As an ISCI student, it might seem odd to join the Co-op program. You might be wondering, what could I learn from Co-op that would actually be useful? You might think it’s a waste of time, adding an extra year to your degree, to just work, when you can do that after you graduate. You might feel like Co-op will not help you and your degree. However, I am here to change your mind! Co-op is not just a year of working, it’s a life changing experience, which could fully change your plans for the future. The skills you learn, be it wet lab, clinical research, or even just soft skills, make you a hundred times more hireable post-graduation. As well, the experience looks amazing on medical school applications, graduate school applications, and many many other programs. In fact, Co-op is one of the only ways to shadow doctors in Canada. That kind of experience can truly help you decide on the course of your future. Maybe being a doctor is exactly what you want to do, but maybe it’s not! And wouldn’t it be great to figure that out sooner rather than later, so when you return to fourth year, you have a focus and a goal in mind? Co-op is not just amazing for academic positions, there are opportunities in clinical research in the hospital, or in the biotech industry, or in STEM outreach, or even in small start-ups in completely different fields. The cool part is you have 16 months to work in whatever field you would like to and figure out what YOU want to do! You don’t have to take classes, you get paid, and you get time to learn more about yourself. Sometimes, in the rush of school, it's hard to take time for yourself, to figure things out, but Co-op gives you some much needed rest and time to soul search. I can only speak to my own experience, but for me, Co-op was earth shattering, life changing, and transformative. When I entered the Co-op program, I was really confused about what I should do after graduating. My options were graduate school, medical genetic counselling, and some kind of professional program, but other than this, I had no clue! I didn’t know if I would like medical genetic counselling, and I had zero clue as to what field I would want to be in for graduate school. I was confused and figured I would take a year off to work, and figure it out. To be completely honest, I wasn’t confident in my ability to get into graduate school, or even in myself! I felt like I was just another average ISCI student and wasn’t sure how to make myself standout. The Co-op program was a game changer. Co-op is not just 16 months of working. Leading up to this, you attend workshops on resumes, cover letters, and interviews, you meet and network with other ISCI co-op students, you talk to alumni and senior students. Most importantly, you are mentored by the ISCI Co-op Coordinator, Yas Azarpajouh. Yas is one of the most kind-hearted persons I know. She truly has your best interests in mind and takes the time to meet with you to work on your resume, cover letters and interview skills! She is there with you every step of the way, from entry to the program, landing your first job, checking in to see how you are adjusting, and to the other end, when you finally return to school. Yas was instrumental in my own journey. With her help, I landed a job with Dr. Kevin Hay at the Terry Fox Labs (TFL) in the BC Cancer Research Centre studying CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy. I had always been interested in gene therapies, but never expected to actually get a job in the field! My experience at the TFL was amazing, and I realized, I want to continue to study immunotherapy, and work towards improving them to improve cancer patient outcomes! After this, I worked at the University of Calgary, with Dr. Hermann Schaetzl studying heat shock proteins in prion diseases. Calgary is home, so I was lucky to be there during the pandemic. I was even luckier to have the opportunity to work on a review and help prepare a manuscript for publication! Through the Co-op program, I learned many wet lab skills, but I also learned about research, working in academia, and I finally figured out what I am passionate about. I got my first publication. I have offers to return to both labs for graduate school. I connected with other co-op students and graduate students, making some amazing friends. Co-op truly changed my life, for the better. I encourage you all to apply to Co-op, attend an information session (below), or just visit the website! The application deadline is October 1 for third years. If you are in second year, feel free to attend the sessions as well, and think about checking the “Co-op” box in your degree proposal! And as always, feel free to contact me through this form, or on my insta! Cheers, Charu UBC Science Co-op Yes, this is a photo of me, in the lab, counting some cells... Session 1:
Date: Friday, September 18th, 2020 Time: 1pm – 2pm Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/67811311685?pwd=VnNTYlltVlR3Ynh3UlptaktTZTF4UT09 Passcode: 034794 Session 2: Date: Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020 Time: 12pm – 1pm Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/66343713666?pwd=eUsvdUZ1Y3g3TTF1R0tRY3RpZnE0QT09 Passcode: 093056 Session 3: Date: Friday, September 25th, 2020 Time: 1pm – 2pm Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/67811311685?pwd=VnNTYlltVlR3Ynh3UlptaktTZTF4UT09 Passcode: 034794 Session 4: Date: Wednesday, September 30th, 2020 Time: 12pm – 1pm Zoom link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/66343713666?pwd=eUsvdUZ1Y3g3TTF1R0tRY3RpZnE0QT09 Passcode: 093056
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First, I want to say welcome to all of you second year Integrated Science students! I hope you are all super excited for the upcoming school year, even though classes will be online. My name is Charu, and I will be going into my fifth and final year of integrated sciences and my disciplines are molecular biology and immunology. I am in both the Co-op program and honors so feel free to reach out if you have any questions about these! Lastly, but most importantly, I am your ISSA (Integrated Sciences Student Association) VP Admin for the upcoming school year, so you will probably hear from me in various blog posts and such. Second year ISCI can be such a confusing time. I remember having no idea what courses to take as an incoming ISCI student. I heard the words "degree proposal" had no idea what that was. I was overwhelmed by the number of courses I was interested in. I ended up spending hours looking into possible courses I would want to take in my upper years and looking into their pre-requisites to try to cover every possible angle, just in case I changed my mind. I know most upper year ISCI students went through a similar experience. As an ISCI student, you are given this amazing opportunity to plan your degree. What it also means, is you can literally take any course you want. With the vast number of courses available, this gets to be very confusing! I hope to provide some clarity and to guide you through this confusing mess, as you near course registration. Below is a general guideline for courses needed in second year for specific disciplines. Of course, these are only suggestions and there may be courses I have missed! Ultimately, you can take any course you choose to, and integrate any subject you are passionate about so you should make sure to do your research on what pre-requisites may be required for any upper level courses you are interested in. I only hope to shed some light on a very confusing grey area. Note You also have to make sure you fulfill your general requirements from the Faculty of Science! Check out these links for more details: Shout out to our amazing Marketing Coordinator, Hannah, who made these beautiful visuals!!!
Note: If your integration involved life sciences, you will be required to take BIOL 200 and BIOL 201 or BIOC 202 Other resources The CMS Package worksheets may be helpful – it has details on their 7 subjects and combinations which may help you in your search for courses. Another good idea is to look at other Majors (Biology, Microbiology, Stats, Biochemistry, …) on the UBC advising website and see what courses are mandatory in second year. In September, we will have events to help you find a Mentor and offer a Peer Mentor program for help with your degree proposals. Right now, just focus on planning out your courses for this upcoming year, and thinking about what courses you will want to take later in your degree. Good luck! And of course, feel free to reach out to those of us here at ISSA, Mary Anne (Program Manager and Advisor) or Science Advising if you need any support with course planning! Cheers, Charu From a final year ISCI student. 1. The ability to build your own degree
The freedom to choose your own specialization allows you customize and tailor your degree to support your passions. 2. Very few requirements! Instead of taking courses you are not interested in, you can focus on what is actually essential to your disciplines. 3. Fantastic faculty mentorship ISCI has a great group of faculty mentors. This means you will have one-on-one time with a UBC professor who will help guide you as you design your degree and possibly beyond! 4. No required lab courses This can be both a pro and con, but I like to see it as a pro. Lab courses take up a lot of time, and so without them, you will have a lot more free time to be a part of the UBC community. This could be through volunteering, working, joining a club, or even assisting in a research lab! Research experience is worth 10x what you will learn in a course. 5. Really cool courses ISCI offers some really cool courses like ISCI 361 where you go to Hawaii or Iceland to study sustainability! Another fun course is ISCI 320, a research retreat without internet, or ISCI 350, Darwinian medicine. 6. An amazing department Mary Anne Lyons, the Program Manager and Advisor, is incredibly kind and helpful, and is always there to answer your questions and help you out! Lee Groat, the Director, is passionate about his teaching and loves getting to know every ISCI student. He is a great faculty mentor as well! 7. Directed Studies! Directed studies are a great opportunity for upper year ISCI students to carry out an individual research project, with the guidance of faculty. This can be lab, field, or theory based and allows you to apply your knowledge and gain real world experience. 8. An outstanding Co-op program. Yas Azarpajouh, the Co-op coordinator for ISCI, genuinely cares about each of her students and goes above and beyond to help each student find success! Many ISCI students pursue really cool Co-op opportunities—from clinical research to wet lab to industry, ISCI students are there! 9. Peer Mentorship ISSA offers a peer mentorship program, where second-year students are paired with a senior student who is able to answer your questions and provide support as you pick your courses and write your degree proposal. Of course, once you are a senior student, you can volunteer to be a peer mentor and give back to the ISCI community. 10. ISSA! The Integrated Sciences Student Association (ISSA) is all about helping and connecting ISCI students and has some great events to do so! From Meet your Mentor, where we help you find a faculty advisor, to proposal workshops to Meet Your Alumni, where ISCI grads offer insights on paths after your BSc, ISSA is there to support you! Festival food is amazing - most people eat it occasionally and in celebration, so it's already got the advantage of being a positive part of an event. That being said, I thought I'd ask about the best of the best; what other people's favourite festival foods and what they predicted would be next. I polled through Facebook (definitely a convenience sample, I hope you won't mind), and these were some of the quality replies I received: Favourite existing festival food? · The deep fried pickles with hot sauce because I love pickles, and adding the greasiness of the deep fryer and a touch of spicy hot sauce makes it so unbelievably delicious. –LD · Mini donuts. –ED · Crispy french fries forever and always. –MG · Deep fried cheesecake, hands down. Perfect texture contrast, with chocolate syrup for sweetness. -JS · Funnel cakes with strawberry sauce and whipped cream. It's the perfect combination of things. You've got your hot, salty and fluffy dough with sweet strawberry sauce and a dollop of creamy goodness. It's like the 5.0 version of a waffle. –RL · I'm a big fan of the classics, things like soft ice cream, caramel apples and hot dogs. Its like the original, vintage county fair food that brings back memories. -MT · My favorite food is definitely the mini doughnuts – I’m a sucker for the classics. Getting handed that bag (or bucket) of hot, gooey, sugary deliciousness is what dreams are made of. -MP · Smarties caramel apple because it's amazing and it's basically healthy for you. -KH · My favourite fair food would have to be either the mini drinkable watermelons (with the little tropical umbrellas) or the bacon wrapped foot long hotdogs. -JB Dream festival food? · My dream festival food would probably mini doughnuts, which they already have, no one can go wrong with mini doughnuts. –LD · Deep fried poutine. –ED · Pita and hummus because it's so yummy and also somewhat healthy sometimes? –MG · Old fashioned onion rings. For some reason I could only find strange versions at the festivals I was at this year. –JS · Not typical fried food, probably dim sum to go. But I suppose that's my favourite food anytime and anyplace... -RL · For me, because of what I like, the ideal or dream festival food kind of already exists. -MT · My dream food would be a something to do with a pierogi and poutine combo – love me some cheese and potatoes. -MP · The issue is that there's so many delicious things I can't choose just one, but it's all so expensive you have to. I want more combo options, because it'd be sweet if I could get a mixed platter so I could enjoy the deep fried cheesecake, Oreos and churros all together. -KH · My dream festival food would be cheese filled smokies wrapped in bacon and sprinkled with bacon bits and onion bits with sour cream, kinda like a baked potato. -JB Predicting the next crazy festival food? · Next year I think that the Calgary Stampede will have nachos, but instead of chicken or beef being added they will have alligator meat or some kind of meat you wouldn't find at many restaurants. –LD · Still deep fried poutine. –ED · I feel like those spiralized fried potatoes are the next big thing, but then again maybe they already are. Potatoes are great. –MG · Probably deep fried blueberry pie. I've got a strong feeling about this one. -JS · I'm guessing deep fried lobster. Deep fried anything they haven't already made! –RL · I think the next crazy festival food will probably be something new and really weird that's deep fried. Stampede is all about the whole "the bigger the better" thing, so anything that is oversized or that you would dare someone else to eat will be really popular. -MT · Probably something excessive, like a deep-fried-cheesecake-ice-cream-sandwich-with-a-burger-patty-in-between monstrosity. –MP · I think they're going to start bringing in weird meats, like snake on a stick or kangaroo tail, things that you'd only eat for the bragging rights. –KH · I think the next crazy food at the Stampede should be a one up from the scorpion pizza, so maybe like tarantula or cobra pizza? If that's even legal. -JB Do you want to vote for which food trend you think will be next?
http://geektyrant.com/news/2012/10/10/american-horror-story-asylum-watch-the-first-5-minutes.html The release date of this production by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk is October 7th 2015 on FX, with specials running in time for Halloween. To add to the thrill of the show, American Horror Story may be basing episodes on events that occurred in the Cecil Hotel, built in the 1920s in Los Angeles (now dubbed Stay on Main, an ineffective attempt to shift the focus from the hotel's gory past). In 2013, a UBC student died mysteriously in the Cecil Hotel - her name was Elisa Lam, and the circumstances of her death are definitely enough to inspire American Horror Story. Some other comments and footage point towards the Cecil Hotel being in the forefront of the season - according to popsugar.com, Ryan Murphy commented to the Television Critics Association that the hotel in the show, Hotel Cortez, is also set in downtown Los Angeles, while designntrend.com states 'the idea for "Hotel" was inspired by a surveillance video from a Los Angeles-based hotel that surfaced in 2013' and that 'the footage showed a girl in an elevator who was never seen again.' Now, I don't know about you, but I'm a skeptic when it comes to the paranormal. However, what really makes something creepy for me is when it's relatable or seems probable. The fact that this happened to a UBC student (like myself) in Los Angeles (where I vacationed this summer) makes this series of events, and possibly the American Horror Story Season 5, that much more creepy. Now that I've freaked myself out, I want you to decide what you think, based on the information I can give you about the show and the case. First, to start with Elisa Lam, a link to UBC. While she was staying at the Cecil Hotel (now Stay on Main), she was filmed acting bizarrely in an elevator. She proceeds to exit and enter the elevator with choppy movements, presses all of the buttons in the elevator, gestures mysteriously with her hands, and may have a conversation with someone (or something) down the hotel hallway... and later is found dead in the water tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel. Elisa Lam was found several days after her death, and therefore the guests of the Cecil Hotel (Stay on Main) drank contaminated water for days. Oddly enough, the autopsy later revealed that Elisa had no drugs or alcohol in her system. Some are sure there must have been a paranormal or cursed event to make her act this way, while others are adamant that her bipolar disorder and history of depression caused the episode. However, the unexplained remains that the roof was both alarmed and locked by an 'employees only' key, and firefighters had to saw open the water tank she was found in in order to get her out - how did Elisa Lam close the cover on herself, let alone get in?
Beyond the Elisa Lam case, the Cecil Hotel (Stay on Main) has numerous gory occurrences for American Horror Story to incorporate into 'Hotel.' According to roadtrippers.com, the Cecil Hotel housed 'The Night Stalker', serial killer Richard Ramirez, who murdered 13 women in 1984-1985. A copycat, Jack Unterweger, also killed while staying at the Cecil Hotel - he murdered a total of 3 female prostitutes. Furthermore, news.com.au and Splash News Australia note other grim events at the Cecil Hotel. These include the suicide of Pauline Otton out of her window in the hotel is one, and this resulted in the death of George Giannini, the man she landed on. In addition, nicknamed the 'Pigeon Woman', Goldie Osgood was found stabbed, strangled and raped in her room of the Cecil Hotel. Now, some of this could be a consequence of the location of the Cecil Hotel (this building is located near Skid Row, an area of Los Angeles associated with poverty and high crime rates) but something cursed or paranormal could also be the case. ^ if you aren't convinced According to IMDb, the cast for American Horror Story 'Hotel' will have an impressive list of actors. This includes Lady Gaga, rumoured to have contacted Ryan Murphy and asked to be a part of the show, Matt Boman, American Horror Story veterans Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson, as well as many others; the talent (but allegedly no singing) will be present this season. Will Hypodermic Sally be based on transients from Skid Row housed at the Cecil Hotel? Will the serial killers/killers to be investigated by character John Lowe resemble Richard Ramirez or Jack Unterweger? I guess we'll see on October 7th! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Horror_Story:_Hotel I absolutely believe in aliens. Of course, you’re welcome to contradict me, but I look at it in terms of probability. Word is that our observable universe is currently about 13.8 billion light years, and that’s just the sphere that we can see. If one light year equates to 9,461,000,000,000 km, saying our universe is big is a massive (bigger-than-our-universe kind of huge) understatement. If a sphere that big doesn’t contain at least SOME kind of life, I’d be baffled.
My lovely friend is an exuberant speaker, loud, emphatic and hilarious. Getting her talking aliens is always entertaining, she truly believes that they’ve been to Earth and have been instrumental in most of mankind’s great accomplishments. The pyramids? Aliens. The Renaissance? Aliens. Stonehenge? Aliens. Personally, I don’t know if I can give extraterrestrial life that much credit, but this story from my friend surprised me with its complete conviction. Now you’ve heard something like this stuff before, I’m sure. But the part that really got me was listening to a friend of mine tell me about her experience with aliens.
Take it or leave it, but I still believe.
Unwinding is something we all do differently, and those with a busy schedule will agree that time off is something golden and to be cherished. ISCI’s all about making connections in science, so I connected my knowledge of well studied psychological benefits and applied it to…. slacking. Just kidding – but you can use knowledge to cognitively re-frame (or think of) taking time off as being productive, which it is! Yes, “you do you”! What did you do over the weekend? Stress release! And so... Short bursts of stress = healthy. Prolonged stress = detrimental Bottom line: use preventative measures on stress, like (1) being prepared for challenges and (2) feeling socially connected, and remember to break up prolonged stressful times with (3) exercise and (4) relaxation. PREPARATION (1): SCI Team’s ‘Get Into Volunteering' Event Volunteering can be doubly beneficial; a feel-good event for both the receiving individual(s) and for the volunteer. Furthermore, I want to become a physiotherapist, and like many other programs, it requires involvement in the community. This event last week featured multiple booths offering volunteering opportunities, some of which that include “Right to Play” and “Learning Buddies Network”. In addition, they also had a guest speaker give advice on what to do to get involved. Events like this might not seem like direct stress relief, but feeling prepared to meet future goals (applications, being well-studied for finals, etc, can definitely minimize stress). SCI Team hosts numerous events throughout the year, so to get involved/attend events check out: SOCIAL ASPECT (2) + EXERCISE (3): (Not to be confused with avoidance coping, for all of you out there in psychology) The Calendar’s “Digital Zoo” Dance Party If I had one word for my music taste, it would be eclectic. My iPod is the jack-of-all-trades, good for a bit of everything. So the insistent techno/electronic beats were a bit redundant for me, but it did mesh with the “digital” theme. However, I loved seeing so many fellow students I knew, and it was definitely a way to connect, celebrate and let out some energy. But how do I know about these events? UBC Calendar of course! Check them out if you want to "shake it off, shake it off". EXERCISE (3) + RELAXATION (4): Hot Yoga Time to get a little (a lot) sweaty. In the Vancouver, the city that brought you lululemon, you’ll find yoga studios are almost as easy to spot as sushi vendors. Recently, I’ve tried one nearby UBC in Wesbook village, called ‘Hot Box Yoga’. They’re newly started and offering a promotion; like them on Facebook and they’ll give you a free session, so of course I had to go stretch it out. The session I attended was called ‘Detox’, run by Alyx Kottmeier. Armed with towel, mat, and gigantic water bottle, my first thought was ‘unusual’ – mirrorless, upbeat music infused studio. Turns out, unusual was the definitely the theme; the instructor balanced maintained poses with quick transitions, creating a session that had an interval-training feel. We balanced in poses that should be reserved for figure skaters... I felt like Julia Lipnitskaya, I felt like I deserved a medal after surviving that one! (kidding, don't worry, what we did was fun.) Alyx instructed us to help hold our neighbour’s leg in the air while doing this pose: I came precariously close to tumbling everyone (domino effect!) while my friend struggled not to be grin at my less-than-stellar bending skills) but even with that said, I enjoyed my sweat session and left feeling spectacularly refreshed. In summary: never feel guilty about finding time for yourself. For whatever amidst work or school aspirations you’re putting copious amounts of time and dedication into, remember that a touch of time off will keep you laughing.
On that rather cheesy note, good luck with your finals, you can ace ‘em! 'THE HAIRSTYLE, I SWEAR I MEAN THE HAIRSTYLE!' (said Nicki Minaj, never) Anonymous UBC Confessions contributor, I commend you. I've been seeing this everywhere, and the first couple of times I thought, 'well, unique is interesting, I guess.' Then I saw it again... and again a week later, until now I've been seeing it almost every day during my wanders on campus. So I figured, what are the opinions on this one? Is this going to be as big as the parade of Hunter boots around campus for the sheer functionality of it? I mean, if you can avoid getting your hair cut for months on end, as you commit to a hip new look, that's a win-win situation, right? (Haircut costs made up in elastics lost all over the place, don't say I didn't warn you.) I was walking with a wonderfully sassy friend of mine and spotted one of these fabulous looks, and interrupted the flow of conversation to ask, with perfect subtlety and absolute discretion, with a nod in his direction, "So, what do you think of man buns?" WELL, I got about a million and a half sidelong glances from everyone in earshot for that one (GUYS I SWEAR IT WAS IN CONTEXT, PLEASE BELIEVE ME, I CAN'T HELP MY LOUD VOICE). Gold star for me, my life is actually a game of how many times I can be on My friend never did answer me on that one, she was too busy laughing. Really though, these man buns are all over the place, even Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is rejecting that fantastical flow.. for something much more fun (hair in the eyes, please, he's above that). Another gem: The man bun, or the mun, or whatever you feel like calling it, may have shown up a while ago (and been somewhat pioneered by Hollywood in general) but I'm thanking all of you lovely UBC students who rock this one everywhere. I'm not taking credit for the compliment, but I'm definitely a fan.
See also: Tears, drowning in the seas of Overwhelm, dental appointments.
Antonyms: Summer. - Kathleen. |
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