Headlines/April 6, 1992

student exchange builds bonds with Quebecois

counterparts

Canada may be subject to antagonism
and argument among the regions at the
national level, but bring people together
at the face-to-face level and they seem to
be able to find some common ground.

Fifteen college students from Cegep
de Riviere-du-Loup in Quebec recently
got the chance to bond with their Fraser
Valley counterparts when they travelled
to B.C. for a 15 day exchange with
UCFV French students. The UCFV
students will travel to Quebec in Apmil.

Quebecois and B.C. students found
they had plenty of likes in common —
including parties, sunshine, mountains,
and cherry blossoms in March. The
Quebecois had left snow and 2 degree
weather at home, and had no complaints
about B.C.’s early spring.

For many, it was their first visit to
B.C., and they said they came for a
chance to see another part of the country
in an economical way.

“It’s a good chance to practice my
English, and meet other people,” said
one exchangee. “The country is too big
and it’s expensive to come to the coast.”

UCFYV student Anna-Marie Bruinsma
cited similar reasons for wanting to go to
Quebec.

“T wanted to try my French out, and to
go to Quebec to see how things are
there,” she says. “We’re so far apart, that
we could end up not communicating
with each other.”

Some of the Quebecois students shied
away from talking about politics, but
Frederic d’Amours had some advice for
politicians: “They should stop talking
and do something. There’s a lot of
commissions, but little action. Most
Quebecois think they want to separate,
but they don’t really know what they
want. I want to know people from other
parts of the country so we can stay one
country.”

Exchange coordinator Paul Ruest, a
philosophy instructor from
Riviere-du-Loup, was also on his first
visit to B.C., and he found the trip
enlightening.

‘When I first arrived, I just wanted to
see what B.C. looked like. But now I’m

UCFV student Samantha Hannah and Riviere-du-Loup counterpart Stephanie
Girard-Dumont had plenty to smile about during their exchange week.

realizing that it is also part of my
country. If everyone in Canada had a
chance to see many parts of it, we would
feel stronger as a nation. It’s easier. to

say you want to quit with a region you

don’t know.”

One UCFYV student said she takes
French because she likes it, and hopes to
teach it one day. “I think French is good
for everyone to take because we are a
bilingual country, and we should stay
one country. It wouldn’t be the same if a
big chunk was taken out. We have to
start thinking of ourselves as Canadians
instead of dividing up into regions.”

UCFYV language instructor Alan
Cameron organized the exchange, along
with his Quebecois counterpart. He says
that the objectives of this exchange are
to give students the chance to use their
second language in real life situations, to
discuss constitutional issues with their
Quebecois counterparts, to provide the
opportunity for friendships to grow, and
to give insight into the cultural, social
and political realities of contemporary
Quebec.

Quattro Pro training

Anyone who would like to learn
Quattro Pro, the spreadsheet program
coming in to common use around
UCFYV, is invited to join employees
Linda Toews and Carole
Higginbottom at a special one-day
training session at the King Training
and Conference Centre at 16 Ave and
Bradner Road in Abbotsford. Tuition
is $140, including lunch.

The session, to be held on Fri.,
April 24, will cover creating, editing
and saving a spreadsheet; copying,
moving, formatting, and printing a
spreadsheet; creating and using block
names and making tables of blocks;
working with formulas and built-in
functions, using Print to Fit; using
search and replace, and using File
Manager.

At any time within six months of
completing this training session the
student may attend another regularly
scheduled session of this same course
as a refresher at no extra charge.

For further information, contact
Ross Jewell, registrar of the Education
and Training Society, at 538-1623.