JENNIFER LANG _ JUST A. THOUGHT - EV BISHOP Learning by example. TUMBLING ALONG in my “trying to S work from home” journey, I find my- self more and more sympathetic to my son's difficulties with concentrating, sitting in his desk, and NOT talking in class. I don’t know how people who have to sit in a desk for two hours, let alone a whole work day, do it. 1 want to write full-time and yet I still find that for my mature, SERIOUSLY MOTIVATED SELF sitting down in.a desk and getting down to work is really, really hard. Even in the midst of being fully engaged in what I'm doing, I constantly fight the desire to get up, move around, get a drink, go for a walk, call someone... You get the point. All this, plus the fact that I spend a few days a month in classrooms around Terrace, has me shaking my head in disbelief over the School Board’s decision te go to a longer hours, four day school week, It's all some stu- dents can do to make it through the hours they’re in class as it is. Talk to anyone who spends time in a class- room about the differences between mornings and afternoons. Most will say, only half jok- ingly, that the students are in comas for the afternaon. The best time for learning is the morning. I’m sure that a few students break this rule; they're not morning people or they have amazing energy for learning. They are exceptions, The exceptional Student can survive; even thrive in, whatever the classroom throws at them. They can. tune out the noise of the ever- enlarging student numbers in. small. spaces, Despite larger class sizes, less ‘(if any) inde- ” pendent time with teacher, curriculum cuts, classes with more ‘special ‘needs and less. re- sources to help those needs, they. manage to learn, stay on task and achieve at or above — grade level. However, most students are not exceptional. They are average. This isn’t an insult: It’s reality. Most students are like us. They need peace and quiet and exposure to concepts over time to get a hold of what they mean and how to apply them. Very few of us can hear something once and get it down right, once and for all. With the schools in our area not only going to a four day instructional weeks but also changing to semester systerns, the weight of each class in terms of the amount of know- ledge presented as a percentage of the term will be enormous. Having a hard time grasping concepts, illness or anything that keeps a stu- dent from learning even one class worth of in- formation will set him seriously behind, almost immediately. How are primary students supposed to man- age to stay focussed for an even longer day? Some of them go from needing daily naps into school days as it is. The whole situa- tion makes me beg the question, has anyone in charge of coming up with this “solution” ever spent time in a classroom? It may temporarily ease some budget problems but that's it. The Ministry of Education’s yearly FSAs show our schools consistently rank lower than schools dawn south and our number of students achieving at grade level keeps declining. One would think this would trigger the Education Minister and the local School Board to seek ways to improve education methods in our area, Instead, they iay off more teachers, close schools and now this. No one pretends that this will have educational benefits. Al] the discus- sion is aboul proving it not to be “detrimental.” Is that our goal now? Who cares if we’re actually successful in educating so long as we're not detrimental! The board will defend themselves, saying that their hands are tied and that even with these drastic measures, they are still over bud- get for 2003/2004. They have my sympathy. I don’t have ready answers or solutions... but I do know that short changing today’s youth isn’t the answer, One of my frustrations is that most students don’t seem to realize that education is precious. Why they don’t recognize its value? Because they've learned to disrespect it from our government, If the ruling powers of a society don’t value education, why would the youth? No doubt, the many wonderful teachers in Coast Mountain School District will rise to the occasion and work hard to come up with crea- tive ways of keeping kids from getting exhaus- ted, keeping them learning. Their stress, watching strugglers fall further and further be- hind, will multiply but they will persevere. Students who thrived will do fine, Average stu- dents will come home exhausted and stressed out but. most will make it/Those students on the fringe, those who don’t get a lot of support - from home... What will happen to them? . _ TERRACE STANDARD Was there a mass UFO sighting? By JENNIFER LANG : TERRACE IS living up to its reputation as a UFO hot spot. As many as 30 people may have recently witnessed two black, triangular-shaped flying objects in the Lakelse Lake area, the north- west’s resident UFO researcher has been. told. Brian Vike, field researcher and president of HBCC-UFO, is now hoping to talk to eye- witnesses to verity the report. He also wants to find out more details like the exact time, date and description of the sighting - thought to have taken place several weeks ago. That would help him determine what wit- nesses saw. A variely of known objects such as Stars, planets, meteors, or aircraft can be mis- taken for UFOs, Vike learned about the sighting after some- one sent him an email telling him that more than 3G people had witnessed two triangular objects in the sky. “I'm kind of chomping at the bit - all I need is a couple of names and number to cet on this,” he said from his home’ base in Houston, B.C. “Fram what I’m gathering, they’re professional people — not just kids.” Vike is intrigued by the possibility that the sighting involves ‘triangular-shaped objects, which are less commonly reported, There's been a flurry of UFO reports along the’ Highway 16 corridor lately. - “It’s just been non stop. for the last little bit,” he said, adding he’s received eight or nine reports in the past week. “There’s some- thing. 1 don’t-know if it’s military. It’s a poss- --at-this-year’s event, held at the ibility.” Another recent report from the Terrace area involved a yellow ball of light the size of a basketball spotted over a trailer in Thornhill. It moved low in the air, travelling quickly before pausing above the mountain. “Then it procee- © ded like a bang,” Vike says. The recent activity suggests Terrace’s top ten showing on the 2002 Canada UFO survey may have been no fluke. The survey counted 25 eyewitness reports from Terrace in 2002, putting us in third place overall, ahead of Houston, B.C., which is in fourth place and even ahead of major metropo- litan areas like Toronte and Vancouver. To reach Vike’s. UFO hotline, call toll free 1-866-262-1989 or send him an email at hbccufo @ telus, net: Teamwork gives Cal the edge Physics Olympians s sav thinas lust flowed at a recent | brovince- -wide competion By JENNIFER LANG IT TAKES a cool head and lots of preparation if you want to make it to the Physics Olym- pics. The annual contest attracts some of the brightest young minds in the province. And Terrace’s own Physics Olympics team is right at the head of the pack, once again returning home with an im- pressive finish somewhere in the top 10 (the final results aren’t in yet). The team, comprised of 10 members. of the Physics Club at Calendonia Senior Secondary, placed fourth in two of six events. Not bad when you consider there were 66 teams battling it out University of British Columbia. Here’s an idea of what the competition can be like: A tubber chicken is tossed into the air, returning to the grounds in 4.6 seconds. How high did it go? You've got one minute to figure it out and the clock is ticking. The answer, says team coach Allan Wooton, involves knowing the right formulas and the beha- viour of projectiles, This year the team also man- aged to come out ahead of Pen- THIS thing heats water to the boiling point using a light bulb and aluminum foil, say teammates Tyler Sheasby, Jesse Mumford, and Crystal Lind. JENNIFER LANG PHOTO teams head out to a mock crash site to conduct an investigation using tire skid marks and physics formulas to find out what hap- pened. “] thought it showed how well we worked as a tear,” says Lind, who plans to study physics after she graduates, “Everyone had their own job. It just flowed.” A maximum of five team members are allowed to take part in each event. Teams must enter all six events, Two events require a pre-built structure. The team built a lightweight tower from popsicle sticks and toothpicks to support the weight of a 4-litre milk jug filled with water. ‘The aim is. to. built the lightest structure capable of bearing the most weight. Cal placed fourth for its design, which required a lot. of adaption and revisions leading up io com- petition day. The team also brought along an impressive-looking contraption made with pink Styrofoam. and filled with aluminum foil. The Caledonia Vapourizer, a beam-focuser that uses a patabo- | lic shape to concentrate the light from a 250-watt bulb, proved cap- able of heating a film canister of water to the boiling point in just ticton, known to offer stiff compe- tition. But Wooton, a physics teacher and club sponsor, refuses to dwell Wooten thinks other aspects of the trip are just as important. This time around, his team toured the Triumf particle acce- says she’s pleased with how the team fared at the day-long com- petition, especially “considering 12 minutes. “I liked seeing all the designs,” said team member Tyler Sheasby, who also enjoyed seeing on the competitive aspect of the event, pointing to the other, more we're from a smail town and the UBC campus for the first time. meaningful benefits. “I always think that the main thing is good sportsmanship and ‘Everyone had their own job. It just flowed.’ For Jesse Mumford, just seeing the inside of a big university lec- ture hall is another favourite good learning,” he says. “I want the kids to go and compete and understand a pro- blem and make a good try at it.” Learning about dealing with incidents of racism IF YOU make personnel decisions or help set your office policy, a workshop on how to deal with racist or hate-motivated inci- dents may be for you. Susan O'Donnell, executive director of the B.C, Human Rights Coalition, a non- profit group, will help familiarize partici- pants with the coalition’s new manual-on dealing with racist incidents at a day- long workshop April 9, Responding to incidents of Racism and Hate: A Handbook for Service Providers, is being distributed to various communi- ties around the province. It's meant to provide staff at social service agencies across the province with tools they need to support victims of ra- cism and to respond effectively when in- cidents or issues take place in their com- munities. The workshop will also look at racism from a legal perspéctive and what steps organizations and individuals can take, Meanwhile, a local anti-racism man- ual is being developed for Terrace, put- ting it ahead of the curve, “Tsrrace is getling very organized in the way in which they respond to inci- dents of racism,” coalition spokesperson Terri Kennedy said from Vancouver. * Other communities are being encour- aged to develop a similar tool. The coalition will. also be visiting. workshops in Kitimat, Prince Rupert and va lerator at UBC and attended a first year physics lecture, Team member Crystal Lind ‘bunal, a quasi judicial body that’s been tion and Terrace and District ‘Community Services, . added. Smithers. The handbook is being developed by he Skeena Multiculturalism Diversity Project, a local ad hoc committee com- prised of the Multicultural Association, RCMP, schcol district, Kermode Friend- ship Saciety, and others. The workshop will also outline the lat- est changes to B.C.’s Human rights legis- lation - including the new role victims assistance programs are expected to fulfil. Racism is just one form of discrimina- tion falling under B.C.’s human rights code, New provincial human rights legisla- tion came into force April 1. It spells the end of the B.C. Human Rights Commis- sion, which used to be the initial point of contact for people wanting to find out about pursing complaints. Instead, potential complainants will deal directly with the Human Rights Tri- greatly expanded. - ’ A publicly-funded. human rights legal clini¢ will function alongside, offering in- formation and advice to individuals with human rights complaints. The workshop is sponsored by the Ter- race and District Multicultural Associa- For further details; gee e Community Ca- lendar on Page B2, . we're not a private school,” she - Her favourite contest saw the 5 . a It’s Daylight Savings DON’T FORGET to set your clocks ahead one hour Sun- day morning, North America switches to Daylight Sav- ings Time April 7 at 2 am. Of course, you'll lose an hour of sleep, but look‘ on the bright side - you'll get that hour back in October, when Daylight Savings Time ends. memory of the trip. The Grade 12 student says he plans to study physics at univers- ° ity after graduation. CUBS make their wooden ‘Kars’ trom kits. Kub Kar Rally IT’S A CAR racing challenge in miniature. And best of all, there will be no burning of fossil fuels - entrants in the annual Terrace District Kub Kar Rally prefer to let gravity take ils course, Cubs from across the district will enter the April 5 rally, held at the Skeena Mall (registration at 11:30 a.m.-noon). Beaver Buggies and Scout Trucks will also be competing Saturday, but the big draw is the Kub Kar event, For weeks, local cubs have been creating their hand- made cars — built from a single black of wood ‘as part of a kit. One session even saw the First Terrace Scouts get a helping hand from wood working instructors at North- west Community College. ~ Slap on some wheels: and add. weight to make sure they ‘meet the regulation. five. ounces. and: they! re e ready to g0. Come: ‘watch the fun. ” .