Distinguished Alumna for 2007 at Conrad Grebel University College is Lynn McRuer, owner of the Music Plus store and related enterprises in Kitchener and a mover-and-shaker in Waterloo Region musical circles. "McRuer exhibits the ability to make musical connections in the lives of people every day," reported the Grebel alumni committee, which selected her in time to present the award at Grebel's spring convocation on April 15. She responds that the music professors at Grebel, while she worked for her 1985 degree in music and psychology, were "an inspiration". She's pictured with Grebel president Henry Paetkau, music chair Ken Hull, and the chair of the alumni executive, Marcus Shantz.

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Co-op student-to-student advice

Postings for fall term co-op jobs will start tomorrow, with employer interviews beginning May 28. The latest issue of the Inside Scoop newsletter for co-op students includes several features with advice on various stages of the process, from having an effective academic term to starting a new job. Excerpts from four of the articles, by students Brielle Vautour and Steve Ryder:

Managing your time correctly is key to making your life run smoother and getting everything done with minimal hassle. For a sure-fire way to help you schedule your day, use an organiser or planner — after all, they got their name somehow! You can get one for free at the Feds Office in the Student Life Centre at the beginning of each term. It's the basic bare bones of organizers, but its added bonus is that it already has most of the school-related important dates in it. All you have to do is add in your own class-specific due dates and personal information.

There are resumés to prepare, cover letters to write, readings to start, and classes to attend. To make things easier on yourself, write out a list of everything you need to do, and put it in your organizer, complete with dates and times for when you want to start and finish each assignment. Setting these goals ahead of time will reduce the stress when it comes to crunch time.

You need to decide realistically how long each of your projects should take you, and account for things not going exactly according to plan. Even though you may have set everything out perfectly on paper, you never know when you're going to have a last-minute co-op interview, a personal problem, or just need some extra time to study for a test.

While getting everything done is important, it's also important to take a break sometime. Working constantly without any stops will drive you crazy sooner or later. However, you don't want to let these breaks take over your entire day. Taking 5 minutes out of your study time to watch the season premiere of “24” will probably not end well.

In 2003 there were few jobs on the market for software engineers and Uzair Khan (left) was left unemployed for his first work term. Deciding to take a different approach, he contacted his former interviewers, not for jobs, but for volunteer positions. Four years later, he is getting ready to graduate, and has just completed another self directed job search, this time for full-time employment. He started considering post-graduate jobs with over 8 months of school still to go.

Get resumé help; "I had my resumé checked by probably five people, and every single time they gave me things to change," says Uzair. Network with former employers, co-workers, family members, friends, and professors — you never know who will know of a great job opening.

If you want to secure an interview, you will have to create an effective resumé and cover letter. The latter, often overlooked in the job search process, is essential to providing additional dimensions to your personality that your resumé simply cannot do alone. A cover letter is your chance to persuade employers that you are a skilled and valuable addition to their team. It is also where you can expand on the accomplishments you have listed in your resumé.

Research involves more than just sifting through an employer’s own website or popping a few keywords into a Google search. What do people outside this company say about it? What are the significant trends and challenges in the industry that this company is in? What new or innovative products is this company developing?

As you meet representatives of the company, continue to express your personality in positive, confident and active ways. Make lots of eye contact, smile and make it a point to remember and use the names of your recruiters frequently. Your goal is to emphasize how well you will fit in with the company and to avoid unexpected or awkward circumstances.

When asked if you have any questions, be sure that you do! Asking thoughtful and well-researched questions demonstrates your genuine interest in the organization.

Keep in contact with your employer before your term starts — this ensures that you will be up to date and ready to go the first day of work.

Get involved — join a company sports team, sit with full-time employees during your coffee breaks, socialise with the other co-op students or volunteer in your surrounding community. Stay connected — talk frequently with your supervisor about how you're doing and where you can improve.

Remain organized!

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Students get $22 million in 7 years

a release from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

A total of 7,360 UW students have been able to pursue their studies thanks to a unique organization dedicated to increasing access to postsecondary education for Canadians. The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation has given a total of $22,406,599 in scholarships and bursaries to students at UW between 1999 and 2006.

“Working with its partners since its creation in 1998, as of today, the Foundation has helped over 265,300 Ontario students pursue post-secondary studies,” says Norman Riddell, the Foundation’s executive director. “This represents a total investment of more than $790 million in bursaries and scholarships and bursaries in the province. In 2006 alone, the Foundation has awarded 48,043 scholarships and bursaries to Ontarians for an overall value of more than $132 million."

The Foundation manages three main programs:

• The Millennium Bursary Program represents 95 per cent of its spending and is intended for students in the greatest financial need. Students who apply for financial aid from OSAP are automatically considered for a bursary. Since 1999, Waterloo students received 6,853 bursaries worth a total of $20,416,999. During the same period, 671,884 Ontario students have received a millennium bursary.

• The Millennium Excellence Award Program provides financial and developmental support to students who are active leaders in their communities. Excellence awards are earned on the basis of academic merit, community involvement, leadership, and innovation. Waterloo students received 478 excellence awards for a total of $1,902,600 since 1999. A total of 14,924 Ontarians have received a millennium excellence award over the same period. Winners of the 2007 Entrance Awards will be announced this month.

• The World Petroleum Council Millennium Scholarships offer petroleum industry-sponsored scholarships for students in related programs. Since year 2002, 363 Ontarians have received a WPC Millennium Scholarship.

The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation was created by an act of Parliament in 1998. It encourages students to strive for excellence and pursue their post-secondary studies, largely through scholarships but also through research on accessibility and related issues. It distributes $340 million in the form of bursaries and scholarships each year throughout Canada. Since its inception, it has awarded approximately 800,000 bursaries and scholarships, worth $2.3 billion, to post-secondary students in Canada.

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Prize for chem eng students, and more

A team of about-to-graduate chemical engineering students have something more to be proud of, after a province-wide student project competition was judged a few days ago at the Toronto Convention Centre. D'Arcy McGlynn, Ali-Reza Asarizadeh and Wilson Sheung-Che Ki first entered their fourth-year project, "Hydrogen Production for Bruce Nuclear Facility", in a regional competition sponsored by the Ontario Centres of Excellence and held at UW in mid-April. They were the winners, and McGlynn and Asarizadeh were invited to take the project forward to represent UW at the provincial "Discovery '07" event, April 30 and May 1. At that level they placed second overall. The competition is meant to evaluate non-technical skills such as communication, leadership, defining objectives, meeting deadlines, presentation quality, and ability to work in collaboration with industry.

A memo from the UW safety office announces the creation of "an Online Laboratory Safety Training Module in UW-ACE according to health, safety and environment legislative requirements". Departments involved with laboratory work (the memo lists them, from chemistry to anthropology) "should notify their appropriate personnel to arrange for those persons (Graduate Students, Faculty and Staff) in laboratories using hazardous materials to complete this training." Access is through the Safety Office website. Says the memo: "Departments will periodically receive, from the Safety Office, a record of the persons who have completed training. Departments should maintain these records to document compliance. Please note that student WHMIS training is a separate course which is also available through UW-ACE. Other computer-based training covers specific laboratory hazards including biosafety, lasers, radiation and X-rays." Questions: the person to consult is Kate Windsor at ext. 3-6359.

Wednesday's open house at the new Office of Organizational and Human Development went well, says OHD director Katrina Di Gravio: "We had about 50-60 people come by, many of whom jotted down ideas on our suggestion board or told us in conversation." And she reports the names of two door prize winners — Sheila Hurley of the safety office and Sharon Lamont of the library. The prizes were donated by the UW Shop.

As I said yesterday without the details, there will be a bicycle auction at the Student Life Centre today, sponsored by the UW Bike Centre. "We have a variety of styles and sizes, something for everyone," says perennial Bike Centre volunteer Ted Harms, a member of the UW library staff. "The bikes will be out in the SLC courtyard (the semi-circle facing MC) for noon, with the auction getting underway at 12:30 p.m. Sales are by cash or cheque and UW i.d. must be presented if requested. All sales are final." Proceeds go to the Bike Centre, which has its repair shop on the lower level of the SLC facing the Physical Activities courtyard.

"Chef Julian Wamil has created a spectacular menu" for the Mothers' Day brunch on Sunday at the University Club, I'm told (reservations ext. 3-3801). •  Online appointments for fall term class enrolment will run June 11 to 23, and appointment dates and times should be listed on Quest starting today. • Bob Sproule of the school of accountancy will teach a one-day "Introduction to Financial Accounting" on May 18 as an offering of UW's continuing education office.

And . . . here's a repeat of a recent message from Corinne Carter in the department of psychology: "We are looking for individuals who are married to complete questionnaires on their motivations in their marriages. As a participant, you would be asked to provide personal information about you and your marriage. The questionnaires will take approximately one hour to complete. In appreciation of your time, you will receive two movie passes to Cineplex Odeon Theatres. If you are interested in participating, please email uw.marriage.study@gmail.com. Thank you! This study has been reviewed by, and has received ethics clearance through, the Office of Research Ethics, University of Waterloo."

CAR

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