"35 amazing students" make up this year's Student Ambassadors, says Kim McKee of the visitors' centre. The Ambassadors lead campus tours, respond to inquiries from future students and visit schools. They'll play a major role in tomorrow's open house, she adds, from setting up the Student Life Centre ready for visitors, to leading walking tours and answering questions at the general information booth.

UW welcomes the future tomorrow

The future is on its way, as the next generation of UW students will get a look at the campus tomorrow in the annual fall open house organized by the visitors' centre and the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office.

"We are expecting approximately 3,000 visitors," says Kim McKee, manager of the visitors' centre, adding that another 300 students will likely visit the school of architecture on the Cambridge campus. The open house is scheduled for Saturday from 9:00 to 3:00 (not, as some earlier publicity said, 4:00).

"UW brothers Matt and Mike Iley will be giving the keynote address at the welcome session," says McKee. "Matt was one of the original founders of Student Life 101, and Mike works in marketing for UW Housing." That session is scheduled for the Physical Activities Complex, with doors opening at 8:30.

"The Student Life Centre will be the main venue for the day," says McKee. That's where campus tours leave from, and where the faculties and service departments, such as financial aid and co-op, will have booths set up to answer questions from students and their parents. Academic sessions are offered in various buildings at 10:00 and again at 1:30 Ñ engineering in Rod Coutts Hall, arts in Humanities, and so on. Tours of the residences will also be available.

Meanwhile, visitors of a different age will be on campus tomorrow for the annual science open house and gem and mineral show. The free event offers activities and demonstrations geared to children from kindergarten to grade 8, as well as their families. Most of the events will be held Saturday in the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The centre houses the Earth Sciences Museum, site of the gem and mineral show, which runs both Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"Activities include soapstone carving, chocolate chip mining, treasure hunt, fossil fish dig, turning copper into gold, as well as many chemistry and physics experiments," organizers boast. "The most anticipated of activities is gold panning, where you will get to keep the gold you find! Not to be missed are the chemistry magic show that will take place at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday. A carbon grill barbecue will offer lunch for visitors."

“Canadian Gold” is the theme of the gem and mineral show, to honour the university’s 50th anniversary. The show will feature displays on gold from the Royal Ontario Museum. Mineral and gem dealers will be on hand with natural crystals and jewelry. Sunday afternoon lectures will be held at 1:00 (David K. Joyce speaking on “Canadian Gold”) and 3:00 (Malcolm Back on "Gold in the Royal Ontario Museum”).

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St. Jerome's honours child advocate

a news release from St. Jerome's University

Child rights advocate and youth leadership specialist Craig Kielburger will receive the 2007 Chancellor John Sweeney Award in a ceremony Saturday at St. Jerome’s University. The award was created in 2000 to honour the contribution and continuing commitment of Catholic institutions, leaders, and educators to the cause of education and scholarship in Canada. It also recognizes the ongoing need for a Catholic presence and voice in shaping future leaders and engaging in the challenging issues facing the world today.

At the age of 12, Craig Kielburger (left) read about the plight of child laborers in Pakistan. A student in the York District Catholic School Board at the time, he mobilized his classmates and took the first steps in establishing what would eventually become an international award-winning organization — Free the Children — devoted to empowering and educating children throughout the world. Free the Children has harnessed the energy and goodwill of young people to build some 450 schools serving more than 40,000 children around the globe.

Kielburger notes the relationship between his personal convictions and the commitment to social action. “I was fortunate to attend Catholic schools and receive an invaluable education rooted in the Church’s teachings,” he says. “I grew up attending services and learning parables, but I never entirely felt a deep connection to my religious identity. It was only when I ventured overseas to explore the horrors of child labour that the lessons I’d been taught truly found personal resonance. In the presence of such profound injustice, the principles of faith never seemed more apt: if cold, clothe; if hungry, feed. The desire to serve led me to unlock and understand the true meaning of my convictions.”

In addition to his work with Free the Children, Kielburger and his brother, Marc, founded Leaders Today, an organization which prepares young people for social action through leadership education. His first book, Free the Children, won the prestigious Christopher Award. Now 24, Kielburger has received many awards, including the Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award, the Order of Canada, and the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of Children, also known as the Children’s Nobel Prize. He and Free the Children have received three Nobel Peace Prize nominations.

The evening’s celebration will begin with the annual St. Jerome’s Feast, a fundraising dinner at which Kielburger will be the special guest. All funds raised at this event will support Beyond Borders with St. Jerome’s University. This program has provided groups of students over the past two years with a unique service learning experience in developing countries around the world. The award presentation will follow the dinner, and Kielburger will deliver an address entitled “Me to We: How Communities of Faith Can Create Positive Social Change.”

Commenting on the choice of Kielburger for the Sweeney Award, St. Jerome’s president David B. Perrin expressed his appreciation for Kielburger’s work and his example. “It seems entirely fitting to me that we honour Craig Kielburger, not only for the work he has done — which is significant by all measures — but also for the inspiration and model he provides to all of us that one individual can change the world. This is an example that we at St. Jerome’s wish to hold up for all of our students, and we applaud the efforts of those students in our Beyond Borders program who are doing just that.”

The Award is named for John Sweeney, Catholic leader, educator, and politician, and the first lay chancellor of St. Jerome’s. Saturday evening's activities begin at 6:30 p.m. in the community centre at St. Jerome's, and Kielburger will speak at 8:30 in Siegfried Hall. Tickets for the full program were sold at $140 apiece, with many donors also paying for seats that will allow St. Jerome's students to take part.

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Solar race results, and other notes

Midnight Sun IX and its team members are heading back to Waterloo after crossing the finish line October 26 at the Panasonic World Solar Challenge in Australia, the engineering faculty's e-newsletter reports. The team came second in the race's Challenge Production Class and 16th overall out of 38 cars. At the awards ceremony the team also picked up the safety awareness award. Midnight Sun IX got off to a slow start at the beginning of the race because of body and aerodynamic problems. "Placing second in our class was a good end to the race, but hopefully next time we can reach top 10 overall," team members wrote on their blog. When members return to the university they'll begin working towards the North American Solar Challenge 2008.

The UW safety office will be holding a Safety Awareness Day on Wednesday, and anybody interested should get busy registering online for the sessions they want. Events will take place in the Davis Centre from 10:00 to 3:00, with sessions on Home and Work Fire Safety (“Learn about fire hazards and prevention in your home and at work”), Gas Cylinder Safety (“Learn the proper handling and storage of compressed gas cylinders, including regulator care and selection”), Inspecting the Workplace (“Why you should inspect your workplace; learn how to prepare, conduct and write reports for inspections”) and Conducting Work Specific WHMIS Training. The day is intended, a safety office memo says, for “Department Health and Safety Co-ordinators, Building and Faculty Fire/Evacuation Co-ordinators, Fire Wardens, Joint Health and Safety Committee members, Staff and Faculty, Graduate Students, and Supervisors and Managers”.

“It's time,” writes coach Jason Dockendorff, “for the annual citrus fundraiser for the University of Waterloo Track and Field Team. There is a truck full of oranges and grapefruits coming here straight from the citrus fields of Florida, seriously. The fruit is truly unbelievable! For those of you who've had it, you know what I'm talking about. Proceeds will be split between our program (equipment purchases, competition, and training camp) and The Brent McFarlane Track & Field Endowment Fund).” Detailed information and an order form are online. “Orders can be made directly to me,” says Dockendorff, “and must be received with payment by noon on November 16. Don't miss out on this opportunity.”

Sheila Hurley of the safety office says she raised $247 trick-or-treating on behalf of the United Way campaign across campus on Wednesday. • Face-to-face courses are offered by the UW continuing education department almost every day this month, including "Technical Communication Fundamentals" today and next Friday, and "Train the Trainer" on the 15th. • Diane Kelly of the women's rugby Warriors was named the provincial Most Valuable Player as the 2007 season ended, and was joined on the Ontario all-star team by Warriors Caitlin Martin, Heather Austin and Julie Prout.

And . . . how come the grotesque, mind-expanding stuff always happens other places? Take, for instance, the University of Saskatchewan, which held a pre-Hallowe'en ghost tour of its campus, tracking down "legends about spirits, ghost and tragedies". Even better, take the University of California at Riverside, which is holding its open house for future students tomorrow, just as UW is, but is luring in the crowds with promises of a "cockroach petting zoo" (rubber gloves available).

CAR

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