Kinga Njilas, a Humber Clinical Research graduate, has made it her personal mission to raise awareness and funds for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Four years ago, her life was turned up-side-down when her mother was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 42. ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly progressive and fatal neuromuscular disease that causes the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. As the nerve cells die, ALS patients lose control of their muscles, which makes breathing, eating and even smiling almost impossible.
The moment that changed Njilas’ life forever, was when she discovered that most patients with ALS only live two-to-five years after diagnosis.
“When I read this I was in shock. After doing a lot of research, I slowly realized that not a lot of people know what ALS is and that’s when I knew that I had one of two choices: to do nothing or to do everything I possibly could to raise awareness and funds for ALS,” says Njilas.
She moved home from university and became the primary caregiver for her mom.
As Njilas continued her studies from home, she wrote essay entitled My life with ALS for one of her courses. “I wanted to put a face to ALS, a family’s story of what it is truly like to live with the disease, not only for the person diagnosed, but for the family and friends around them.”
Njilas’s story was the beginning of an awareness campaign that touched many people’s lives. After sharing her story with ALS Society of Canada, the organization decided to include it as part of their direct mail campaign which generated more than $40,000 in donations.
Njilas, herself donated the $2,500 winnings from a contest she entered to the ALS Society of Canada for research into treatments and a cure for ALS. She is also currently working on an ALS research initiative which will strive to diagnose ALS at a much earlier stage in patients.
Njilas’s mom lost her battle with ALS after a long four-year fight on January 29th, 2010. “A piece of my heart went with her, but in her memory I’m going to continue to fight this disease for all those who can’t.”
For more information, visit Humber’s Clinical Research program.
Source: www.humber.ca
The first ever texting championship was hosted by the HSF on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. In a flurry of finger flapping one man emerged victorious.
Armanpreet* was the fastest and most accurate texter of the afternoon, texting his way through three finger sweating rounds. As the winner he was able to choose from a pair of leaf tickets or a pair of raptor tickets. Armanpreet chose the raptor tickets and told @Humber Reporter John Patterson that he was going to take his buddy, that also entered the battle but was out-texted.
In second place came Chris* who will be enjoying a Leaf's game for his tip top texting.
Coverage of the texting tournament could be heard on Radio Humber's in-depth news and current affairs program @Humber on Tuesday, March 23 and Wednesday, March 24.
Due to the excitement surrounding the event, the HSF will possibly look at turning this texting tournament into an annual event.
Canada Music Week’s 2010 Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards Music Director of the Year -- Major Market – Chris Lynch, X92.9 Calgary Music Director of the Year – Medium Market – Trapper John, 104.9 The Wolf Regina Music Director of the Year – Small Market – Darren Robertson, 99.9 SUN FM Kelowna On-Air Talent of the Year – Roger, Darren and Marilyn, CHUM-FM Toronto Program Director of the Year – Major Market – David Corey, CHUM-FM Toronto Program Director of the Year – Medium Market – Doug Elliott, K Rock 105.7 Kingston Program Director of the Year – Small Market – Mark Burley, 99.9 SUN FM Kelowna Promotion of the Year – Peak Performance Project, 100.5 The Peak Vancouver Station of the Year – CHR – Virgin Radio 99.9 Toronto Station of the Year – Hot AC – CHUM-FM Toronto Station of the Year – Mainstream AC – 98.1 CHFI-FM Toronto Station of the Year – Classic Gold – Q107 Toronto Station of the Year – Country – Country 105 Calgary Station of the Year – Medium Market – Q104 Halifax Station of the Year – Multicultural – 101.7 World FM Edmonton Station of the Year – News/Talk/Sports – 680News Toronto Station of the Year – Rock – Sonic 102.9 Edmonton Station of the Year – Small Market – 99.9 SUN FM Kelowna
Changes to post-secondary education are at the top of the list in the Ontario Premier's Open Ontario plan, announced on March 8.
Dalton McGuinty’s five-year plan, which outlines ambitious goals for the province, was unveiled by Lieutenant-Governor David Onley in the Legislature.
"Australia's third-largest industry is international education – it creates jobs, so why don't we get serious about competing for international students," McGuinty said in The Toronto Star. "We could use the funds this generates to help expand our schools for our kids and create jobs."
David Johnson, an economics professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, told TheDailyPlanet.com that this plan for colleges and universities may create problems.
“You can have higher average revenue per student if more international students are here and if they are charged more. However, to create jobs you must expand the overall system,” Johnson said.
A rise in international students would have an effect on the post-secondary experience for Ontario students, Johnson said.
“You have to consider things like language issues and student population. What is the right size for a university? International students could have poor English language skills, or they could have better skills,” he said.
David Docherty, a political science professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, told TheDailyPlanet.com that he isn’t sure whether to be skeptical about the plan.
“McGuinty talked about this a long time ago and it’s an interesting concept. The catch-phrase ‘Open Ontario’ might appeal to people in the centre centre right. He needs to provide more details on it. He throws lot of things out there and later backs down from them,” Docherty said.
At recent press conferences, McGuinty said the plan will also focus on selling clean-water expertise and making Toronto an elite financial centre.
Just a few days ago during the Olympics, the country was belting out O Canada with a wealth of patriotic pride. But now, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are considering a change to the anthem’s lyrics to make it more gender neutral.
Wednesday's Throne Speech contained a promise to examine the original English wording of O Canada.
If adopted , the lyrics “In all thy sons command” would be changed to “Thou dost in us command,” which is the wording from the original 1908 version by Robert Stanley Weir.
Paula Bourne, an expert on the history of Canadian women and faculty member at the University of Toronto, told TheDailyPlanet.com changing the lyrics to be more gender-neutral makes sense.
“I don’t think the word "sons" is embracing women,” she said.
Bourne said Canada has come a long way in terms of gender equality and that the anthem should reflect that evolution.
“For many years we’ve tried to make our language more gender-neutral and in many ways we have. We now talk about firefighters as opposed to firemen and letter carriers and so on,” she said.
“It makes sense that our own national anthem is also seen as being gender-neutral and inclusive of all.”
George Elliott Clarke, a faculty member at the University of Toronto who specializes in Canadian poetry, also told TheDailyPlanet.com a change is needed.
'A minor change'
“This is a relatively minor change, but a change that’s essential if we want to recognize the egalitarian nature of our country, to represent females, women, girls as full-fledged Canadian citizens keeping in mind the history of this country,” he said.
“This is 2010, and it’s time that the national anthem reflects all the citizenry. It’s our anthem and so long as it’s our anthem, we have every right to change it any time we want, to reflect who we are.”
In fact, the anthem has been changed before.
Clarke said it was altered when it was translated to English. He said the French version of O Canada is about Catholicism and representing and recognizing Jesus Christ. “So there was already a huge shift in the meaning of O Canada when it went from French into English,” he said.
And the current English lyric, which includes “In all thy sons command” differs from the original English lyric. “We’ve been changing it anyways, so why not change it again,” said Clarke.
Russell Morton Brown, a literature professor at the University of Toronto, told TheDailyPlanet.com the anthem is more of a tradition than a work of literature.
“Tradition is a living thing and it has to evolve...The world has changed, the world at the time that was written, was unaware of questions of gender equality and now we are,” he said. “An anthem is not a work of literature in the way that Paradise Lost is a work of literature, we’re not going to go back and change the great works of literature because they speak of a time and a place, but the anthem has to speak to us today."
Tradition a factor
But David Wallace, a co-ordinator in Humber College's School of Liberal Arts, said tradition is something to consider. “The national anthem is a historical document so you don’t usually keep changing things.”
He added that altering the lyrics might also confuse people. “Changing it to an older form makes it kind of awkward and archaic,” he said. “People probably don’t know what 'dost' even means. My sense is that people are probably just used to the way it is, so and they’re probably not very worried about whether it’s very bothersome in that way, it’s just very traditional."
Asta Syri, a second-year radio broadcasting student at Humber College, said she thinks the anthem should remain how it is.
“I feel changing the national anthem would be like changing the Bible. It’s great how it is and if it’s been fine for this long than why change it,” she said, adding she thinks there are other discriminatory lyrics in the anthem.
“What about “we stand on guard” for people in wheelchairs?," she asked." Why address one discrimination when there are so many others?"