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The delicate art of procrastination
Chloe Chen dreamt about doing a school assignment. She had gone to sleep at three in the morning. Earlier that night, Chen, then a first-year student in Ryerson University’s fashion design program, had planned to complete a major project for one of her main school courses. A few hours prior, when Chen was finally about to start working on the assignment that she had left to the last minute, she received a text: A man asked her out on a date. Chen says that even at the time, she knew she had to do the project, but she was hungry and wanted to go out for dinner. She decided that…
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Aliénor Rougeot leads Ontario youth in the fight against climate change
Aliénor Rougeot almost considered giving up. Rougeot says that after she saw the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, her fight for climate change legislation became an even more daunting task. “I almost thought, like, ‘Should I stop climate activism?’” she said. “Because [the pandemic] just set us back a whole lot in terms of pursuing environmental regulations, since [governments] have to put money elsewhere. This is just so big.” Rougeot, 21, has been a climate activist since she was a young child. She credits her mother for helping her get started. Growing up, Rougeout’s mother only allowed her to use the computer to read or watch educational content. “The…
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How to maintain academic excellence while working part-time
It’s common for college and university students to work part-time while enrolled in school. According to Statistics Canada, over 52 per cent of college students in Canada, ages 15 to 19, worked during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. That number rose to over 54 per cent for students ages 20 to 24. For universities, 34 per cent of students ages 15 to 19 worked during those years, while over 45 per cent of students ages 20 to 24 worked. The employment rate for post-secondary students was 52.5 per cent in Feb. 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic caused that number to plummet. As the world returns to normal, many students will surely…
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Students save money on public transit amid the pandemic
Many college and university students in Ontario, particularly those in the Greater Toronto Area, normally take public transit to get to class. According to a 2015 survey of more than 15,000 students by StudentMoveTO — in collaboration with the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, OCAD and York University — 63 per cent of respondents reported the use of public transit to get to school. Ryerson’s data from 2017 to 2018 indicates that more than three-quarters of students at the university took public transit to school; 54 per cent used local transit like the TTC, while 23 per cent took regional transit like the GO train. For a Ryerson student like Abbey Humphreys-Morris, who takes…
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Watching history: Looking for a sports media job during the pandemic
For sports journalists, it’s almost a job requirement to care about history. Luka Doncic scored the most points in a playoff debut. History. Kyle Lowry is chasing all the Toronto Raptors’ franchise records. History. The Houston Rockets broke the NBA record for missed three-pointers again. History. People who work in sports media generally tend to love records, history and unprecedented events. It makes for a great story, an easy way to illustrate how important and rare a current event may be. As we all know, 2020 has been the year of the “unprecedented.” We’ve all heard and read that word more times than we can count, more times than we’d ever want to.…
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Staying active while staying home
Most colleges and universities in Ontario are holding all classes online during fall semester, which means that post-secondary students won’t have easy access to school gyms or reason to walk around campuses. Much of Ontario moved to Stage 3 of reopening in late July, which allowed gyms to reopen. However, many students normally use school gyms, and some may feel uncomfortable going to public gyms, for risk of their own or their family members’ health. As classes resumed online this month, many students are spending their days doing coursework from home. That makes it crucial for students to stay active, says Jess Takimoto, a third-year commerce student at Queen’s University…