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SAIT’s open house a huge successBy Carole Dastous

Alberta’s improving economy is pushing more young people than ever to SAIT’s door.

The Fall Open House at the Polytechnic Oct. 21-22 at-tracted 2,165 applications for admission, according to SAIT vice-president academic Dr. Gord Nixon.

That’s a 28-per-cent in-crease over the number of ap-plications received at the fall open house last year, Nixon said in an interview.

“It was a tremendous suc-cess,” he said.

The reason for the in-crease?

“People see the value of a polytechnic education in today’s economic environ-ment,” Nixon said.

They see the value of coing to an organization like SAIT that works so closely with industry to develop our cur-riculum.”

Students also benefit by acquiring skills that prepare them to succeed in the work-place when they graduate.

“When our students gradu-ate, they are able to be pro-ductive on day one, they have

good salaries, and lots of op-portunity for advancement in the workplace or to further their education,” Nixon said.

This is only the third year SAIT has staged a Fall Open House.

In the past, the only such event was held in February, but that was too close to ad-mission deadlines, explained Nixon.

In the crowd on Friday, Oct. 21 were 30 busloads of junior and senior high school students, double the number that came out for last year’s event.

David Barbeau, a Strath-more, Alta. high school stu-dent, attended the open house with his mother Janet.

“I am looking at engineer-ing but nothing specific. I am exploring all my options,” said Barbeau, before rushing off to a guided walking tour of SAIT.

“The Open House is a great way to reach young people,“ said 1986 SAIT dental assis-tant graduate Marie Friesen.

At the Try a Trade display, School of Construction car-pentry instructor Raymond Ting was handing out a lot

of brochures.“There is a lot of interest in

our programs,” Ting said.“Our graduates have the

knowledge to do a lot more than physical work and ham-mering nails. They become consultants, site foremen or estimators.

“Construction is a hybrid career for people who like physical work and don’t want to be at a desk all day,” Ting said.

School of Construction Open House student vol-unteer Leo Bosma is in the 10-month Process Piping Drafting Fast Track program.

“It’s only 10 months, so you have to pay attention,” said Bosma.

Estuardo Toledo, the School of Hospitality and Tourism culinary programs academic chair, said the pro-fessional cooking program admits 170 candidates per year, and has 400 people on the waiting list.

Spaces for students are in short supply in many pro-grams, Nixon acknowledged.

“Unfortunately, this is our challenge. Each year, we gen-erally get 10,000 to 11,000

By: Megan Mahoney

Several of Calgary’s non-profit organizations are in desperate need of volunteers around the holiday season and students are no excep-tion.With Christmas rapidly ap-proaching, many Calgarians are considering what they will be buying for their loved ones, friends and family. Unfortunately few consider those who are living in pov-erty and are merely worried about finding somewhere warm to stay.

Calgary is a city of more than 1.1 million people and with that there are still a large number of people living be-low the poverty line.

Approximately 4,000 Cal-garians are homeless to date,

according to www.intraspec.ca.

In a survey conducted by the Salvation Army’s poverty report in 2010, 14 per cent of Albertans said they had expe-rienced or come close to ex-periencing homelessness.

There are several Christ-mas charities in which stu-dents and their families can get involved.

The Christmas Wish Pro-gram brings gifts and sup-plies to local children living in poverty.

Toys for Tots and the Make a Wish foundation offer simi-lar assistance.

If you are looking to make a significant impact on a fam-ily in need this Christmas, the Calgary Woman’s Shelter has a program called “Adopt a Family.”

The general idea is that a group of people sponsor a family living in poverty over the Christmas season and help to make it special for them. Anyone can get involved with this charity as they are espe-cially looking for help around the holidays.

Student leadership is a key ingredient in increasing the numbers of younger volun-teers around our city.

Every year the Univer-sity of Calgary hosts an an-nual food drive event called, “Trick or Eat.”

The event is Canada’s larg-est student led food drive and it focuses on feeding the hun-gry in Calgary around Hal-loween. Students help to fun-draise and stock up canned goods and non-perishable food items, and deliver them

to the local food bank in Cal-gary.

Jenna Brockerville is a fourth year student at the University of Calgary and has been involved with the “Trick or Eat” food drive for two years now.

“Honestly there is nowhere else I’d rather be on Hallow-een. I am very passionate about this organization and I think that more students need to get involved,” said Brock-erville.

“Every year there are priz-es for the students with the best costumes and lots of can-dy. The event is so fun that it honestly doesn’t even feel like volunteer work,” said Brockerville.

Another student volunteer opportunity that will be com-ing up on Nov. 15th is the

“Chillin for Charity” event, also hosted at the University of Calgary.

This event helps to raise money for local charities through students jumping into a pool of icy water. There is a minimum participation fee of $50 per person.

In addition, there are sever-al unique volunteer opportu-nities with the Calgary Food Bank and the Mustard Seed.

Volunteer opportunities are vast in our city, and all it takes is a phone call for you to get involved and help.

If you are looking to volun-teer this holiday season you can visit websites such as:

http://www.allthingschrist-mas.com/christmas-charity.html

http://www.calgaryfood-bank.com/

Christmas charities in need of volunteers

applications for 4,000 seats.”The School of Health and

Public Safety turns away the largest number of applicants.

The school’s nuclear medi-cine, diagnostic imaging, and stenography programs admit

only 20 to 24 students per year. The capacity of these programs is limited by the number of available student practicums each year.

The next SAIT Open House is Feb. 3-4, 2012.

Calgary, Alta. SAIT vice president academic Dr. Gordon Nixon in his office in the Heritage building. The Fall SAIT Open House 2011 was a great success, said Nixon.

Photo by Carole D

astous

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By Tanis Reid

Personal experience, not just information, will be the key to Telus Spark.

Spark, the new Calgary sci-ence centre, opened its doors to the public with a brace of speeches and a burst of fire on Saturday Oct. 29.

And just for good measure, the crowd attending the event at the new centre, located north of the Calgary Zoo in the Nose Creek Valley, got a chance to leave something for people in the future to re-member them by.

Visitors had the opportu-nity to contribute to a time capsule that will be opened on Oct. 29, 2111, exactly 100 years after this momentous occasion.

Postcards were provided to write on and attendees were encouraged to bring photos, letters or personal mementos.

The new facility is expect-ed to serve more than 400,000 visitors annually, more than double the capacity of the old

location on 11th Street S.W. in the west end of downtown.

“As the first new Science Centre to open in Canada in over 25 years, we have made courageous changes,” said Jennifer Martin, CEO and president of Telus Spark, said following the ceremony.

Since the opening of the Calgary Centennial Planetar-ium opening in July of 1967, the Science Centre has con-tinually been changing and evolving into the state-of-the-art facility that calls Calgary home.

These changes “signal a new direction, new approach-es to content deaavelopment, new audiences and new op-portunities,” said Martin.

In 2000, the Science Cen-tre reached its maximum capacity. In 2001 a “revolu-tionary” strategic master plan determined that a major ex-pansion was required to meet the community’s needs.

The plan not only mad\e the case for the new 153,000 square foot facility, it pointed

the way to a new approach to science education in the com-munity.

Focus groups were con-ducted to help determine the content that would be used in Telus Spark.

Four new exhibits were born from these groups; Open Studio, Being Human, En-ergy & Innovation and Earth & Sky.

One of the goals of the centre is to veer away from merely “conveying informa-tion” to guests.

Instead, visitors of all ages are encouraged to take a more hands-on approach through problem solving, risk taking, collaboration and creativity.

Many of those displays got a workout from the visitors at the opening of the new centre, which is easily visible from Deerfoot Trail North.

The kickoff was hosted in the new 10,000 square-foot, two-storey Atrium which was designed to host speaking en-gagements such as this event.

Spark opens it’s doors to Calgarians

Political figures from dif-ferent levels of government were in attendance, includ-ing Alberta Premier Alison Redford, Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Calgary Centre North MP Michelle Rempel.

After each politician had addressed the crowd, the dignitaries along with Monty Carter, president of Telus Enterprise Solutions and Jennifer Martin, took their place in front of five elec-tronic buttons.

Most grand opening cer-emonies involve a traditional “ribbon cutting” ceremony. Telus Spark wanted to cel-ebrate with more of a bang.

With the official guests each poised over a button the crowd started a countdown. When the crowd reached one the dignitaries all pressed their button, exploding a cluster of balloons in a burst of fire.

With that, the 153,000 square foot centre was offi-

From left, Jennifer Martin, Naheed Nenshi, Alison Red-ford, Michelle Rempel and Monty Carter (left to right) prepare to “cut the ribbon” at the grand opening of Telus

Flash mob a thrilla’ for students

By Kiah Gutowski

SAIT Diagnostic Imaging students found a new way to beat stress on Oct. 31: Dance it out.

This Halloween, approxi-mately 50 students and fac-ulty from various Diagnostic Imaging programs dressed up as zombies and busted out in true Michael Jackson-Thriller style in a flash mob at noon in the Heart Atrium.

Although the whole show only lasted a matter of min-utes, the students and faculty involved had been working on the event for the past month.

The idea was introduced by Lisa Allen, Academic Chair for the School of Health and Public Safety, on Orientation Day to all of the Diagnostic Imaging students: x-ray, ul-trasound, nuclear medicine technology.

“It wasn’t a new concept, but it looked like fun,” she said.

Allen introduced the idea as an appealing relief from the stress that often accom-

panies students in those pro-grams.

“We can’t change the fact that these are highly techno-logical, academic, fast paced programs, but we can provide support and the opportunity to have some fun,” said Allen.

They weren’t pushing or promoting a message through their performance. It was simply a way for students to take their minds off their school work for a little while.

“We did bring awareness to the program, but more to the fact that you can be heavily technical and still have fun.”

Allen was the initial orga-nizer, but wouldn’t take all of the credit.

“It took a whole village to make it work,” she said.

Carrie Violot, diagnostic imaging instructor and flash mob choreographer, prepared for the event by watching Thriller videos on You Tube and came up with a short and simple dance routine that in-corporated key moves from the familiar Jackson clips.

“It was a tremendous suc-cess,” said Violot. “It was a

neat experience overall.”The United Way Hallow-

een Spooktacular, a fund-raising event to kick off the United Way’s Change Starts Here campaign, took place in the same place at the same time.

The partnership of these two events was not initially planned, but turned out to be a happy accident for both groups.

Upon hearing plans for the Halloween Spooktacular, “we figured it was a perfect way to collaborate,” said Allen. “We were the perfect way to draw a crowd.”

Even though most had no idea what was going to take place, dozens of students and faculty from across the cam-pus gathered in anticipation of the event.

Becca Glackin, a first-year EMT student, didn’t know exactly what was happening, but she was told to come over to the Heart Atrium.

“I didn’t know they were going to dance,” said Glack-in. “It surprised most people.”

Allen let out very timely

and specific leaks of informa-tion about the flash mob. She informed SAITSA and Aca-demic Chairs.

“I sent out information in little drips and drops,” said Allen. “Not exact details, but just enough to draw a crowd.”

Nicole Lemay, a nuclear medicine technology student and zombie horde member, said the mob was great fun, but too short.

“As soon as it was over I asked myself ‘that’s it we’re done?’” said Lemay.

The dance was a great way to get to know students in their class and similar pro-grams, said Lemay.

“The best part of the expe-rience was bringing everyone from the three programs to-gether,” said Violot. “To see them working as one big team was neat.”

THRILLER FLASH MOB-Zombies gather for a flash mob in the Heart building at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary, Alta., Canada-Photo by Chelsie Dowler

Photo by Chelsey D

owler

Photo by Tanis Reid

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