After Megan Thomson completed her alternative placement hours for Western’s bachelor of education program by volunteering with Forests Ontario, she kept going. That commitment – and her impressive results – earned Thomson the White Pine Award fr …
Education
Carrying the weight of the future
Heavy lifting is all in a day’s work for teacher-turned-athlete Danielle Holdsworth. The competitive weightlifter is preparing for a new school year as a Grades 5/6 teacher and librarian at Orchard Park Public School in London, Ont., and she will have some pretty...
Leave offers hope for domestic violence victims
As the federal government moves towards consultations on a benefit that would allow survivors of domestic violence to take paid leave from work, Barb MacQuarrie sees a paradigm shift she knows is crucial to supporting survivors.
Hibbert: Must trust teachers on health education
Teachers will do what is necessary to create safe and inclusive classrooms for their students. That may mean that they will draw on other resources and texts to teach students about consent, safe and responsible use of social media, LGBTQ2S families and so on....
Western awarded funding for cannabis education
The Faculty of Education has received $99,000 from the Public Health Agency of Canada to inform educators about the health and safety risks associated with cannabis use, prevent problematic substance use and promote healthy choices for Canadian youth.
Revitalizing Indigenous Education and redefining scholarship
Education is considered to be one of the most potent tools to improve the lives of young Indigenous peoples in Canada. And its work remains unfinished, according to one Western researcher. More than half of Canada’s youngest and fastest-growing population hasn’t...
Study: Creativity is state of mind, can be trained
As an undergraduate student at York University, Joel Lopata was studying film production and jazz performance when a discrepancy became apparent. “I noticed students in the jazz program were really developing a language of creative engagement, whereas in the film...
Bringing empathetic healing to the community
Your story isn’t over yet; That message on a simple plaque – intentionally continuing its thought via a semi-colon – is the first thing visitors see when they enter Rebecca Machado’s office at Daya Counselling Centre in downtown London. The plaque was a gift from a...
Clinic success spotlights dire need for help for children
Four months after a Western child-and-youth clinic opened as a safety valve for backlogs in mental health services, the centre is working through a waiting list as long as 10 weeks. The new interdisciplinary Child and Youth Development Clinic helps children work...
Rising-star composer signs with top publisher
As a pre-schooler, Sarah Quartel found music everywhere, even in the tuneless rattle of the refrigerator. “I used to sing along with the hum of the appliances and create melodies and harmonies from what I heard.” Today, Quartel, BMus’05, BEd’06, is one of Canada’s...
Pioneering direction in Down syndrome research
As an undergraduate student, Nicole Neil helped change the life of a young boy with autism. She found textbook concepts came to life as she worked with him. Now an Education professor at Western, she remembers real life intersecting with classroom learning: "I was...
Newsmakers: The Advocate
Christy Bressette When Christy Bressette, BA’95 (Brescia), BEd’96, PhD’08, first stepped onto Western’s campus more than two decades ago, it was “an isolating experience.” Thankfully, this won’t be the case for an incoming student today. In the coming year, Bressette...
Team has the World by a string
Teams from across campus turned their attention to the global burden of mental illness in low- and middle-income countries at the local final of the Western World’s Challenge Challenge, held as part of International Week celebrations. The team comprised of Education...