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Mercedes-Benz Q .E .W . & DorvaJ Dr. Contact: Rod Jerred Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 5559) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: rjerred@hattonsearch.com WEI >NESI )AY, February 4. 2(x>4 · Page 1)4 BUSINESS TEAM 2000 0 4 1 6 -7 4 6 -2 9 9 9 Kathie Anderson Sales N c p rrs rn ta tirr ( d ir e c t lin e ) 9 0 5 ^5 8 ^0 0 9 1 ^^ New women's advocacy group off to strong start By Melanie Cummings SPEC IA L TO TH E BEA VER It seems fitting that a newly created women's advo cacy group would invite to its inaugural meeting a woman who has taken a lead role in improving lives. Before Mary Anne Chambers became the M PP for Scarborough east and Ontario's Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, she was an active and vocal proponent of several educational, health care. and human rights agen cies. The award-winning phi lanthropist was the guest speaker at the Halton chapter of Business and Professional Women. The local organization with 15 paid members so far, celebrated its formation with 150 guests at a gala dinner last Saturday. While the international group's roots date back to the 1930s and has long held status at the United Nations regarding women's issues, Halton BPW is still laying the groundwork to determine the type of projects on which it will focus. According to BPW Halton founder Helen Lomax, " we're so new, we don't know what issues we'd like to tackle first." Encouraging more women to join the ranks of political representation, such as Chambers has done, is among the ideas local members have floated out so far. said Lomax. As the former senior vicepresident of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Chambers emigrated from Jamaica in 1976 work ing during the day and attend ing night school. "There's no doubt we've come a long way in regards to greater inclusion of women in society. Some of us are old enough to have heard in our youth that only males needed to pursue education." said Chambers. Today the number of female graduates exceeds male graduates in some uni versities. But barriers to advance ment. especially for minori ties. still need to be eradicat ed. she added. Chambers is excited that Scarborough MPP Mary Anne Chambers Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Fred Loek · Special to the Oakville Beaver Dr. Ram Sivalingham, principal and co-owner of Oakville's newest private school, the Royal School of O ntario, stands in one of the class rooms at the Winston Churchill Boulevard facility. Royal School focuses on raising students' minds rather than marks By John Stewart S P E C IA L TO T H E B E A V E R There are some private schools where par ents enroll their children and can expect to see a significant increase in marks -- whether or not the student is really improving or not. The new Royal School of Ontario, the long time dream of Mississauga resident Dr. Ram Sivalingham, is not one of those. "W e will succeed not by raising the marks but by raising the mind," Sivalingham said in an interview in the school he opened last July in an industrial complex in Oakville, a stone's throw west of Winston Churchill Blvd.. just south of the QEW . Sivalingham is no apologist for the flour ishing private school industry in Ontario. He admits that there arc private schools where parents enroll their children with the expecta tion that their graduating marks w ill go up and they can improve their chances of university entrance. One prospective client of his school even came to see the principal and asked what marks the student could be " guaranteed" if he was enrolled. " I told him we couldn't do that because we would be ruining that child's life if we inflate the marks," says Sivalingham. The student would only suffer more in university where he would struggle, he explained. When he came to Mississauga from England in 1982, Sivalinghani's dream was to open a private university in Canada. Achieving that goal proved to be much more difficult in Canada than in Britain where private universities flourish. He'd still like to do it but he's opened the private high school in the interim. One of the tion system is that teachers don't instill confi dence in their students, says Sivalingham. `Teaching is an art," he says. " A teacher can give confidence to a student but most of them don't." Vanessa Coifu, of Mississauga, had Sivalingham as a tutor for math and sciences when she attended John Cabot Secondary School. " He's amazing," she says. " He raised my marks 15-20 per cent. When 1 took calcu lus I went to him and I ended up getting 90 per cent. He's a miracle worker." Coifu went to university for business but found she didn't like it and now wants to switch to kinesiology or medical science. The 20-year-old is picking up the high school courses she needs to make the transition. Parent Sharon Jewett is very pleased with the progress her son Andrew has made at Royal. "H e's changed already since September," she says. " He's gone from a kid who would go lo school three days a week to someone who goes every day. Dr. Ram even went with him to Tim Hortons to apply for a job. How many principals w ill do that?" Even though it's just getting off its feet, the school is already looking for land for a perma nent home. Tuition is $10,000 for a year or $1,200 a course. For more information call 905-829-2212. " Teaching is an art. A teacher can give confidence to a student, but most of them don't." · Dr. Ram Sivalingham. Principal and co-owner Royal School o f Ontario. key aspects of the Royal program is that it offers courses specifically designed to prepare students for university. There are two special streams geared for those interested in medi cine or engineering, or accounting and law. A mechanical engineer with a Ph.D. from England's Bath University, the native of Sri Lanka opened the Royal School last summer with just 14 students. Enrollment is now 21, with seven full-time students. One of the problems with Canada's educa Premiere Dalton McGuinty is putting a priority on expedit ing accreditation and assess ments of internationally trained graduates. More than 70 per cent of immigrants who arrive in this country already have com pleted a post-secondary edu cation, said the training, col leges and universities minis ter. "The GTA loses $554 mil lion annually as a result of internationally trained indi viduals not being used our society, to the extent that their skills would allow them to, simply because they aren't accredited." Already a bridge training program has effectively dou bled the number of nurses now working across the province. The accreditation program has also improved employment opportunities for newcomers previously trained in the fields of phar macy, teaching and engineer ing, added Chambers. "The 21st century will belong to countries which invest in human capital and keep pace with emerging knowledge and technolo gies," she said. To that end the business and professional women of Halton intend to build up such future potential. The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month. Membership is $125 per year with a one-time initiation of $50. For more information about the new Halton chapter, call Helen Lomax at 519 8533809. your R R S P .-r to life . 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Fonned in September of last year. will speak about re-connect Company of Women has ing with what matters and attracted business and risk-taking. professional women from Cirocco w ill be the across the GTA. guest speaker at Company At the monthly dinner of Women, an organization meetings, the women that offers personal and meet, network and hear business development from inspirational speak opportunities for women. ers -- successful women The group holds dinner with an interesting story meetings on the second to tell. Tuesday of every month, and Cost for the dinner and Grace Grocco on Feb. 10. the meeting will speaker is $35 for mem be held at the Oakville Conference and bers or $45 for non-members, plus GST. Banquet Centre. 2515 Wyecroft Rd. The evening starts with networking from A former broadcast journalist with 5:30-6:30 p.m. followed by dinner and C BC Radio, Cirocco appears frequently then the speaker at 8 p.m. on television and radio and is a passion Registration deadline is Feb. 6. ate. motivational speaker. She has given Advance payment required and credit presentations worldwide on personal cards are accepted. effectiveness, emotional wellness, inter To register call 905-338-1771, epersonal excellence and spiritual renew mail info@companyofwomen.ca or al. download a registration form from the "We encourage women to come and Web site www.companyofwomen.ca. To get RRSP advice that's right for you, call me at (9 0 5 ) 8 4 2 -2 9 1 7 . Jennifer Jones, BBA Financial Adviser CIBC Investor Services Inc. 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