Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Yesterday's Bulletin | Previous days | UWevents | UWinfo home page

Friday, July 26, 1996

The last day of classes

Right: lectures for the spring term end today (and exams begin on Wednesday). In another happy note, today is payday for faculty and most staff members -- and everybody should see the take-home total rise a bit from what they collected in June, as the Ontario government's income tax cut takes effect.

The co-op department says today is the last day for students who are still unplaced for September to hand in "20 copies of your resume package and completed student skills and interests form".

Celebrating on the weekend: Linda Hastings of the Davis Centre library, who reaches a milestone birthday on Sunday. Hastings is responsible for the library's orientation brochure, displays and other graphics.

Skater reaches town today

Christine Ichim comes through Kitchener-Waterloo today as she continues her trip across Canada on rollerblades, raising money for leukemia research. Kitchener is her home town, and the mayors of Kitchener and Waterloo will greet the skater at noon at Kitchener City Hall, following a parade down King Street.

Ichim left Vancouver on May 4 on her Cross Canada Skate. Averaging 100 to 150 kilometres a day, the 18-year-old skater plans to reach St. John's by the end of September. Her goal is to raise $5 million for The Canadian Cure Campaign, helping her mother and other leukemia victims in their quest for a cure.

Speaking from her cell phone en route to Waterloo this week, Ichim said so far $50,000 has been donated, and she is optimistic the figure will rise as she travels through central Canada.

"Knowing I'm actually making a difference in the lives of people," she said, helps her keep going, despite fatigue and the tendonitis in her ankles. "I always wanted to help heal the world, and now is my chance," she said. Ichim and her brother Thomas, a UW student, have spent the past eight years, since their mother was diagnosed with leukemia, doing what they can to help find a cure.

The UW Chemistry Club is the latest organization to provide support. The club chipped in with a $325 donation from a recent barbecue. Anyone wishing to contribute can make a donation through the Chem Club in Chemistry II room 172.

Ichim said she's been admitted to first year at UW this fall, but hasn't decided whether to accept the offer or go elsewhere.

School change delayed by a year

The minister of education announced yesterday that the end of grade 13 in Ontario secondary schools, which would have produced a graduation crunch in the year 2002, has been delayed for a year. Officially, the change is from a five-year high school program to a four-year program, which now is to go into effect in September 1998 rather than 1997.

"Developing a quality system requires meaningful discussion," said the minister, John Snobelen, who had been accused by teachers' groups of rushing to eliminate the final year of secondary school without giving any opportunity for discussion at all. The new four-year curriculum is to include "clear course requirements for students planning to go to university, college or the workplace", Snobelen said. A discussion paper on Ontario's high school curriculum is due out this fall.

The Tool gets in trouble

Local police hauled in four engineering students on Wednesday afternoon -- and with them

the Engineering Society's beloved mascot, the Ridgid Tool. The four, masked and hooded, had been parading with the Tool and its chains at Parkdale Plaza, and bystanders who had no idea what was going on called the police. No one has been charged with anything. The Kitchener-Waterloo Record yesterday rather implausibly described the incident as "a fraternity initiation prank".

Changes to food outlets

The Modern Languages cafeteria will be closed, after today, until early September, and when it reopens the long-awaited renovations will be a reality, says Michele Grondin in the food services department. Renovations are also imminent at the Matthews Hall coffee shop, which has been closed all summer; it'll have a whole new look after Labour Day.

Today is also the last day of business, until the fall term, for the Bon Appetit "food fair" in the Davis Centre. The nearby Tim Horton's outlet will stay open all through August, with sandwiches and soup added to its usual menu.

Still more news: the administrative offices of food services moved on Wednesday from the "commissary" area in the General Services Complex up to Village I, which is to become the headquarters and main kitchen for food services all across campus. The WatCard office is still in GSC for now, along the ring road near the railway tracks.

Entertainment this weekend

A production of the great musical "Bye Bye Birdie" opens in the Humanities Theatre tonight at 7:30; there are performances tomorrow at 2:00 and 7:30. It's staged by the teenagers of the Summer School for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 (students $7) from the Humanities box office.

[CharityFest logo] CharityFest brings "alternative, rock and dance bands from Seattle, Vancouver, Nashville, Edmonton as well as several local acts" to Kitchener's Bingeman Park on Sunday. The event, sponsored by "an interdenominational organization of youth", is a fund-raiser for World Vision, Compassion Canada and other charities.

And now that it's summer . . .

I'm leaving for some vacation time. In my absence, the Daily Bulletin will be prepared by colleagues here in the office of information and public affairs, and should appear each morning as always. Messages and announcements can be sent by electronic mail to bulletin@www.adm.uwaterloo.ca. Best wishes to readers and friends till I return!

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin:
Chris Redmond -- credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
Comments to the editor | About the Bulletin
Yesterday's Bulletin