out a way that I could help other people get the same blessing or opportunity,” he said. “I approached the team with an idea, just something I would do personally, on my own, and they decided that they’d jump on board and help me out with it and now it’s turned into something great.” A foundation called Head Strong is what Fanelli, along with the assistance of Rangers’ management, came up with to spread awareness about brain injuries. Head Strong has been entered in the Aviva Community Fund challenge, in an effort to receive $35,000 from the bursary program but in order to receive the fund ing, Head Strong must receive enough votes to move forward to the final round of
judging so Fanelli is urging people to vote. “It’s really important to me and it’s important to a lot of people in the Brain Injury Association of Canada because that’s where the pro gram’s run through and hope fully we can win it ... there’s 90 other programs we’re com peting with and we’re hoping that we can spread the word and get lots of people voting.”
I don’t want anything extra for what happened to me; I want to be treated just like everyone else out here trying to play pro hockey, and that’s the end goal and it will be for the rest of my career. - Ben Fanelli Teammate Ryan Murphy and former teammate Gabriel Landeskog, who has now been drafted into the National Hockey League, have helped Fanelli train both physically and mentally to come back to where he was before the incident. “Everyone on the team was really supportive through the past years when I haven’t been playing but I guess those two guys were a little bit clos er than the other guys,” said Fanelli. “We got even closer the past two years,” he said. “Supporting me with training and just keeping me happy with me not playing hockey, which was pretty tough at times, so they were always there to help me out and help me with Head Strong which
was even better.” Fanelli hasn’t overlooked the support of the fans as he received countless letters from people who were praying for his recovery. “I think if that support was n’t there, I wouldn’t have returned to play so if I could go back and thank every fan out there, everyone that sent me letters, everyone that sup ported me, I would thank them individually. It’s unbe lievable.” But it was his No. 1 fan who was with him from the begin ning and to whom taking care of the 18-year-old was noth ing new; his mother. “I can’t figure out how she managed to find the happy medium between hating the sport of hockey and finding a way for me to play hockey again. For her to support me, it’s unbelievable, and I love her so much for it. It’s crazy. Now she’s at all the games so it’s even better,” he said. The extraordinary come back has been compared to that of Lance Armstrong but you won’t hear Fanelli com paring the two. “I am absolutely honoured because that’s my utmost idol ... and that’s who inspired me. That’s who I looked at for inspiration during my come back and that’s an honour but I think his is miles ahead of mine, I mean he went through something, I believe, a lot more drastic than I did; a disease not many people can overcome the way he did.” Whatever the future holds for Fanelli, may it be in pro fessional hockey or not, he just wants to be treated like every other player. “I don’t want anything extra for what happened to me; I want to be treated just like everyone else out here trying
to play pro hockey, and that’s the end goal and it will be for the rest of my career.” Headshots have been a huge part of hockey recently and the issue has sparked a major debate. Given Fanelli’s experi ence, he has an opinion but has no intention of lobbying for any rule changes. “There’s more focus on headshots now in hockey and main ly, the most important part to me is how we deal with them and making sure kids are get ting the right attention and doing the proper things to make sure they heal 100 per
cent. I guess right there, that’s the thing ... taking care of the head injuries,” he said. When it comes to the future of Head Strong, Fanelli believes it is bright. “It’s really taken off in the past year and people are sup porting it more and more and it’s unbelievable to see. I’m hoping it continues to and I’m thinking it will due to the fact that brain injuries are also starting to get a little more attention because of sport and because of all the things we still have to learn about the brain.”
PHOTOS BY ANDREW OMRAN
Ben Fanelli, of the Kitchener Rangers, was seriously injured in a game on October 2009. He returned to action this season.
Assistant coach Paul Fixter (left to right) is shown alongside Ranger players Ben Fanelli and Ryan Murphy at the Aud in Kitchener on Dec. 1.