3 JANUARY 19, 2005 A Historic Beginning on Campus First Students of the Northern Medical Program Begin Classes at UNBC Br KATHLEEN DE VERE AND CAROLINNE BURKHOLDER News EDITOR, AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF January 10 was a historic day in UNBC’s short history, as the first 25 students of the Northern Medical Program began their studies in Prince George, taking the first medical pro- gram classes ever held at UNBC. “This is a very exciting and this is a very historic day,” said David Snadden, the Associate Vice President of Medicine at UNBC. “ The last 18 months have been very busy, and the staff have worked really hard. I think the last six months for them has been ineredibly busy, but we’ve now reached the stage where we just nced to get on and run the program.” been over whelmed by the wel-’ come we Bot here, and we're really excited and we lak forward to working in the community.” - Philip Hui “Tm really excited to be part of something started in the north, for the north,” satd Snadden. The 25 students in the Northern Mcdical Program come from a varicty of different hometowns, and complet- “Orieb gabon oe KA Ee ee x. George wasnt my < first choice, but si bee cists thee as, |e) pene mere i trade it tor anyihn ed their undergraduate degrecs at uni- versities all over Canada, but what unitcs most of them is thcir desire to work in northern British Columbia. “Y’'m planning on practicing in the north,” said Sharona Supernault, who originally hails from Dawson Creck, and completed her bachelors of First Nations Studies at UNBC, but took the requircd science courses on top of her arts coursework. — “[’m very excited to be here. ’m so happy to be here, I’m not a Vancouver girl. I spent some time there, and did- n't like the weather It’s like one scason ‘because it’s raining all the time, I like the weather heré. It’s cald, but it’s sunny.” While Supernault had a plan to return to the north, other students like Daniel Crompton, who originally hails from Kelowna, made their decisions to work in the north after living here. “Originally Prince George wasn’t my first choice, but since being here I wouldn't’ trade it for anything,” said Crompton. “Vancouver was my first choice, but since being here and inter- acting with some of the medical com- munity’ and secing what kind of comi- munity support there is here, and being at UNBC and in Prince ‘George I wouldn’t trade it for anything So I’m really looking ‘forward to studying here.” ‘ Philip Hui, another convert to northern living, echocs Crompton’s thoughts. F “I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and I came to Canada about 10 years ago,” said Hui. “TI lived in Vancouver for nine ycars, and then I worked up in Dawson Creck for a year. I really enjoyed my year in Dawson Creck, and I’m definitely excited to be here. The enthusiasm is incredible here and we’ve [Northern Medical Program students] been overwhelmed by-the welcome we got here, and we’re really excited and we look forward to working in the community.” Another Student in the Northern -UNBC Students Raise Money For Tsunami Victims Br KaTHLeeNn DE VERE News EpiTor Students and staff at UNBC raised money for the victims of the Asian tsunami on January sixth and seventh by trading donations to the Red Cross for lollipops. The event was dubbed ‘Buck a Suck’ by Serena Hartl, NUGSS’ Director of Campus activities, and was organized by UNBC student Jenny Kennedy-Pannett. “Last week I decided that we should do a fundraiser for the Red Cross to make some money for those people who were affected by the Tsunami,” said Kennedy-Pannett. “You can’t just sit there [watching the footage on TV] and not be affected by it.” Buck a Suck was sponsored by~ NUGSS, and Richard King, the president of the International Studies Students Association came out to help Kennedy-Pannett and her friends staff tlie table. A “NUGSS bought the candy,” said Kennedy-Pannett, “and they let us use their table. I went to NUGSS because I was having trouble getting a table because it was Clubs Day, and they said we could use their table.” The Buck a Suck table was in operation from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p-m,, and proved to be very effective, with many people dropping off far more than the $1 minimum dona- ‘tion. At the end of the two day period, UNBC students had donated more than $600 for the Red Cross’ tsuna- mi relief fund. For more information on how you can help the survivors of the Asian tsunami, contact the Prince George office of the Red Cross, or ask at the NUGSS office. Medical Program, Kathleen O’Mallcy, actually hails from Prince Gcerge, and made the decision to return to her hometown to study medicine. “I did my undergraduate at Queens University,” explaincd O’Mallcy. “I returned here aftcr going to Qucens, and F actually did my Masters here in Community Health. I’m from here -and my family is here, so ’'m happy to be back up north. The new facility and the staff are wonderful, and I’m so excited to.be here.” The Northern Medical Program was cstablished as a response to, the often critical shortages of physicians Puoto BY RoB VAN ADRICHEIM Some of the students from the innaugral in the Northern Medical program attending the first medical classes offered at UNBC. and healthcare professionals that northern communities face, and is part of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, but focuses the curriculum with a northern and rural context. Students the Northern Mcdical Program spend their first semester at UBC, then move to UNBC for the remainder of their first and second years. During their third and fourth ycars; students have opportunitics to spend a significant of time in hospital and community scttings throughout northern BC and beyond if thcy so choose. UNBC Promotes Wireless Campus Br Dana SCHIVEHR STAFF WRITER UNBC is currently in the process of building a wireless nctwork for the computing convenience of students on campus. Wircless computing technology is becoming incrcasingly popular in today’s mobile socicty, and keeping with the times, UNBC’s Computing and Tclecommunications Services (CTS) is working on building a wire- Icss network for students to access. Laptops with wireless cthernet cards will be able to use this new network, as will PDA’s that access the internet using 802.11 Wireless Fidclity. Other PDA devices and cell phones will not be able to use the network, and roaming capabilitics will not be provided. A large number of arcas on cam- pus arc slated to become wircless hotspots. Anywhere that students con- gregate will eventually be included in the network, according to Glen Montgomery, the CTS network archi- tect whois heading the project. This includes the. Cafeteria, the Wintergarden, some Iccture theatres in the Agora, and some of the teach- ing labs in the lab exterision and the new medical building, as well as the Bentley Centre and Student Services Strect. Initial services on the new wireless system will be limited to Intemet access only. Once some of the more pressing security and implementation issucs arc resolved, it is hoped that students will be able to access all of the services provided to the wired net- works on campus through the wireless conncctions. Once of the main goals of the pro- ject is to cventually give, students access to the school servers and print stations from. their own laptops. However, it is necessary to update all of the wired networks before this will he possible. At this point in time, there are only five operational wireless access points on campus..There is one point in the Admin building, one in the Canfor, two in the mcdical building, and onc in the library. Most students cannot yet usc these access points, as there is currently no way to distribute the ncc- essary software. Once the website for the project is operational, the software will be avail- able for download, as will instructions on how to wirelcss internct at UNBC, and a map of all wireless hotspots on campus. It is hoped that the website will be up within the next week, but that depends on when the new cquip- ment that is requircd for the site arrives. Updates on the status of the new nctworks, as well as instructions and software for use will be available at http://wireless.unbe.ca.