To Cram Or Not To Cram, That Is The Question.

Written By: Terry Poettcker

The school semester is coming to an end, which only means one thing: EXAMS.

Oh, how we all love exams–NOT!!

Some students do really well during exam time, but there are also many students who struggle with exams and the stress that surrounds them.

Olympic Celebration

By Mike Garvie

It’s been over a month since the Canadian women’s hockey team won Olympic gold, but for local defender Meaghan Mikkelson, the ore on her neck still isn’t any heavier.
Mikkelson and many other staff and athletes from the Olympic and Paralympic Team Canada squads participated in a celebration ceremony at Churchill Square in Edmonton at the end of March.

“It was amazing,” Mikkelson said, a product of the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association, former Edmonton Chimo and Wisconson Badger. “It’s great for the city of Edmonton to have all the (local) athletes and staff that participated in the Games, the fact they wanted to recognize us. It’s a huge honour to represent Canada and your hometown. It was a great day to see everyone to come out and show their support.”

NAIT’s Men’s Hockey Head Coach Relieved of Duties

By Lauren Jarman

It’s not an April Fool’s joke, on April first it was announced that Ooks men’s hockey coach Terry Ballard has been relieved of his duties.  Ballard had been working with the team for 14 years.  He had a record of 216 wins, 127 losses and 23 ties.

Athletics coordinator Gregg Merropoulis says that his overall record that wasn’t the problem, but his record during playoffs.  Under Ballard the team had 37 wins and 41 losses.  “We’ve gotten close to ACAC Championships, but for a program that’s prided itself with 17 ACAC Championships since the beginning of play back in the ‘70s, we really haven’t got there in the last few years,” says Merropoulis.  The team made the ACAC playoffs this year but was knocked out in the first round in a two game sweep by the Augustana Vikings.

Make-A-Wish, and NAIT Students Will Grant It

By Melinda Paplawski

Last year the Make-A-Wish foundation’s Edmonton office decided it had a problem, it needed a new lobby. Their current lobby was plain with a few pictures, and they wanted to better reflect the attitude and work that the charity does. They still had one big problem though, being a charity, they didn’t have the money to hire a designer, or to complete the redesign. So they approached NAIT Interior Design instructors to ask for their help. The “Design Dilemma” was built into the curriculum for this year of the course, and yesterday the designs were unveiled and the winner was chosen from 12 submissions by students of the course.

Looking to Flying the Coop?

by Raeesa Merali

Being a student, and moving out on your own can be a bit nerve-wracking especially when you need to cover the costs of a place to live which for students in most cases constrains the bank account.

Financial advisor, Derek Weisbeck’s thinks your first step to moving out on your own should be to check classified ads as well as websites.

UFC 111

By Mike Garvie

UFC 111 is this Saturday, and while the main card is stacked with plenty of need-to-watch matchups, most Canadians will be watching the title fight between Quebec fighter Georges St. Pierre (GSP) and Englishman Dan Hardy.

St. Pierre has won his last six fights including three title defences against Jon Fitch, B.J. Penn and most recently Thiago Alves at UFC 100 in Las Vegas.

NAIT and Ledcor Create First Ever Research Chair at NAIT

By Lauren Jarman

NAIT and the Ledcor Group have teamed up to create the Ledcor Group Research Chair in Oil Sands Environmental Sustainability.  It’s the first Chair of its kind at a Canadian college or technical institute and the first ever research chair for NAIT.  Each group contributed 1.5 million dollars to the project.

The Chair will research practical solutions to environmental problems in the oil sands.

The Canadian Dollar is on the Rise

by Carlin Burton

The Canadian dollar is almost on par with the US dollar. This means that the price of goods imported from the United States will go down significantly. It is also a very good time to invest. Derek Wisebeck, Business graduate of NAIT says that if you’re on a student budget there are still investments better to put your money into than others.

“Given students cash flow needs, and regular occurrence and recurrence of their bills, they really should be sticking to GIC’s or Money Market Funds, anything that would be able to turn into cash fairly quickly and with no loss in principal.”

Legend Rushing to Edmonton

By Matthew Iwanyk

As the Edmonton Rush were getting set to host the Boston Blazers, they also were playing host to one of the greatest athletes in his respective sport, Randy Couture.

Back in December of 2009 the Edmonton Rush entered into a very unique partnership. The Rush announces that the Rush had reached an agreement with UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Caution: Facebook Could Make Your Computer Sick!

by Raeesa Merali

The latest virus to take over the Internet is aiming at the world’s largest social networking site. A virus has been unleashed on Facebook via spam email. The virus comes as an email stating that your Facebook account password has been reset, the email subject line will state: Facebook Password Reset Confirmation Customer Support.

Half of Facebook users are between the ages of 18 to 25, and many NAIT students fall into this category of facing the virus.