SEE A LIVE FRE A K SHOW AT THE NE S T , MA RCH 24 THE P l e a s e r e c y c l e t h i s Thursday, March 11, 2010 newspaper when you are Volume 47, Issue 21 finished with it. NUGGETYOUR STUDENT NEWSPAPER EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA NAIT ATHLETES WIN! Men take ACAC basketball title; two medals for badminton players at Nationals See stories, pages 8 and 9 Supplied photo HOW SWEET IT IS NAIT men’s basketball coach Don Phillips, far right, celebrates with his student athletes, coaches and staff after the team clinched the ACAC championship on the weekend in Calgary. Coach Phillips’ daughters, Dineo and Thandi Khalema-Phillips, join in the fun. 2 The Nugget Thursday, March 11, 2010 NEWS&FEATURES Astronaut to land at NAIT By DArylANN HuTCHINgS always important for all aspects of society to see Could you imagine spending eight days that there is an inclusive type of career path for aboard NASA’s space shuttle discovery? people, and I think that is a good signal. As far as For one woman it was a dream come true. Canada goes it was important for Canada to par- When Dr. Roberta Bondar was offered the ticipate in an international mission. chance to be a part of the crew in the 1992 D: Have you ever had any setbacks in life Shuttle Discovery mission, she didn’t hesitate. that have made doing what you do hard? Dr. Bondar is Canada’s first female astro- Dr. B: I have had many setbacks and I have naut-neurologist in space, getting the opportu- had many goals. I think that if we don’t have set- nity to orbit the earth for eight days while doing backs then it doesn’t give us the grit that we need a series of tests and experiments in the first to go forth and to be stronger in pursuing them. microgravity laboratory. No matter the goal, there is always a setback, like Globally recognized for her contributions sometimes I would feel I am going three steps to space medicine, Dr. Bondar has continued as forward and 12 steps back but in actuality, it was head of an international space medicine research maybe three steps forward and one step back. team working with NASA for more than a D: Did you ever want to spend more time in decade, finding new connections between recov- space? If you could, would you go back? ering from floating in space and neurological ill- Dr. B: I am the kind of person that if I go back nesses such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease. to something, there has to be a really good reason. On March 18, Dr. Bondar will be giving a To go forward is always better in my heart, so I keynote presentation for students at NAIT. think I would go further in space, and that would I got a chance to speak with her and ask a be to go to someplace like the moon. I would not few questions: want to go back into an orbit around the Earth. Supplied photo Darylann: How old where you when you In addition to being an astronaut, Dr. roberta Bondar is also an acclaimed pho- Dr. Bondar is also an acclaimed profes- decided you wanted to be a spaceman? tographer. She is coming to NAIT on march 18 for two speaking engagements. sional photographer, focusing her talents on the Dr. Bondar: I wanted to be a spaceman natural wonders of our planet. She has written since when I was growing up in the late ’40s, and curiosity that I had as a young person. In my own experiments and have them done cor- four photographic essay books and her works early ’50s. I was building plastic model rockets terms of inspiration there was no one out there rectly because there is no fallback, there is no are held in private, corporate and institutional when I was eight. I knew wanted to do this. and no one had flown yet. other person that could come in and do them if I collections in Canada, the U.S. and England. D: Did anything inspire you? D: How were your experiments on the space wasn’t feeling great, so I pressed on even when I An Evening with Dr. Roberta Bondar Dr. B: Support systems are huge, whether shuttle Discovery important to you, to women, wasn’t felling well. I got through and felt a sense Date: Thursday, March 18 that is an inspiration or not, but certainly my and to Canada? of personal accomplishment that I completed 6:30 p.m.: Reception with light refreshments support systems [would be] my family. [They] Dr. B: To myself it was important that I it. As for women, I think for just being able to 7 p.m.: Evening keynote would buy me these plastic model rockets for conduct these experiments, so it was a tremen- have a woman go into space, anytime that hap- Tickets are $31.50, available online or at my birthday … so all that set into the creativity dous amount of responsibility. I wanted to … do pens, [as] the majority of flight crew is men, it’s NAITSA. Want a career? Got a year? By NICOlE de CHAmPlAIN As a result of the slow economy, many peo- have about a particular program I think, the bet- prizes. Time doesn’t stop for anyone or anything ple are looking for ways to continue making a ter prepared you are and the better decision it For some who are in need of a career, but and in this day and age, time is everything. living. Many people who have been laid off or is for you to find a good match for yourself,” don’t have the time to go to school, this is the NAIT has recognized this and has created cannot find work turn to NAIT’s “Career-in-a- Stewart said. perfect solution and opportunity for them. many programs that will allow students to use Year” programs in an attempt to get back on There will be computers set up for those All Career-in-a-Year programs present their time as effectively as possible. their feet. who would like to apply online that same night. potential students a life-changing opportunity NAIT’s answer, Career-in-a-Year Expo, Stewart has noticed that there are more 91.7 The Bounce will also be there handing out for an investment of less than one year. is taking place this Saturday, March 13 in the applications for these programs in South Lobby. recent years. The Expo showcases the certificates NAIT “We are seeing an increase this offers and demonstrates how one year can year in the number of applicants we’ve influence someone’s life positively, which is received to date and one of the reasons good when many people are looking for stable for that we think might be the state of careers but don’t have the time or money to go the economy. More people who are not to school for a long period of time. working right now are thinking of get- NAIT has over 50 certificate programs that ting re trained,” he said. range from weekend courses to full year pro- The Career-in-a-Year Expo is here grams to address the issue of receiving a stable to provide people with information they career for a short period of education. need to make informed decisions about Don Stewart, NAIT’s high school partner- their career paths. ship co-ordinator, believes that secondary edu- On Saturday there will be over 25 cation is necessary in order to be successful in booths set up in the South Lobby and the job market. many people will be there to answer “There’s a definite need for people to have any questions prospective students some sort of secondary education for them to might have. do well in the job market,” he said. “A cer- Stewart thinks it’s important for pro- tain group of people that want to, either out of spective students to attend the event. necessity or out of preference, [should] be able “Its always an advantage to have to get training properly,” Steward said. information. The more information you Thursday, March 11, 2010 NEWS AND features The Nugget 3 NAIT digests cutbacks By JEff CummINgS increase revenue or reducing costs.” “It’s a situation that all the post-secondarys are The Nugget With a roughly $9.7 million rollback in gov- Shaw declined The Nugget’s request for an facing – we are one of a number,” said Janzen. Room E-128B ernment grants, NAIT school executives polled interview about the consultations. “We are just trying to make sure, as we go 11762–106 Street staff last week for ideas on how to make up the NAIT’s Board of Governors is proposing though our budgetary process, that we mitigate as Edmonton, Alberta massive shortfall. plans this month for its 2010/2011 budget to much as we can so that we emerge from this situ- T5G 2R1 NAIT President Dr. Sam Shaw held one-on-one reduce the number of apprentice students it trains ation as a stronger organization.” Production Office 471-8866 consultations with staff on Tuesday (March 9) to get by as many as 1,000 – something that could affect Janzen said he has heard from roughly 50 www.thenuggetonline.com feedback on how to deal with the 5.2 per cent cut.