Exhausted with endless midterms? Stressed out about final exams? Want to learn something new and fun? Take a break and come out to Heart & Stroke U of T’s first Fitness for Heart day!

On Friday, Nov. 25, we will be holding a SUSHI class, YOGA class, and HIP HOP class.

11am-12pm: Come learn how to make sushi in the International Student Centre (Cumberland House) Baldwin Room (33 St. George Street). It’s healthy, easy, and ready just in time for lunch. Only $8!

3pm-4pm: Take a yoga class and learn how to breathe again in the Multifaith Centre (Koffler House) Multipurpose Room (569 Spadina Ave). Beginner to advanced participants are welcome. Only $5!

7pm-8pm: Stay active and learn cool new dance skills at a hip hop dance class in the Hart House Activities Room. Only $5!

Attend two events for only $10, or three for $15!

*Spaces are limited, so get your tickets soon.*

Tickets will be sold TODAY in the MedSci building in front of Starbucks from 11am-12pm and 1pm-5pm. Look for the Heart & Stroke banner and red Heart & Stroke T shirts. If you are unable to pick up your ticket during this time, please email heartandstroke.uoft@gmail.com for pick-up arrangements.

Come out for a fun and exciting fitness day and support the Heart & Stroke Foundation! We hope to see you there!

Change calls for action. That’s why hundreds of people will lace up their sneakers on Saturday, November 12 and literally take steps toward change by participating in the Covenant House Step Up for Street Kids 5K walk, an event that raises money and awareness in support of homeless youth.

Why walk the walk? The 2,000 or so kids who sleep on Toronto’s streets are 2,000 or so good reasons. And last year, about 4,000 kids found shelter and support at Covenant House, an organization that relies on donors for more than 80% of its $18.8-million operating budget. Covenant House provides 24/7 crisis care 365 days a year, as well as services like education, health care, counselling, and employment assistance.

Kids who make it out there are the lucky ones. The street is a perilous place for young people, many of whom are desperate and alone after fleeing or being forced from homes where they’ve experienced abuse or neglect. Sometimes kids just fall in with the wrong crowd and end up trapped in a cycle of substance abuse and crime.

Just about anyone can wind up on the street. Homeless youth come from every part of the country and every background. About half come from middle- and upper-class homes – like Michelle, the leader of the Covenant House Step Up team. Michelle is a former resident who was able to turn her life around because of the support she received at Covenant House.

Michelle grew up in the GTA, got good grades, and didn’t get into trouble until she got to high school, where she met a new crowd and started using drugs. Once she was hooked, Michelle began to steal from her family to get her fix. She shares more about her story here.

Thankfully, Michelle found her way to Covenant House, where she spent a year getting back on track. Now she’s a college graduate looking for work in community support services. Michelle is dedicated to supporting the people and the place that helped her find her way through troubled times.

If you can’t walk the walk this year, you can still step up by sponsoring Michelle and her team. The event takes place on Saturday, November 12 at 3pm at Yonge and Dundas Square. For more information, check out http://www.covenanthouse.ca/walk or visit Covenant House on Facebook and Twitter.

On October 20th, from 7-9pm at the Isabel Bader Theatre, VUSAC’s Education and Equity Commission and Invisible Children are screening ‘Tony’, a 50-minute documentary that will open your eyes to a world of terror in Northern Uganda.

Northern Uganda has been a war zone due to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) for the past 25 years. The LRA is largely comprised of child soldiers who were violently abducted from their homes.

Watch the movie, discuss the content, meet the Invisible Children staff, and buy some Invisible Children gear to support their work.

Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

Post written by Shakeera Baker, President.

One Love is a Ulife-recognized student group that seeks to raise awareness of, and help, the impoverished families of Riverton Meadows – a shantytown in Kingston, Jamaica – through cultural fundraising events on campus. As stated on the group’s website, ‘Riverton is situated next to a landfill from which scraps are scavenged and used as building materials for many of the dwellings in this community. Although hundreds of families in Riverton live without running water and sewage disposal, the people of Riverton have great pride in their strength and resilience to adversity. ONE LOVE seeks to not only promote these strengths, but to additionally help provide the funds necessary for the development and advancement of the community.’

In fostering a general atmosphere of helping others, we hold regular volunteer outreach sessions in the community, in which all group members are encouraged to participate. Also, every year, members of ONE LOVE have the opportunity to volunteer in Jamaica and work with people living in Riverton with the support of our parent organization, Students Crossing Borders.

For more information, check out the group’s Facebook page or official website, or email the group at onelove.uoft@gmail.com.

Post written by Josephine Chou.

Do you sometimes wonder when and where you can apply the concepts that you learn in class? Well, that question – which often distracted me – is no longer a mystery since I discovered Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) at U of T. Unlike any other student group, SIFE gave me the opportunity to apply what I learned in the classroom to real world situations. I never thought that I’d be connecting with business professionals from different industries regarding business ideas, team management, and other business-related issues, but this is my NOW.

SIFE U of T is much more than the gathering of students to participate in good causes. Actively participating in the various projects in the organization triggers all the synapses in your brain and compels you to grow as a business leader and an even better person. It provides opportunities to work with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills necessary to become socially responsible business leaders. Our projects aim to ignite entrepreneurship, teach financial literacy, and encourage environmental sustainability. We are currently running seven projects. The adVenture Business Plan Competition provides an opportunity for students to realize their entrepreneurial dream. SIFE₂O promotes sustainability within our university community by engaging students on residences to compete in a water-saving competition. TYP empowers students by introducing them to the basic concepts that will allow them to manage their finances effectively while developing entrepreneurial skills. For more details on our 2011-2012 projects (we have 7 in total), please click here.

And it gets even more exciting! Each year, SIFE teams from across Canada get together and compete in three categories: entrepreneurship, financial education, and green and water sustainability. This year, our team won first place in the TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge and Scotiabank & SIFE Go Green Challenge during the Central Regional Competition. All SIFE teams are also invited to attend the national competition where SIFE teams across the country compete for the national cup. The National Competition was held in Toronto this year and, next year, it will be held in Calgary. The winning team from the national competition represents Canada in SIFE World Cup (in Malaysia this year) where SIFE teams from across the globe get together and compete. Although we didn’t win the national competition this year, it was an amazing experience and we had lots of fun meeting other SIFE teams from across Canada, as well as business professionals who were excited to meet with us!

If you’re interested and would like to know more, or would like to join us, feel free to email us at sife@utoronto.ca .

Post written by Boyd Hao.

MusicBox Children’s Charity (MBCC) is a youth-run, registered non-profit organization that strives to provide music education opportunities to financially, socially, and/or physically disadvantaged children and youth.

A formal education in music should not be a privilege limited to only those who can afford it. We feel that music is an integral part of a child’s early development, with benefits reaching far beyond the child’s developmental stage. Disadvantaged children should be granted the same opportunities for growth and development that are available to their peers.

Through our partnership with the Yonge Street Mission (YSM), we bring music to the young children who need it the most. We fully subscribe to the concept of music as a developmental tool, and recognize its beneficial effects on a child’s social, academic, and emotional development.

As a youth-driven initiative, the Directors of MBCC are strong proponents of ‘self-help’ within the community. We believe that the needs of a community are best met by those living in it, and who better to enhance our youth programs than the youth themselves? Youth volunteers with significant musical achievement provide mentorship to our participants in group and one-on-one classes.

Our approach is two-tiered. We seek to enhance our children’s educations with the inclusion of music, as well as benefit our volunteer youth who gain self-enrichment and fulfillment from their participation in MBCC’s programs. Furthermore, we end each school year with an ‘End of Year Concert’ to provide the children with an opportunity to showcase the musical skills they have developed throughout the year. At the end of the day, everyone is happy – the students joyfully celebrate their musical achievements and the volunteers proudly celebrate their student’s progress, knowing that they have taken part in helping to make Toronto a better place.

Here at MusicBox, we open our doors to any prospective volunteers who share our goals and enthusiasm. You can learn more about us by checking out our organization’s website, or by calling or emailing us at 416-895-5456 or musicbox.toronto@gmail.com.