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a New Year that is better in many ways than the old... We have experienced difficult times at home, with record unemployment and an unhappy economic climate: Abroad, we have seen increasing international tension.... For our country‘s youth, these have been p'a_rticularly hard times: over one half million are unemâ€" ployed; education cutbacks are rampant; and 1984, not surprisingly, looks bleak ... But there is hope! The great resource of our youth is their resiliency. The Christâ€" mas season centres on family â€" and the story is of a child â€" and HOPE for the world... Appropriately, many proâ€" grammes exist to encourage the best in Canadian young people. The Terry Fox Humanitarian Award Program is one program, for example, that is designed to recognize and encourage outstanding quaâ€" lities in postâ€"secondary students. The program was set up in 1981 by the Government of Canada in recognition of this heroic young Canadian. Interest from the $5 million endowment fund pays for scholarships, which are awarded to 20 to 30 young Canadians every year Candidates must be graduating secondary level stuâ€" As 1983 draws to a close, we all hope for Letters welcome WALTER McLEAN The Chronicle welcomes letters to the editor. Writers must idenâ€" tify themselves through their name, address and telephone number. We reserve the right to edit. The Selection Committee looks for... ‘"‘demonstration of the highest ideas and qualities of citizenship and humanitarian service while in pursuit of excellence in their academic, amateur sport, fitness, helath and community service and related endeavours‘"‘. There are currently two University of Waterloo students who are recipients of this award: Nancy Hopfner from Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, in Opâ€" tometry, and John McLoughlin from Toronto, in Mathematics. Both demonâ€" strate the highly desirable qualities reâ€" quired to merit the award. dents, or be currently enrolied in a Canadian university or college. The $3000 awards are renewable to a maximum of four years. There are not, however, at this time any recipients who are natives of Waterioo Region! I hope this will not be the case much longer... If you are interested in applying, (or if you know anyone who seeks the high ideals which Terry Fox embodied), application forms can be found at our High Schools and at both area universities‘ Student Awards offices. Or, contact can be made directly to the Terry Fox Humanitarian Program, 711â€"151 Brighter days ahead h e has And the press, in some instances, spoke for many in the community when it said "if students are truly gifted, they will survive." Statistical studies of prisons and other costly institutions would seem to prove that stateâ€" ment wrong.) At any rate, the invisibly Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5E3. The deadline for submission of applicaâ€" tions is February 1, 1984. _ For careerâ€"oriented, young people, prosâ€" pects are somewhat brighter for increased government help in alleviating the masâ€" sive unemployment problem toâ€"day which youth face. In its recent Throne Speech, the Government announced that a $1 billion Youth Opportunity Fund would be set up. The Youth Opportunity Fund will combine resources that are presently scattered across some 20 government agencies, as well as injecting some new funding. $1 billion means $35 a week for every unemployed young Canadian. The intention is that 85,000 or 90,000 more jobs will be made available in the coming year. Despite the fact that this is less than 20% of the total number of unemployed young people; it is welcome news all the same...." Massive unemployment, and a ‘desperâ€" ately ill economy prompt a lack of faith in the future on the part of our youth. That they are skeptical of their elected regreâ€" sentatives it is not to be wondered at! I welcome, therefore, signs of initiative and of originality on their part. These are signs LYNNE WOOLSTENCROFT . School views RICK CAMPBELL is on vacation different/handicapped also cost more to eduâ€" cate, for many of the previously mentioned reasons (except that fewer of them are tranâ€" sported.) Support staff The <~support staff in our schools and throughout our system are such persons as the psychologists; custodians and maintenance workers; school secretaries; technicians; acâ€" countants; draftspersons (our head draftsman is a woman, so how does one correctly identify Ilona Kubelik?); bus drivers; teachers‘ aides; computer programmers; and numerous others. Generally, they are referred to as nonâ€"academic staff. Whatever one calls them, the system could not survive without their special skills and talents. They keep the boilers maintained and going; they draw the plans; they generate the data; they help the teachers and students in classrooms by cleaning the rooms; they prepare and serve nutritious meals in seconâ€" dary cafeterias... they keep our schools at a level competitive with any on the continent. They are paid salaries and wages comparable to those in the marketplace. In fact, that is one of the board‘s onâ€"going philosophical practical problems. If we pay our support personnel below comparable rates. in the community, they leave the board for betterâ€"paying positions. And when they leave, they create a certain amount of anxiety. One only has to see the leaving of an elementary school secretary to witness the disequilibrium (in students and staff) for a number of weeks. Thus, we get to the philosophical part of the discussion: is the stress worth the dollars? In most businesses, a few dollars, a few hours off, a certain managerial compassion is expected. But the community is definitely ambivalent about public servants and publiclyâ€"paid employees. Summary The entire series of articles has been an attempt to educate you about cost and financing. In closing, I leave you with the thought that, like the community, the trustees are divided on the issues. In the end, we can only hope that we are an accurate reflection of the entire community‘s desires. of hope for the future. Every summer when reviewing the Summer Canada projects, I am struek by the enthusiasm and the ingenuity evident in the proposals presented to me by our young people for partial funding. And every fall we have the opportunity to view the University of Waterloo Engineers‘ ‘"Busâ€"Push‘"‘ down King Street in aid of Big Sisters. And, of course, at this season there are the chocoalteâ€"bar and citrus fruit sales in aid of community projects and charity. In a few weeks Student Councils will be elected. The qualities of leadership and dynamism that this process encourages are valuable for the future of Canada, and the sense of involvement it encourages. 1984 is the year about which George Orwell made so many unsettling predicâ€" tions. Let us hope that none of them come true! But Orwell‘s novel prompts serious thought about the state of civil liberties in Canada â€" not because there is a "Big Brother‘‘ ready to enslave us all, but because history has shown that when enough the democratic process can fail.... May 1984 bring peace, prosperity and hope to young and old alike.