Student to compete for national skating title

Bowmanville skater and York University undergraduate Heather Geboers has captured the gold medal again as senior ladies champion of Eastern Ontario, reported Durham Region News Dec. 3. She was competing at the 2004 BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Sectionals for Eastern Ontario. Geboers has won the title for four straight years and placed 16th at last year’s Canadians Championships. She goes on to compete at the 2004 Canadian Championships in Edmonton in January. Geboers is a member of the Bowmanville Figure Skating Club and currently trains at the Canadian Ice Academy in Mississauga. In addition to being among the top figure skaters in Canada, she is a third-year business student in York’s Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, and a Skate Canada professional coach.

Your approach to writing an exam has everything to do with your success – possibly even more than the studying, suggests Brian Poser, learning skills counsellor at York University’s Counselling & Development Centre, reported Toronto’s Metro Dec. 3. “Maybe you don’t know everything. That’s okay, you won’t,” he said. “If you are nervous at the exam desk, then simply say ‘Yes, I’m nervous.’ Don’t take this opportunity to say, ‘Yes, I’m nervous, and I’m going to fail this exam.” Poser sees anxiety as an opportunity for heightened concentration and awareness that can make you more alert as to what you are writing. Exam anxiety can be intensified simply by whom you associate with minutes before the exam. “Try to avoid the people just outside of the exam doors who are frantic with last minute cram questions. They might not know as much, or the right course content, as you. They’ll ask an off-key, silly question that you can’t answer and then all of a sudden you start to feel as though you’ve forgotten everything,” said Poser.

During the exam, a minute break every hour or so can help you refocus advises Poser. He encourages students to answer questions using the exact wording from the question. For example, if the question is ‘What were three causes of the First World War,’ it should be answered, “The three causes for the First World War were…” This saves time and gets your major content points read immediately by the marker. Timing your answers according to the worth and difficulty of a question is also a good idea. Complete the easier ones first and with less time so that you can spend more time on the heavier items such as the essay question. “It is better to give 75 per cent answers on all the questions than perfect answers on 50 per cent of the exam,” Poser added.

And when the exam is over, leave it in your instructor’s hands. At that point it truly is your only option. For more exam tips, Metro recommended visiting York’s Web site or calling  the Counselling & Development Centre at 416-736-5297.

Carlos Teixeira, a leading scholar of Portuguese-Canadian history at York University, lent his collection of historical works on the Portuguese in their adopted homeland for a display at the Mississauga Library, reported The Mississauga News Dec. 3. Portuguese immigrants have had a hand in building Canada since the 16th century and this exhibition celebrates the Canadian government’s official recognition of their contribution 50 years ago.

Cars are playing leading roles in this year’s cinema blockbusters, reported the Montreal Gazette Dec. 3. It cited an interview Don Thompson, professor of marketing at York’s Schulich School of Business, gave this year with the Toronto Star.  Getting vehicles into movies is “sexy and attractive positioning,” said  Thompson. “You get to show the product in context, in the way you think it should be used. And if you show it next to Angelina Jolie, you make a certain statement about that product as well.”

• Craig Scott, associate dean of York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, commented on whether an Iranian-born Canadian can sue the government of Iran for torture, on CBC Radio’s “The World at Six” Dec. 3.
  
• Craig Heron, history professor with York’s Faculty of Arts, talked about education and teaching history, on TVOntario’s “More to Life” Dec. 3.
  
• Theo Peridis, policy professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, commented on airport fees and paying for airport improvements, on “5 PM News” (CHEK6-TV), Victoria, Dec. 2.
  
• Dr. Joel Lexchin, health management professor in York University’s Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, discussed concerns that reviews of pharmaceuticals in medical journals are written or influenced by drug manufacturers, on “Afternoon With Dave Taylor” (CHQR-AM), Calgary, Dec. 3.
  
• Seeing the Art Gallery of York University’s exhibit What It Feels Like for a Girl was listed among things to do in the city, on CBC Radio’s “Here and Now,” Toronto, Dec. 3.