January 8, 2014

Special EMPLOYMENT Edition!

The Omega Thompson Rivers University’s Independent Student Newspaper

News

Editorial & Opinion

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Pages 3, 9

Volume 23, Issue 14 January 8, 2014

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Life & Community Pages 5, 8

Arts & Entertainment

Sports

Page 7

Page 11

Labour markets, Co-ops and internships, unusual paths to careers, relationships between schools and industries...

...and more!

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News

January 8, 2014

Understanding the labour market:

Where are the jobs and how do you get them?

Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor

Today’s youth: “generation screwed,” “generation jobless” said the CBC. “The new underclass” said Maclean’s.

In July 2013, Statistics Canada reported that between 2008 and 2009, the unemployment rate among 15-to-24 year olds increased from 11.6 per cent to 15.2 per cent, and it hasn’t changed since.

Although youth today continue to be labeled as overeducated and underemployed, statistics showing the peak youth unemployment rate during the most recent downturn was lower than relative peaks during the last two recessions – 17.2 per cent in the 1990s and 19.2 per cent in the 1980s, StatsCan reported.

However, there is no doubt that the labour market has changed significantly, and youth today face a very different transition into the workforce than the previous generation.

“The labour market has never gone through as significant changes as it’s going through now,” said TRU student employment co-ordinator Susan Forseille.

“When I say significant changes I mean you look at technology, you look at the global economy, you look at what career development looks like now versus five years ago.”

“Our youth are really struggling to find work,” she said. “That’s students with and without postsecondary education.”

The average student will have seven to ten career shifts before they are 38, and Forseille said one of the career education department’s goals is to help students understand what those career shifts will look like.

They want students to be able to interpret the labour market changes and be able to act on them.

Forseille wrote her master’s thesis on the variables that inf luence the transition between post-secondary and the labour market – an analysis of a TRU student who found meaningful work right after graduation and one that didn’t. She measured around 50 different variables, none of which were a surprise, she said.

“If they understand the labour market, who is hiring what they’re hiring for, if they have professional resumes, cover letters, career portfolios and if they have confidence they set a really exceptional foundation,” she said.

Forseille is also part of a national committee that is lobbying the federal government to implement a youth employment action plan.

“There’s no massive study that is looking at this,” Forseille said.

“They look at employment rates and wages but they’re not looking at what kind of work they’re getting or why they are getting it.”

The Maclean’s 2014 Guide to Jobs in Canada lists Canada’s top 50 jobs, ranked by demand and recent salary growth.

The Maclean’s 2014 Guide to Jobs in Canada named oil and gas drilling supervisor as the number one job in Canada, ranked job by demand and recent salary growth. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)

At the top is oil and gas drilling supervisor – StatsCan has reported that declines in wages and full-time employment rates in the last 30 years are “less pronounced in oil-producing provinces.”

Number two on the list is head nurse and health care manager and number three is petroleum engineer.

Lawyer lands at number six, registered nurse at number

16 and electrician at 31. Jobs earning less than $60,000 a year aren’t included on the list.

The Guide also lists the ten fastest-growing occupations from 2011 to 2020, saying the “occupations with the fasted projected average annual employment growth are in the oil and gas sector and health care.”

Career education teaches students to target between

five and ten companies that they would like to work for, invest their research in those companies, identify the key decision makers, ask questions and then submit a resume.

“They will have much more luck with that than sending a resume to a hundred different people with no understanding and a thousand other resumes coming their way,” said Forseille.

No experience, no job.

No job, no experience.

All it takes to get fired is a single tweet

Jessica Klymchuk

The Ryersonian (Ryerson)

Ω News Editor Imagine your surprise when, after you graduate, you realize that your degree won’t necessarily get you a job.

Experiential learning and the ability to analyze the job market are becoming more and more important for finding meaningful work, even with a postsecondary education.

A report released by CIBC in June 2013 said, “while more education is positive, increasingly, students are completing their education without any work experience and are more likely to be caught in the no job–no experience, and no experience–no job cycle.”

The author of the report, CIBC’s chief economist Benjamin Tal, told the Canadian Press that the transition from school to the workforce is a major problem for youth and “policy makers need to create options in which education and work-related training are combined.” His report says “statistics show that youth who gain work experience and receive on the job training while studying are much more

Sarah Warne

likely to find suitable and sustainable employment.”

Opportunities like TRU’s co-op program, which is regulated by the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education, connects students to the labour market before they graduate,

definitely not the case now.”

Co-op runs in science, arts, business, computer science, tourism and the bachelor of interdisciplinary studies.

With four co-op coordinators, Forseille said career education is a “very small” department but she would like to see co-op grow to run in every program.

In November the Globe and Mail released the 2014 Canadian University Report, saying students at TRU “complain of few internship and coop opportunities in some programs.”

“In a way that hurt, because what more can we do with the resources that we have?” Forseille said.

The department is currently going through an evaluation to identify its strengths and weaknesses, —Susan Forseille a process Forseille described as “invasive.”

TRU student employment coordinator But the end results will provide a clear path for the expansion of the coop program into areas providing experience in their chosen such as animal health technology, field and analytic reflection of their journalism and the master of business skills and how to leverage them. administration, programs which have “If you get the education, it used to currently shown an interest in offering be that work would follow relatively co-op to their students. easily,” said TRU student employment See EXPERIENTIAL Pg. coordinator Susan Forseille, “and that’s

“

If you get the education, it used to be that work would follow relatively easily, and that’s definitely not the case now.”

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TORONTO (CUP) — “Rick Nash is getting married at the resort and apparently it’s a big deal.”

That was the relatively harmless tweet made by Syra Dhaliwal back in July, 2013, about Canadian hockey player Rick Nash. The tweet ultimately led to her termination at the Rousseau, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Muskoka.

The former Wilfrid Laurier University political science student’s shift began at 6:30 a.m. By about 2 p.m. she was called into her boss’s office. According to her employers, her earlier tweet was a “massive security breach.” Dhaliwal was eventually let go. They fired her only two days before her three-month probation period ended.

“I had had three days off work prior to this particular shift, so I guess I didn’t get the memo that we couldn’t post anything about it on social media,” says Dhaliwal. “I was working that day and on my way to work someone told me that (Nash) was getting married at the resort, so I tweeted.”

Dhaliwal claims her Twitter account was “protected,” but her bosses still managed to find her tweet.

Nowadays, many young adults are ruining their reputation and potential employment opportunities because they fail to maintain a professional identity online.

Perhaps deep in your Facebook history there’s a picture of you dancing on tabletops, or a filthy status update. Either way, when an employer doubts that you’re the best candidate for a job, you’re out of the running.

According to Hamza Khan, Ryerson University’s digital community facilitator, one in three employers will reject candidates based on something they find out about them online.

“Ninety-three per cent of employers in North America looked for candidates via social media, or at least scanned them once they entered the application process,” says Khan.

More than ever, people use social media on a daily basis. They post everything from their political views to pictures of themselves out at the club on Friday night with a bottle of vodka. You can chat with friends, find long lost family members, or maybe even find your long lost high school crush. This generation of students, however, doesn’t know where to draw the line with what they share on social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In an age where everything is digital, if you think that when you apply for a job your prospective employer isn’t going to look you up on the Internet, you’re mistaken.

They will.

See PROTECTING Pg.

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The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 14

The Omega www.truomega.ca

January 8, 2014 Volume 23, Issue 14

Published since November 27, 1991

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There’s no right way to get through school and into a career

Mike Davies

editor@truomega.ca

250-828-5069

@PaperguyDavies NEWS EDITOR

Jessica Klymchuk news@truomega.ca @jjklym

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Courtney Dickson arts@truomega.ca @dicksoncourtney SPORTS EDITOR

Adam Williams

ROVING EDITOR

Karla Karcioglu

roving@truomega.ca @0_kmk_0 SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR

Mark Hendricks

sci-tech@truomega.ca @MarkHendicks5 COPY/WEB EDITOR

Sean Brady

copy@truomega.ca @iamseanbrady

omegacontributors

publishingboard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF * Mike Davies INDUSTRY REP* Sylvie Paillard FACULTY REP* Charles Hays STUDENT REP* Travis Persaud STUDENT REP* Hugo Yuen STUDENT REP* Adam Williams

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Head on a swivel

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

sports@truomega.ca @AdamWilliams87

Editorial & Opinion

Editor’s Note Mike Davies Ω Editor-in-Chief It seems not many of the articles you read these days in papers or magazines (or, more likely, the Internet) about the job market have positive information for you, the supposed future workers of our society.

In an attempt to remedy that, I would like to welcome you to the first “special edition” of the 2013-14 school year, which will hopefully be something a little more upbeat for those overwhelmed with the negativity of “post-secondary students are wasting their time and money,” articles.

In this edition of The Omega, we look at some people who have made it through the grind that is university (the very same one you’re attending, in fact) and joined the workforce in various capacities. We check on the

relationship between institutions and the job market and we look at the interesting (and sometimes unconventional) routes people take and how you can keep your eyes open for these paths to open up for you, as well.

I’ll lead by example here: I started my post-secondary career in fine arts. Some skill with a pencil and a paintbrush led me to believe (falsely, it turned out) that I had a future in design or some such artistic endeavor.

I could say that my “some skill” wasn’t going to cut it, but I think my “failure” in that program had to do more with finding in my exploration of the world of art that I had more affinity for the history rather than the production of new works — and there just weren’t enough of those courses on offer.

So I moved over to the arts faculty to study some more aspects of the history of this world.

While there, I realized that (with practice) I could use my now-ingrained artistic skills and knowledge in the crafting of sentences to explain the histories I was studying, and slowly gravitated to the English and modern languages faculty to explore that avenue more fully.

While I was expanding my love for and gaining proficiency in the craft of the written word, I saw a posting for a job as a sports writer/editor for the campus newspaper. I’d always loved

sports, and now I loved writing, so this seemed like a good fit.

I got that position and soon found that I loved sharing people’s stories for them — moving outside the world of sports to explore other facets of the world around me and connecting the people in that world.

And now I’m about to graduate with two degrees and go out into the world of journalism to continue sharing people’s stories, tightening bonds between people and their communities and keeping people informed so they can make knowledgeable decisions to better themselves and those societies.

In the world of contact sports, that might be referred to as “keeping your head on a swivel.”

I didn’t allow myself to get tunnel vision and was willing to pursue other avenues on my journey through school. Had I remained in fine arts and gone on to a career in that field, I may not have found the passion I have for my community, the love of telling stories or met any of the wonderful people I now know because of my work in journalism.

I also have a feeling I would have been deeply disappointed with my choice — and probably unsuccessful in my field.

Not everyone picks a career and goes off to school for four years and makes it happen. Not everyone should do that, as it

could very well keep you from seeing what you really love when it’s slightly off to one side of you as you move forward in life.

There are a whole lot of us (see other examples in this edition) who didn’t take the straight path through a program, and I for one wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I have a much broader set of skills because of it and I appreciate finding my road forward more than I might have otherwise because it was a winding and branching one.

(I’m also way better at yelling at Jeopardy when it’s on television and having random facts at my immediate disposal than I otherwise would have been.)

I should also mention that it took me more than a dozen years to complete this process, because, as you likely know, education is expensive, and I had to take courses at a rate I could afford and take a few breaks altogether to replenish the bank account.

So the long and short of it is this: don’t consider it a failure to change directions as you go along. It doesn’t do anyone any good to have a bunch of graduates out there with degrees in things they don’t have a passion for.

There’s no wrong way to find your career. It’s more important to find one you love than it is to find one quickly. editor@truomega.ca

letterspolicy

Literary and visual submissions are welcomed. All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality. The Omega will attempt to publish each letter received, barring time and space constraints. The editor will take care not to change the intention or tone of submissions, but will not publish material deemed to exhibit sexism, racism or homophobia. Letters for publication must include the writer’s name (for publication) and contact details (not for publication). The Omega reserves the right not to publish any letter or submitted material. Opinions expressed in any section with an “Opinion” label do not represent those of The Omega, the Cariboo Student Newspaper Society, its Board of Directors or its staff. Opinions belong only to those who have signed them.

Some people make our health their business, and we should be more grateful

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All material in this publication is copyright The Omega and may not be reproduced without the

Cariboo Student Newspaper Society (Publisher of The Omega) TRU Campus House #4 900 McGill Rd, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 0C8 Phone: 250-372-1272 E-mail: editor@truomega.ca Ad Enquiries: accounts@truomega.ca

(Correspondence not intended for publication should be labelled as such.)

Wellness Matters

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Courtney Dickson Ω Wellness Columnist

Twitter:

There are some professionals in our lives that don’t get thanked often enough. They keep us fed when we can’t do it ourselves, they give us a shoulder to cry on, they help us fight all sorts of battles and they clean up after our messes.

@TRU_Omega “Like” us on

Though it sounds like I’m describing mothers (who we should also be grateful for), I’m talking about health and wellness professionals.

From nurses to oral surgeons, to counsellors and yoga instructors, these people have made it their business to make sure the rest of the population is able to face the world with healthy bodies and minds.

That is really lovely.

Life is stressful. We all have moments of weakness, be that something as simple as a cold or something as serious as an emotional breakdown that lands a person in the hospital.

Either way, there is someone there to help pick up the pieces. While it may be rewarding to know you are helping others in such an important way, it must also be exhausting at times, as no one wants to see fellow humans in trouble. They take our sorrows to heart, and they do all they can to make it all okay.

They’re not only employed by their particular organizations,

but also by the public. They are working to make the public happy and healthy, and they do work.

Some pull shifts the rest of us couldn’t dream of while others are running multiple classes on opposite ends of town. It’s insane what these people go through to make the lives of others more convenient and enriched.

It’s not only important to recognize those already in the field, but also to those who aspire to take care of the rest of us one day. To those who are working to become a medical or wellness professional: thank you.

We have a large nursing program at TRU full of people who want to help others for a living. While it may sound like just another job, really, it’s a huge burden to bear, and it’s something we should be grateful for.

Prior to my discovery of my passion for journalism, I was interested in the world of health and wellness. I pursued that for one whole semester before I

realized that that field was not for me.

Taking another’s health (basically their life) into your hands is a huge responsibility.

Unlike other programs, people studying health have to retain what they learn throughout their career, they can’t just forget everything post-exam (not that I would ever do that).

Not only do they spend their time making bosses and supervisors happy, they also have to answer to the public, and any of us who have worked with the public know that can be trying at the best of times.

While it was something I chose not to pursue, I applaud and admire those who have stuck it out.

Next time you’re at the walk-in clinic, waiting for three hours to see a doctor who might just send you to a specialist out of town anyways, just remember what they are providing for the people in that community: well-being. arts@truomega.ca

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Seriously.

Aspiring writers! Follow us on Twitter and watch it for an upcoming announcement about a writing contest!

Science & Technology

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January 8, 2014

Particles and professionals

TRU student and CERN intern considers how she’ll enter the workforce Mark Hendricks Ω Science & Tech Editor Gaining employment in the sciences can be difficult. Without going back for further education after getting a bachelor’s degree, the employment options can seem very limited. However, there are still many interesting jobs available to students after and even during education.

Natascha Hedrich is a 22-year-old physics and math double major who is currently in her final year of studies.

During the summer of 2013, Hedrich interned at CERN, which straddles the border of France and Switzerland.

“CERN is the European center for particle physics research,” Hedrich said. “It’s designed for doing fundamental research in particle physics, looking at the things that make up everything around us.”

CERN is one of the most advanced research facilities in the world. It uses the Large Hadron

Collider to accelerate particles to near the speed of light.

“They smash these particles together and see what new particles come out of there,” Hedrich said.

“You’re dealing with such high energy levels that you’re getting close to the big bang.”

Hedrich’s internship was as much educational as it was hands-on research.

make. It’s really amazing when you see these people that you read about in textbooks walking around the halls,” Hedrich said. “I’d highly recommend an internship to anyone, any of them will help you figure out if this is something that you really want to do.”

The internship also helped cement Hedrich’s plan to go for a master’s degree in Europe, both for her own personal growth as well as better job prospects.

“It used to be that people who went through u niversit y, —Natascha Hedrich, that was pretty Now TRU science student and impressive. more people are going through CERN internship recipient university, and that’s fantastic, but it also means more people have The mornings would be spent their bachelor’s, so now they’re attending lectures taught by staff looking for even more,” Hedrich working at CERN on various said. “The actual employees of aspects of particle physics, while CERN, most of them had their the afternoons would be spent master’s or PhDs.” working on their individually Hedrich and her fellow students at assigned projects.

TRU seem to realize the importance “I think the number one benefit of further education after receiving you get is the connections you their bachelor’s degree.

“

I’d highly recomend an internship to anyone,”

This week in science Unemployment may age you, vitamin D in mothers equals stronger children, and a pill to make your brain more receptive?

Mark Hendricks Ω Science & Tech Editor

Unemployment may lead to premature aging in men Researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Oulu in Finland have discovered evidence that could link long-term unemployment with premature aging.

The study examined the telomeres which are found on the ends of DNA. Telomeres are objects at the ends of chromosomes which protect the chromosome from decaying. Telomeres gradually degrade and shorten over a person’s life and short telomeres are linked with age-related diseases.

The study followed a group of 5,620 men and women over a three year period. Taking into account all other societal and biological factors the study found that men who were unemployed for at least two of the

three years were twice as likely to have shortened telomeres.

The study was not able to reach a definitive conclusion on women.

Women seemed less affected by unemployment, but there were also fewer women in the study that were unemployed for at least two of the three years. The researchers say further work is needed before a conclusion can be reached for women.

Find out more: ht t p:// w w w3.impe r ial .a c .u k / news/health

Increasing brain plasticity through a pill When we are young our brains are remarkably moldable. Up until the age of seven our brain is easily able to learn new concepts such as language with relatively little exposure, a task that our older brains find quite difficult.

A mood-stabilizing drug, valprioc acid, can return our brain plasticity to that of a child, enabling us to easily pick up abilities such as absolute pitch.

(Image by Brandon Giesbrecht/Flickr commons)

Researchers at Harvard have discovered that a mood-stabilizing drug, valprioc acid, also changes our brain plasticity to the level of an infant, increasing our ability to easily absorb information.

The study took a group of men who received no musical training as a child and asked them to take a series of music training exercises over a two week period as they took this drug. The end result was absolute pitch, the ability to identify a note simply by hearing it.

“It’s quite remarkable since there are no known reports of adults acquiring absolute pitch,” Takao Hensch, one of the lead researchers on the study, said to NPR during a radio interview.

Find out more: www.npr.org

Stronger babies through vitamin D Researchers at the University of Southampton have discovered a possible link between strength in children and vitamin D levels in mothers through pregnancy.

The study, which was published in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, followed 678 mothers during pregnancy. The mothers who had higher levels of vitamin D had stronger children.

The children were assessed for grip strength at the age of four and the higher the levels of vitamin D the stronger the grip. There was also a smaller relationship between muscle mass and vitamin D although the researchers admit that this aspect needs more study as muscle mass tends to peak in young adulthood.

Find out more: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/ mediacentre/

During the second half of the day Hedrich would be engaged with hands on research work. For Hedrich this was creating computer programs to sort through data.

(Image courtesy Natascha Hedrich)

“I want to go into teaching at the University, doing research and that kind of thing, so in that case it definitely helps to have a master’s or a PhD because it’s so competitive now for those positions,” Hedrich said. “Most of my friends are looking at more education after their bachelor’s.”

Despite this, Hedrich is not

daunted by the prospect of finding employment after her education is finished.

“I think there’s lots of jobs out there, but a lot of people don’t realize it,” Hedrich said. “I also think that people get stuck on just one thing, instead of keeping an open mind to different opportunities.”

Protecting one’s digital identity is becoming increasingly more critical From ONE TWEET, Pg.

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In an age where everything is digital, if you think that when you apply for a job your prospective employer isn’t going to look you up on the Internet, you’re mistaken. They will.

“Personally, I look for pieces of information that help me narrow down who you are as a person,” Khan says.

“It’s very much a stalker culture.

“I’ll see what pops up in the first page of Google results and if you show up in the first page of results, I can tell that you’ve got an active digital identity and you’ve begun to tell a story about yourself.”

Khan promotes the idea of having a “digital identity” and creating a polished and professional personal brand.

Digital identity, Khan explains, is the accumulation of all the things that you’ve done online for however many years you’ve been active on social media.

“It’s all begun to comprise a story about you,” he says. “And you are, as you are in real life, a sum total of your experiences. Digital identity is very much a sum total of what’s being said about you online.”

So your digital identity should be engaging and respectable and showcase your skills to employers.

Unfortunately, many take this to the other extreme and lie about their credentials in hopes that it’s what companies want to hear. Others are simply careless with what they post online. For instance, bad-mouthing your boss or company is an easy way to get rejected or fired.

Helping job-seekers backpedal to safety before they harm their reputations is FireMe!’s job. FireMe! is an app developed by researchers at the University of Hannover in Germany, that automatically flags people’s tweets that mention how awful their job or boss is. The app then sends a reply to notify

the user they may want to reconsider their tweet. The app will also gauge your tweet’s destructive power on what is called a FireMeter!

Ricardo Kawase, the founder of FireMe!, isn’t 100 per cent sure if the app has “actually helped anyone from preventing work-related troubles,” but he does believe it has helped to trigger a surge of digital consciousness and responsibility.

“You should be careful of what you post,” says Kawase. “Everyone sometimes attends a party, has embarrassing moments caught on camera, and so on. However, it’s not very hard to control what goes publicly online.”

As for whether it’s fair for employers to search out their applicants on social media, Kawase believes that’s within their rights.

“No boss would like to find out that one of his employees ‘truly hates his job’ or wants to ‘kill him.’ It’s bad for the boss, and especially for the company’s image, and consequently, its business.”

Still, others would rather not have to maintain a professional identity online.

Mike Gualtieri, a fifth-year marketing student at Ryerson University, believes that some profiles are personal and shouldn’t interfere with his work life.

“What you post on Facebook shouldn’t matter,” says Gualtieri. “If you’re a hard worker and never bring in personal problems to work then an employer has no right to say anything, or even look at what you do.”

Regardless of whether you’re for or against employers stalking your personal life, it isn’t going to stop. Social media will only continue to grow, and become more all-encompassing and easy to use.

“In terms of where the future of social networking lies, the numbers of usage are only going to increase,” says Khan. “We’re going to find more and more ways to integrate (social media) into our lives.”

The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 14

Life & Community

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Industry stakeholders influence trade program design Designing programs that suit employers sets apprentices up for success Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor With six-figure salaries and spots open, industry stakeholders in trades are taking a leading role to make sure training schools are producing skilled apprentices in programs that meet their needs as well as students’ needs.

“Tradespeople earn upwards of $10,000 more per year than the average Canadian annual salary of $40,000, according to the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum,” Cathy Gulli wrote in the Maclean’s 2014 Guide to Jobs in Canada. But she also says that the “financial incentive is due to the massive shortage of workers in the skilled trades.”

“Within the next decade, Canada will need to fill 319,000 construction jobs, 5,850 in oil and gas, 112,000 in mining and up to 77,150 in automotive.”

So how are schools connecting the students who want work with an industry that is increasingly desperate for skilled labour?

Trades schools like TRU’s need to ensure that the skills students learn in school are in demand and up to industry standards.

“I’m not a believer that the training school like we are should just train for the sake of training,” said TRU dean of trades Lindsay Langill. “We need to be making sure that the students that we attract here know at the end of their time they are going to have a very good possibility of a job because we’ve done our homework.”

Langill said TRU’s school of trades and technology works to maintain relationships with industry and understand its

demands so it’s not setting students up for failure once they leave to enter the workforce.

“What we have to be very sure of in our trades area is that we have industry fully engaged, on-board, participating in the conversations and going ‘yes, we support this,’” Langill said.

In August 2013, TRU launched a pilot program for commercial truck and transport mechanic apprentices that was directly inf luenced by industry stakeholders. The diploma of transportation and motive power front-end loaded program sees students completing their main block of classroom training in the first 61 weeks of school rather than over a period of four years and intermittent work.

The new program was developed after employers found they needed apprentices on the job site when they were required to return to school. Langill said the employers also want to attract students to their company earlier in their training and ensure they will return to the company. All in all, the program solved operational problems the employers were facing with their apprentices, Langill said.

The Transportation Career Development Association and the Industry Training Authority developed the new model. Four employers, BC Transit, Cullen Diesel Power Ltd., Inland Kenworth and Peterbilt Pacific Inc. sponsored 16 students who they hand selected an provided each with $10,000 worth of tools.

“The caveat there that I think makes the difference is we didn’t just accept 16 students into the program that showed up knocking on the door,” Langill said.

Dean of trades Lindsay Langill helped introduce the new front-end loaded program for commercial truck and transport mechanics on Nov. 19. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)

“We suggested to industry that they go out in the areas where they have the need.”

At the announcement of the program on Nov. 19, TRU president Alan Shaver said universities need to be increasingly innovative to meet the needs of employers.

Langill said there shouldn’t be a dedication to traditional models, but rather a dedication to standards as well as student needs

“Let’s not get hung up on the model that everyone has to have,” he said.

TRU recently made the entire training for a parts person available online and worked with industry to design a 20week program for power line technicians that has them in the classroom for 10 weeks and on the job for the last 10 weeks.

Because each of the 53 Red Seal trades take unique styles of training, the front-end loaded

model wouldn’t work for many, as the block-release model wasn’t working for transport mechanics.

Langill said electricians couldn’t be trained properly in a front-end loaded program, while pipe fitters could be trained in a partially front-end loaded program.

“At the end of the day, my message is one size doesn’t fit all,” he said. “Thus, the whole reason I challenge the system.”

Experiential learning becoming more important as gap between school and the workforce grows From EXPERIENCE, Pg.

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Forseille said there is also potential for co-op to expand into diploma programs, as all the current opportunities are in degree programs.

Experience can also come from volunteer work, summer jobs, service learning or internships, but Tal’s report says summer jobs are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, while Forseille says internships are inconsistent and unregulated.

“There is nothing official at TRU with internships,” Forseille said, also noting that they have a less defined role than co-op – sometimes they can be a sixweek job shadow and sometimes they can be one-day-per-week shifts for an entire semester.

They can also be unpaid.

“We’ve taken the stance that we love internships, but we want them paid,” Forseille said.

Meanwhile, she said TRU has representation on both the provincial and national bodies for co-operative education making it “excellently represented” and “a part of the big dialogue.”

Depending on their program, students can do up to four co-op work terms, earning three credits per term. Some programs allow them to earn upper-level credits, others lower-level credits.

Co-op students gain access to exclusive job postings that are often unavailable to students outside the program and earn wages ranging from $14 to $30 per hour.

Although students might enjoy earning money and academic credit simultaneously, the program also aims to offer them significant insight into their skills and career goals.

“When they are in co-op we have a series of activities designed to help enhance what they are

learning,” Forseille said, “so that’s the students setting goals and learning what they want to happen, working with their supervisors to find out what is the scope of learning that can be done.”

Students are required to return to a full-time academic semester after their work term and use their last few classes to solidify their knowledge.

Prior to their work term students take the Co-op 1000 class, a career management class that teaches career development theory, labour market analysis, networking through the career mentoring program and sees them develop a career portfolio. Forseille said they try to take a holistic approach that looks past the status and wages of careers and rather what careers suit each student’s personality and aptitudes.

“We try to teach them to question some of their career beliefs,” she said.

Students enrolled in the co-op program can make between $14 and $30 per hour during their work terms.

( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)

6

January 8, 2014

Advisory MTRUSU E M B EMembership R S H I P A DVIS O RY December 6 Memorial Annual General Meeting th

7:00 PM Wednesday January 29, 2014 Students’ Union Building Open to all members of the TRU Students’ Union

Agenda 1.0)

Call to Order

1.1)

Approval of the Agenda

1.2)

Presentation of the Annual Report

1.3)

Presentation of the 2012-2013 Audited Financial Statements

1.4)

Appointment of the Auditor

1.5)

Presentation of the 2013-2014 Budget

1.6)

Special Resolutions*

1.7)

Adjournment

*Full details available online at trusu.ca

A dvocacy Ser v ic e| Entertainment s | Ent er t ai nment Advocacy|| Services

The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 14

Arts & Entertainment

7

From student to professor

How a former UCC student became a professor at TRU Courtney Dickson Ω Arts & Entertainment Editor When he started university, he didn’t really know what he wanted to be when he grew up. As it turns out, he still doesn’t really know.

Wesley Eccleston is not only one of TRU’s theatre professors, but he’s also a former student of the University College of the Cariboo (UCC) — TRU’s name before it became a university.

Eccleston grew up in Kamloops, where he attended Westsyde Secondary school. The community provided him with the opportunity to get involved with theatre, choir and music from a young age. Eccleston’s family always encouraged him to embrace his love of the arts, as they were also interested in music and theatre. His father, who became a physician, toured as a blues musician during his younger days.

When he started at UCC in 1993, he had no idea what he wanted to do.

He enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts program in general studies.

“I had to effectively flunk out of perfectly good psychology and math classes to find out what I really liked,” he said, “which is arts.”

He completed his undergrad at UCC (which, at the time, was supported by the University of British Columbia) and went on to the University of Alberta to work on his master’s degree in theatre and performing arts.

While he was working on his master’s, he was actively involved in a theatre troupe that he and some friends had started in Kamloops.

They called it 3 Men of Sin Theatre Productions, and started it to create

their own opportunities for theatre in Kamloops. Rather than waiting for something to come to them, they wanted to make it happen for themselves.

3 Men of Sin used cafés and small spaces in the Pavilion Theatre to produce shows in an attempt to put their names out there and gain experience. It must have worked, as they are all working professionals in the performing arts in one way or another right now.

Though he was in Edmonton during most of the year, he was able to work with his friends on this project when during summer months.

When he finished his degree at the U of A, he came back to Kamloops with no real plans of what exactly was next.

An opening came up at UCC, and one of his former instructors encouraged Eccleston to apply to teach an acting class.

While teaching performing arts wasn’t necessarily what Eccleston had in mind as a career path, he said it was meaningful work in his field, and he wasn’t going to pass up that kind of opportunity.

“The provincial government is not pouring money into the arts, so opportunities and jobs are not easy to find in the performing arts,” Eccleston said.

He’s been at TRU/UCC for almost 15 years now. While this isn’t what he had pictured for himself, he has the outlook on teaching that all students hope their instructors will have.

“There’s nothing like getting to know your craft and facilitating the material for someone else to absorb,” he said.

(Photo courtesy Andrew Snucins)

Eccleston does not shy away from acknowledging the role his mentors, David Edwards, the founder of the performing arts program at UCC and the late David Ross or Western Canada Theatre, and instructors, particularly his first drama teacher at Westsyde Secondary, Daryl Chow, played in his success.

“The Davids gave me an incredible amount of opportunities,” he said, “I am indebted to them.”

Eccleston said it’s nice to think that he’s now one of those people coaching young people with a similar passion for the performing arts as his.

“In some small way I get to do what my mentors were doing,” Eccleston said, “Lighting the fire for many young actors. It’s tremendous. It’s a tremendously rewarding responsibility.”

While teaching is, of course, what pays the bills, Eccleston is still very much involved with the theatre scene in Kamloops.

He’s worked on summer projects for BC Living Arts with Alan Corbishley, he also sings in a choir and has worked with Western Canada Theatre and TheatreBC. As if he wasn’t busy

enough, in his spare time, he likes to write songs and scenes for plays, as well as attend as much live theatre as possible.

“You get involved with the arts because you love it and you have to do it. I try not to pass up any opportunity and follow my bliss, wherever that leads,” Eccleston said.

It’s passion like Eccleston’s that inspires young actors to go out and pursue everything and anything they can, which will hopefully one day land them a few jobs, too.

The difficulties of transitioning from university to the working world A former TRU student turns what she loves into her job, even if it takes a lot of hard work Courtney Dickson Ω Arts & Entertainment Editor She always knew she wanted to “make things,” but she didn’t think of that as a viable career until later in high school.

Elizabeth Warner was always an A student who fortunately had the ability to take any direction she wanted.

Though she had her options open, she said art was the obvious option for her, and there was practically no decisionmaking involved.

She began her journey at the University of Calgary, working on her bachelor of fine arts.

She transferred to TRU in 2010 to complete her degree, where she became co-president of the Visual Arts Student Association (VASA).

She was busy. but said it was worth it.

“My social life definitely took a hit, but I was happy,” she said.

Warner graduated just last spring with a medal in fine arts. She was also awarded the curator’s choice exhibition at the Kamloops Art Gallery for her exhibit “Strings,” which was on display over the summer of 2013.

Her educational journey is not over just yet. Warner plans to get her master’s degree eventually.

Right out of university, visual arts professor Donald Lawrence asked her to join his team as a research assistant for his Camera Obscura project, and most recently she landed herself a position at the Kamloops Art Gallery as an instructor and tour guide.

She said that as she moves away from the university world, she’s finding it increasingly difficult to be connected with the arts community and do the things she really wants to do.

She’s had to really put herself out there to find work in visual arts.

“All the time and money I have invested into my degree has

helped me grow as an artist, but it is not the golden ticket into a career in the arts,” she said.

Her area of expertise is a unique one – she makes marionettes.

She sells them custommade over Etsy (a shop called Shuswap Strings) and has taught workshops in making them.

She’s currently working on a exhibition that she said she’d like to see travel outside of Kamloops.

“At this point, art is more of a passion than a career,” she said.

“No matter how hard you work in school, no matter how many awards and opportunities are given to you, you are still going to have to work really hard and make big sacrifices to find a career doing what you love.

“I feel like there’s a certain expectation of me to do great things because I did well in school, but I really just want a job I am happy to go to everyday that supports and nourishes my practice in the visual arts.”

(Photo courtesy Rob Pattie)

Share your success story (or story of struggles that might help others) editor@truomega.ca

8

Life & Community

January 8, 2014

New report disputes grim job prospects for youth Jane Lytvynenko CUP Ontario Bureau Chief

Scott Stokes didn’t even know being a brewmaster was a viable career but now he is employed by one of Canada’s largest brewing companies.

(Photo courtesy Scott Stokes)

Some students make the switch Journey through post-secondary education can help you develop new career interests and insights, leading you in directions you didn’t initially expect to go Karla Karcioglu Ω Roving Editor Thirteen per cent of first-year college students and 10 per cent of first-year university students switched out of their initial program of study, according to a recent study.

The survey consisted of 6,758 first-year college students and 4,839 firstyear university students and was commissioned by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. “ S w i t c h i n g ,” as study authors Ross Finnie and Hanqing Qui call it, includes both switching programs within the original institution and switching to a new institution. In the study, 40.5 per cent of university s t u d e n t s polled made the switch “to change schools or programs” and 28 per cent switched, reasoning that they “didn’t like it” or it was “not for [them].” Switching for financial considerations accounted for 15 per cent of university students polled.

TRU alumni Scott Stokes and Havovie Suraliwalla both changed their educational directions part-

way through their university programs.

Havovie Suraliwalla first began her post-secondary education with the goal to become a nurse, but realized partway through that it wasn’t for her. She then took an aptitude test which suggested event planning as a good career option for her.

She is now enjoying her career as a conference coordinator with Sea Courses Inc., an organization that offers continuing education courses aboard cruise ships to medical professionals.

Stokes went into the science program at TRU with the goal of graduating and applying to medical school. “As my bachelor degree progressed, I was less and less interested in doing [another] four-plus years of school,” Stokes said, adding he was also concerned with the additional financial impact.

Stokes started looking for other employment opportunities with the degree he was completing.

He discovered a co-op work —Canadian Education Project Study placement with the Labatt Brewing Company, a career he didn’t even realize was viable at the time.

Suraliwalla said she didn’t even He has now been employed as realize that event planning was a a brewmaster with Labatt for a real career but once she looked into number of years and enjoys his TRU’s Events and Conventions job.

Diploma she switched into the “I don’t think I would like being program. a doctor,” Stokes said. “If you end While in the program she up somewhere you don’t like, it’s sought out many practical work not good for you and it’s not good experiences in event planning for the people you work with.” to ensure it was the right career “It’s ok to quit and go choice. somewhere else.”

40.5 per cent of respondents

switched, “to change schools or programs...”

28 per cent “didn’t like it,”

or said it’s just “not for [them].”

OTTAWA (CUP) — The notion of today’s youth being the “lost generation” is being challenged by a new report from TD Economics.

Published Oct. 22, the study focused on the skill mismatch and labour shortages in the market over the last 10 years. It found the picture is not as grim as it has been painted.

“The notion of a severe labour market skills mismatch has topped the headlines,” reads the report. “With data in hand, we debunk the notion that Canada is facing an imminent skills crisis. At the same time, there is some evidence of mismatch across certain occupations and provinces, but the sparse, non-time series data prevent us from saying whether the situation today is worse than in years past.

The report looked at three key areas: the Canadian labour market over the past 10 years, whether there’s a skills mismatch and what should be done about it. It honed in on areas where there are commonly perceived skills shortages or surpluses, including the trades and arts degrees.

“Some have been labelling the current youth generation as the lost generation,” said Sonya Gulati, senior economist at the TD Bank Group who co-authored the report. “For us, while we determined the unemployment rate is higher, part of the reason for that is where we are in the economic cycle.”

According to StatsCan, in 2012 the youth unemployment rate was 14.5 per cent compared to 6 per cent for workers aged 25 and up. However, the rate is historically low for those aged 15 to 24 not only in Canada but across the globe.

“Occupations widely thought to be in shortage have recorded considerably lower unemployment rates than their counterparts in the surplus camp,” reads the TD Economics report. “Still, vacancy rates outside of some pockets (e.g., trades) are not significantly higher than the national average. They also have not accelerated over the past few years.”

Gulati explained one of such examples is graduates with arts degrees.

“What we found in terms of the arts degrees is typically people graduated with a lower labour market outcome in terms of salary and it usually takes them a longer time to get a position, but overtime that difference between specific fields begins to narrow,” she said.

The TD Economics report gives a number of recommendations for governments, employers and potential employees. It says job training is not happening at the same rate as it used to be. While the Conservative government’s newly introduced Canada Jobs Grant is a step in the right according to Gulati, more can be done to improve Canada’s job market. “[Employers can] provide incentive to a worker for taking on the job training,” she says. “For instance you may get a tax break if you seek training above and beyond what you already have. You can give employers incentives to make sure the skills workers have are aligned with what the needs of the general labor market are.”

Students need to look for prospects before they enter a field of study to make sure they can get employment after graduation.

Despite prospects not being as bleak as predicted, both Canada and its citizens should take steps to safeguard their employment.

Opinion The constantly cool life of a construction worker

The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 14

9

The Gateway Opinion Editor Darcy Ropchan provides details on his transformation into a blue collar worker Darcy Ropchan The Gateway (U of A) EDMONTON (CUP) — Summer jobs. I shudder at the thought of those two words.

They’re usually terrible, low paying and a colossal waste of a good summer. But you’ve got to pay the bills somehow. The good news is that not all summer jobs are created equal. I recently discovered the joys of working a good old manual labour job and it’s changed my life. In fact, the second I graduate with my degree, I’m buying a pair of steel toed boots and spending the rest of my life as a rugged, chiseled and all around toughguy construction worker.

I used to think I wasn’t cut out for the tough, fast paced life of a construction worker. I used to think that working with your hands was for chumps. Working all day in the hot sun and getting calloused hands was never really my idea of fun — but oh, how wrong I was.

How has being a good oldfashioned blue-collar worker changed me? Well, it didn’t happen right away. My first few days on the job were less than perfect. Until then I had only worked soft, white collar jobs, such as a dishwasher, bus

boy and my favourite job of all: being unemployed. So you could imagine my reaction when my boss was constantly yelling at me to “Push that” or “Lift this.”

I thought it was ridiculous. I mean, what kind of job doesn’t even let you wear a suit?

After a few days on the job, the construction worker way of life began to rub off on me. You could tell by the way I spoke. On a jobsite, it’s quite common to use the word “fuck” as an adjective.

And it’s actually mandatory that you use that word a minimum of three times in each sentence.

“Can you hand me that fuckin’ hammer out that fuckin’ tool box for fuck’s sake?” my boss would ask. He wasn’t even mad at me.

Construction workers are a mysterious breed of people. We don’t express our emotions like others do. You can tell how mad or happy a construction worker is by how many times he uses the F-word in a sentence.

Another amazing aspect of the construction worker lexicon is that we refer to the weather and inanimate objects as “She” and “er.” No one knows how it started but it’s a well-known fact of construction worker mythology that everything on a job site is referred to as a female. “She’s gonna f *kin’ rain boys, let’s get ‘er laid down,” my boss yells

between drags on a cigarette.

You must also refer to everyone as “bud,” regardless of whether or not you’re mad at them. It’s just the f *kin’ way it is, bud.

Chewing tobacco is also another staple of the job site. It’s totally not gross at all. The true measure of manliness is how

Don’t be a jerk at work: Tips on keeping your job Preeteesh Peetabh Singh The Dialog (George Brown College) TORONTO (CUP) — “You are hired!”

Congratulations, you are new on the job and looking to make an impression. That is a great attitude to have but it isn’t enough. If you want to keep that job, keep a few things in mind next time you enter the office.

Conducting yourself in a professional manner is vital.

You might be sent packing in a hurry if you screw up this part.

Daniela Mastragostino, the founder of Nové Image Consulting, recently held a workshop with George Brown students and offered some crucial tips.

Here are some of the most common bloopers at workplace: Image: It has become universally accepted that visual language communicates more powerfully than verbal language. First impressions are often based on how you look.

Don’t expect your boss to accept the tattoo on your neck or a pierced eyebrow without wincing. It’s best to keep them under wraps in a business setting.

Revealing or inappropriate dress is a common blunder which people make.

Deep-cut tops and printed shirts with rude slogans are a big no-no. “It’s amazing how many interviewers have given me this feedback that candidates wear inappropriate clothes which attracts unwanted attention on the clothes and not on the person. It’s a big turn off,” Mastragostino said .

Weak handshakes, poor punctuality and a lack of a business card can make your personality seem timid. It reveals no confidence, no commitment and lack of conviction. Scribbling your name on a napkin is just not done in a professional environment.

Follow the dress code and be aware of what is allowed — it depends from one workplace to another. Casual Friday is not a Halloween party; you are still working dress appropriately.

Build up confidence by making eye contact and offering firm handshakes that are less than three seconds long. Offer your full name instead of your twitter handle and get into the habit of exchanging business cards and not Facebook friend requests.

Behaviour: Unnecessary chatting/texting/surfing on that smart phone, poor eating habits, lack of respect of a co-worker’s personal space, swearing to make yourself heard or getting intimate with a co-worker are

some of the behavioural mistakes which people often commit.

Most phone calls are unnecessary, period. They can be avoided. If you really have to take the call, speak quietly or excuse yourself. Otherwise voicemail should do the trick.

Do not speak with your mouth full while eating and chew discreetly. Other than that, give space and respect to co-workers and interact from a distance.

Don’t be too touchy or pushy.

Conversation: The way you converse with others at office is vital for your credibility. Don’t indulge in taboo topics, gossip and office politics. Bosses like employees who are willing to take initiative and responsibility.

So do not let them guide you everything step by step, in short don’t ask too many foolish questions.

Discussing personal matters, religion or sex is off limits in a workplace. It might end you up in trouble with possible harassment charges. Inappropriate office jokes are not acceptable, think before you speak. Remember that you are at work not with your buddies.

Finally, try to be aware of the working culture around you and adapt to it, taking cues from coworkers around you.

These common etiquettes will take to a long way in the professional world.

many tin cans of chew you can go through in a day. You must also always spit into a clear plastic bottle so everyone can see just how much you’ve chewed.

You get bonus points for leaving the bottle out in the open and in a place where it can be kicked over easily.

The life of a construction worker isn’t for everyone but it’s the only way you can achieve true happiness. The next time you pass by a construction site, slow down and give those brave workers a wave. They’re the cogs that make the great machine of society run smoothly.

Respect your server Adam Vander Zwan The Peak (SFU) BURNABY (CUP) — After working a few years in a restaurant, I’ve become all too accustomed to the short fuses of dining customers. I’ve witnessed and played host to some astounding and unnecessary behaviour from displeased customers who unfairly claim they are being “mistreated” who scrutinize over the most minuscule problems or misunderstand how a restaurant is managed entirely.

Click here for the original article from The Peak Treating restaurant or any other servers like they’re second-class citizens has to change. As is, this treatment reflects our society as being pampered and unsympathetic.

A server’s job is incredibly difficult.

The amount of multitasking and timemanagement it involves, including running back and forth between customers, taking care of payments, and ensuring customer satisfaction is both mentally and physically exhausting.

When customers become angry for insignificant issues, this only adds to the stress that servers are already inundated with.

I am personally disappointed and disturbed by the unnecessary aggression, carelessness and self-centered nature that many restaurant-goers do not hesitate to display. Engulfed in their sense of what good customer service should be, agonizing over food not matching their specific tastes or agonizing over countless other meagre problems with a restaurant, they fail to recognize the weighted stress that servers are under — though they are apparently aware of their

own position that allows them to powertrip over servers.

I once had a customer send back a plate of fish after he accused me of overcooking it. Once, I distinctly remember a customer physically threaten a couple of my co-servers over a simple miscommunication. And, in an extreme case, I once had a young, dissatisfied couple yell obscenities at me before fleeing the restaurant without paying. We had the police on them in no time.

If you have never worked in a restaurant and/or find these reactions justified, then let me enlighten you: servers are the people who serve your food. They typically do not prepare your food, but are the mediator between you and kitchen. We’ve all heard the phrase “don’t shoot the messenger.” Here, this could not apply more.

I am disgusted to recognize how this restaurant-culture behaviour reflects our society. We are, evidently, one that likes to complain for its own sake. We are so used to being pampered that, if even the smallest thing does not go exactly to our liking, we have no problem in vocalizing our distastes through unnecessary aggression. It’s time for customers to lighten up, get over themselves and become a little more understanding.

The next time you go to a restaurant for a meal, treat your servers like people.

Be extra friendly to them, in light of their job being possibly one of the most difficult customer service jobs around.

Think twice before you complain. If you have a problem with what you’ve been given, take your complaint to those actually deserving, such as the cooks or the restaurant manager.

Please, maintain your dignity and don’t be ignorant. Show servers the respect they really deserve.

Coffee Break

2 7 4 6 8 2 4 3 4 1 5 2 1 3 6 6 7 5 1 4 6 5 7 8 9 7 4 6

3 8 5 2 3 6 8 Across

9 1 5 2

Puzzle of the week Puzzle of the week will return shortly with new puzzles to work your mind and train your brain...

We could all use a little edge in that, right?

Plus...there are prizes for answering these, and everyone likes prizes.

I think.

I do.

If you don’t, that’s cool, I guess.

1. Besides 5. Sludge-like 10. Glitch 14. Continue 15. Tic or synthesis starters 16. Corn bread 17. Executive’s preferred exit 20. Ribbon holder 21. It’s used to make chemicals and dyes 22. Palm tree 25. Brand 26. Global finance grp.

29. Small islands 31. Legal claims 35. Content of some barrels 36. Asinine 38. Bright thought 39. Rely on management 43. Bit of physics 44. Red cedar 45. Burro 46. Bubba Gump’s forte 49. Enterprise captain 50. ESPN sportscaster 51. Portuguese navigator 53. Notary stamp 55. Small generator 58. Worker’s demand 62. Give too much compensation 65. Fall setting 66. Alicia Keys hit

67. This is one 68. Bitter end?

69. Shell out cash for 70. Classic street liners Down 1. Baker’s dozen?

2. Historical center of Chicago, with The 3. Chewbacca’s buddy 4. Finish at 5. Fashion’s Taylor 6. Notebook, with top 7. Seize 8. Lots of land 9. Advanced 10. Football, in shape 11. It may be proper 12. Some chips, maybe 13. “How about that!”

18. Draw out 19. Industry big shot 23. Huff and puff 24. Maids of India 26. Specks 27. Jollity 28. A soft mineral 30. Kind of preview 32. Archetype 33. Brusque 34. Flip, in a way 37. “The King” 40. Little bits

41. Cork’s place 42. Turkey city 47. Coquette 48. Poetic syllable arrangements 52. Sharpener 54. Charging weapon 55. Earned 56. Some votes 57. Cousin of a bassoon 59. “___ cost you!”

60. Where Jamal Malik grew up 61. Regards 62. Signature piece?

63. Bed-and-breakfast 64. Guitarist Nugent

R E F S

A T O M

P U R E

B I B L E

A D M I T

D O W S E

J O D O D A S I Y E N

T A N I D F I A R L A R P U P H M E R A R N E S I N H N D G E A A L L S

G A R S O N E T A T M E E A R S P O P A L A S E C E D E E A G L N E S H S E O E N D C A E D O N D O P A

R H E A

U N C O M M O N

S O U L

E D I R R Y E

I N E R T

A L O H A

S E T T A E A G E R R E R G N A H E S

S Y N O D R A T S

LAST ISSUE’S ANSWERS

sudokuhard

2 1 3

“Money Makes The World Go Round”

MYLES MELLOR AND SALLY YORK

sudokueasy

9 1 2

January 8, 2014

crossword

10

A resident in a seaside hotel breakfast room called over the head waiter one morning.

“I want two boiled eggs, one of them so undercooked it’s runny, and the other so over cooked, it’s tough and hard to eat. Also, grilled bacon that has been left on the plate to get cold; burnt toast that crumbles away as soon as you touch it with a knife; butter straight from the deep freeze, so that it’s impossible to spread; and a pot of very weak coffee, lukewarm.”

“That’s a complicated order, sir,” said the bewildered waiter. “It might be quite difficult.”

The guest replied, “Oh, but that’s what you gave me yesterday!”

Got a joke? Got a comic? Send ‘em in and we might run ‘em.

editor@truomega.ca

Sports

The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 14

11

The foundations of a career Pribilsky lands assistant coach position after five-year playing career Adam Williams Ω Sports Editor On Feb. 16, 2013, Kevin Pribilsky played his final CIS basketball game.

At 23, and with five years of experience under his belt — two years at Simon Fraser University and three at Thompson Rivers University — it signalled the end of a distinguished university basketball career for the Victoria native. Pribilsky was named the school’s male athlete of the year and was a nominee for the Cliff Neufeld Leadership Award for his work in the community.

He also had a job waiting for him.

Wolf Pack head coach Scott Clark extended an assistant coaching offer to his former team captain, one that Pribilsky happily accepted. Now at the midway point of his first season at the side of the court rather than on it, he is finding his groove as part of the ’Pack’s staff.

“It’s been fun, it’s been a good experience actually,” Pribilsky said in December. “It’s quite a bit different playing than coaching, right? So it’s a totally new experience.”

Pribilsky admitted it’s sometimes been difficult to be the coach, with much less control over the outcome of a game than he would have had as a player.

But at the same time, he was

ready to try something new when his eligibility came to an end at the conclusion of last season, he wasn’t looking to play overseas and he’d done his time at the university level. He’s enjoyed being able to work as a coach with the Wolf Pack’s players, many of whom are his friends, including his brother Reese, who is in his first year with the team after leaving the University of Victoria Vikes at the conclusion of the 2011-12 season.

Working under Clark has been a good learning experience for Pribilsky as well. He and Clark have history together – it was Clark who coached the young point guard in his first two seasons with the SFU Clan. When Clark left his head coaching position at SFU for the same position at TRU, Pribilsky followed shortly after. He’s now part of a small contingent of the ’Pack with ties to the Clan and Clark, which includes fellow assistant coach Chas Kok and current Wolf Pack forward Tallon Milne.

Clark has had inf luence on Pribilsky, and not only in terms of the coaching style he’s adopted.

“His passion for people, I haven’t seen too many who can match it,” Pribilsky said, citing Clark’s tendency to take personal pride in seeing his players accomplish their goals. “He in it to make you a better person, but does it through basketball.”

Kevin Pribilsky is using the skills he honed in five years of CIS basketball to ease the transition to his new role as an assistant coach with the TRU WolfPack.

(Photo by Andrew Snucins)

And for Reese, having his brother as a part of his new team’s coaching staff has helped ease his transition. A point guard like his older brother, Reese has been able to learn from the advice and guidance of Kevin.

“It’s been awesome,” Reese said. “He’s got a natural feel for coaching, when to say stuff,

when not to say it ... and how to deliver it.”

Pribilsky has managed to find a job, one that could build the foundation of a career, through basketball, though not in the manner he might once have expected. Right now, it’s a way for him to stay involved in the game and cover his tuition costs.

Following this season, who knows what the future may bring.

“I do like the game and I do understand the game quite well, so I think it might be something I’ll look into,” Pribilsky said.

“I could definitely see myself pursuing that later in my life or in the coming years, but right now I haven’t quite decided.”

Skydiving record attempt unsuccessful Kamloops skydiver returns home without the record, but still values the experience Adam Williams Ω Sports Editor For most people, landing safely on the ground is all it would take to consider a skydive jump a success. But not so for TRU’s Nick Byers, who spent the first part of December in Eloy, Arizona, attempting to set a world record in sequential skydiving. For him, coming home with his name in the history books was the only acceptable outcome.

Unfortunately for him, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.

“We failed miserably,” Byers said with a laugh in a Dec. 7 interview with The Omega. “It was a hell of a lot of fun, but we were unsuccessful in our attempt to break records.”

Byers, a veteran of more than 4,170 career jumps, was part of a group of more than 200 skydivers that attempted to set a world record in sequential skydiving. The record attempt involved multiple divers jumping out of a number of aircraft and syncing up in free fall to make

mid-air formations. In order to set a record, the group needed to complete at least two formations in a single free fall, though the goal was to do much more than that.

In the end, however, the group was unable to complete even the initial goal of two formations in a single jump and left Arizona empty-handed.

“I think what ended up happening is we tried to go too big, too quickly,” Byers said.

“We came very close on the last jump, but we just weren’t able to build it.”

The group made 24 jumps during its seven days in Arizona, which included a head-to-head competition at the beginning of the week that had the jumpers break into two teams to compete against each other in an attempt to set a smaller record that would later be broken by the larger troop – even that part of the endeavour ended in disappointment.

Byers said the group had to deal with some bad weather throughout its week in Eloy, which cut down on the number of jumps it could perform.

He felt that given another few attempts, they may have found success.

“Basically there was a couple people making silly mistakes on each skydive, unfortunately,” he said. “Even if it’s only one person on each jump, you don’t have 200 tries.

“That’s the way it works out.

Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t.”

Currently, there aren’t any plans for the group to get back together to make another attempt at a record, though Byers said the organizers will likely start looking at setting something up again in another six months or so. Should they decide to give it another go, he hopes he can again be invited to be involved.

“It was definitely still a great learning experience,” Byers said. “I came back with a lot of different skills that I can apply to teaching and coaching, and my skydiving in general, and it’s certainly been a learning experience in terms of working towards a record.

“I think that the next time we give it a go we’ll definitely get it.”

Above: Byers takes his friend Taylor for her first ever jump over Queenstown, New Zealand in the spring of 2012.

Below: Byers was part of the Texas state record jump in 2011, a 168-way formation.

(Photos submitted)

12

January 8, 2014

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