City Symposium XIII is honoured to host the candidates running for the next term of the London Youth Advisory Council, as they present their hopes, dreams, and plans for the next generation of London. This is a great opportunity to glimpse the future, and to listen to the voices that will shape our community in the years to come.

When? Wednesday, February 13, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. at the Wolf Performance Hall, London Public Central Library (251 Dundas Street).

Free. No registration required. Post-event hangout (and free nachos) afterwards at the Fox & Fiddle (255 Wellington at King).

Get involved.

• If you are between 15 and 25 years of age and passionate about the future of your city, here are some details about participating in the election process.
• If you are a community member and interested in investing in the future leadership of your city, here is an invitation to get involved, and a way to help youth connect to this opportunity.

Find more information about the London Youth Advisory Council at lyac.ca

See you on Wednesday, February 13th!

7:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 10th, 2012
Central Library, Wolf Performance Hall

Or…Meet in your neighborhood!
Live simulcast at Beacock, Jalna, Pond Mills, and Sherwood library branches.
(See library page for more location details!)

Free admission at all sites

Please let us know if you are coming!
Eventbrite Registration
(Registration optional, drop-ins are welcome!)

Download event poster (PDF)

Feature speakers:

Every day there are incredible people working hard to make London an awesome city. You are invited to come and listen to some of these people share their spectacular hopes and visions. Plus, you will be invited to participate in ReThink London, the city-building initiative led by the city’s planning division that is setting the goals that will influence the future of London for years to come. This is your opportunity to help create the picture of what we would like our city to become, both now and in the future.

Along the way, be inspired by some inspiring Londoners…

Naeema Farooqi came to Canada 2 years ago, and loves being here. She loves being part of the whole and excited about the opportunity which are presented in Canada. She likes photography, writing, teaching and facebooking!  She started her own community lifestyle magazine called London LINK in January 2011 which aims to be a good news magazine which sends out positive vibes about the people of London and beyond!  You can find more information at www.londonlinkmag.com Farooqi was also a member of the City of London’s Community Engagement Task Force Committee. She presented at the Creative Cities of Canada’s Network Un-Conference in London. (10th May 2011) and conducts engaging workshops for the youth on self-development.

Joel Adams is the President of VENDEV Management, and has taught entrepreneurship and innovation to engineering students at Western University for the past ten years, where he also spent seven years growing Western’s Research Park into one of the largest and most successful technology incubation organizations in Canada. An active champion of entrepreneurs and small business, Joel currently serves as chairperson of Downtown London’s revitalization board, and is close to completing a personal quest to eat at every restaurant (700+) in London, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Adams established and was the first graduate of the dual degree program between the Richard Ivey School of Business and Western Engineering, and was the founding president of the Western Engineering Alumni Society.

Connor Lyons, 22, is an inaugural member of the London Youth Advisory Council, which seeks to provide a voice at City Hall for London’s next generation. Born and raised in the Forest City, Connor is currently pursuing concurrent Honours Bachelor’s degrees in Business and Political Science at Western. He is extremely active on-campus as President of the Richard Ivey School of Business’ HBA Association and as a member of the University Student’s Council. Connor is passionate about youth citizen engagement, and believes that with some forethought, London can continue to be “awesome” for years and years to come.

Maureen Spencer Golovchenko is Community Collaboration Program Manager for Pillar Nonprofit Network and is delighted to return to the nonprofit world equipped with a decade of experience honed as Executive Assistant to London’s former Mayor. An IABC-accredited communications professional with a dynamic career path, Maureen earned customer service experience with the Co-operators, served as a journalistic watchdog with CJBK and AM980 News, provided communications and media relations support to Western University, and fulfilled key national staff leadership roles with Jesse’s Journey and The Sunshine Foundation of Canada.

Reta Van Every is a member of the Nah Duh Mah Duh Win committee, seeking to bring truth and reconciliation around the legacy of residential school the local London context. Reta works as an Aboriginal liaison, providing direct support to residential survivors. Reta is herself a survivor of residential schools.

☞ Learn more about upcoming City Symposium events this year!

You are invited to the final City Symposium before the summer break! The eleventh City Symposium event is Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the Wolf Performance Hall, London Public Central Library (251 Dundas Street). Free. No registration required.

Facebook event details.

Post-event hangout (and free nachos) afterwards at the Fox & Fiddle (255 Wellington at King).

Featuring presentations from…

Yong Kang is a molecular virologist and Professor of Virology in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario. He has developed a second generation vaccine against hepatitis B virus and an experimental vaccine against HIV/AIDS by using state-of-the-art technologies of genetic engineering and biotechnology.

Eva Blahut (National Theatre School alumni) and Justin Quesnelle (UWO alumni) are the founders and artistic directors of Passionfool Theatre – the resident theatre company of The ARTS Project in downtown London. Now in the midst of their 5th season, Passionfool has garnered a reputation for staging engaging and provacative productions that focus on actor driven story telling.

Doug Ferguson works at Western’s Faculty of Law as Adjunct Professor and Director of Community Legal Services, which provides legal services to people who cannot afford a lawyer. Prior to joining Western, he was a partner in what is now the Szemenyei MacKenzie Godin law firm, practising in the areas of civil litigation, wills and estates, and tax law. He was also a federal prosecutor for the Canada Revenue Agency. He has a passion for teaching, mentoring, and assisting people in need.

Your host for the evening will be…

James Shelley is the instigator and coordinator of the City Symposium series. He is also presently a research assistant at Western University and a community worker with the Canadian Mental Health Association. Along with hosting, James will share some plans for the year ahead and opportunities for getting involved with the City Symposium in the future.

The tenth City Symposium event is Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the Wolf Performance Hall, London Public Central Library (251 Dundas Street). Free. No registration required.

Post-event hangout (and free nachos) afterwards at the Fox & Fiddle (255 Wellington at King).

Featuring presentations from…

Mike Atkinson. My main focus is effective teaching in a large class format. The goal is to try to understand what works and why. Instructor characteristics and structure are clearly important, but aspects of delivery can be used to become more effective. I look at large class teaching as “educational theatre” and one must treat the lecture in that fashion. For example, theatres have sets, ambiance, scripts and production involved in a presentation. We can use these metaphors in the large class to become more effective instructors. Current interests include the use of multimedia in the classroom, structure of media materials, effective lecturing, test construction, learning styles, class size, and the effective use of nonverbal behaviour.

Art Fidler. Raised in Strathroy by parents who loved sports and theatre, my other inspirations as a kid were my piano teacher, Marguerite Johnston, who persisted in helping me learn to sing on key (or close), Canada’s musical genius, Don Wright, an old Strathroy boy, who came back to Colborne St. Public School, and helped me and 2 friends to form a performance group called 2 Sharps and a Flat (me as the Flat), and my cool high school Latin teacher, Phil Sparling, who gave us the faith that he really cared about us, and who put on Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with big casts of high school kids, way back in the 1950’s. I was a kid lucky enough to have quality contact with artists who cared and who took kids seriously, and so my future was made. University of Western Ontario (good old Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Purple Patches, and Player’s Guild), then 34 years as a high school teacher, finally joining the first wave of drama teachers, becoming a director of shows with big casts of high school kids, all led to a retirement so far spent teaching drama teachers-to-be at the Faculty of Education, and spending quality time with 21 years of creative youth at London’s Original Kids Theatre Company. “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”

Kadie Ward is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the London Economic Development Corporation where she works to enhance the economic prosperity of her community.  Actively involved in the community, she sits on the board of directors for the Downtown London Business Association and Museum London. Kadie has been a member of the Innovation Systems Research Network and Techno-Policy Network where she researched regional innovation systems. Her research has been published and presented to both local and international audiences. Passionate about community and regional economic development, Kadie strives to bring innovation to her community and introduce a new way of thinking about building strong cities.

Your host and MC for the evening is…

Abe Oudshoorn is an Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western University and Associate Scientist with
Lawson Health Research Institute. His research focuses on health care, homelessness, and housing, with a particular interest in healthy public
policy. His teaching is primarily within community and mental health nursing. In addition to his academic roles, Oudshoorn is the vice-chair of the London Homeless Coalition, and founder of the London Homelessness Outreach Network.