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>> An onion: like a university community is composed
of a number of layers.
No matter what layer you consider,
they are all vibrant and interconnected.
Over the past year, the Academic Innovation Fund has provided the
means for me to create a learning community
for first year students called Science First.
Through this program, students have a place
where they can engage in a number of exciting activities
that promote social interaction and lateral thinking.
Now let's get back to that onion.
Each layer in fact can be subdivided further and further
to a skin that is only one cell thick.
Here our learning community members draw upon ideas
from biology, chemistry, and physics to view an onion cell
in an entirely different way using two lasers.
One laser allows us to peer inside the cell;
another laser allows us to manipulate parts of the cell
as if we were holding microscopically small tweezers.
Let's face it; everything is more fun with lasers.
The learning community is open to every first year student.
It's no surprise that the students who join want
to get the most of their university experience.
You never know, many of these students could become the next
great catalyst in our society.
I recruited a number of student peer mentors
to attend each monthly event during the pilot year.
The first year students were amazed at how a third
or fourth year student could pack so much extra involvement
into this schedule and still excel academically.
The Science First learning community gives first year
students access to these wonderful role models.
In addition to peer mentors,
first year students can cultivate real personal
relationships with professors, staff researchers
and graduate students.
When we're all in the laboratory together, in the trenches
of discovery, we're on a first name basis.
I become Logan, not Professor Donaldson.
The first year community I hope is just the beginning,
one important step towards building a socially conscious,
scientifically grounded mind.
Here we are back at the onion.
From the outside the skin is our learning community,
looking through the layers of social
and academic interactions we are lead
to the deepest layer of them all.
Our students see that York University is a community
with them at the heart.