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20 a 1os 4- the erabanner youth sunday june 04 2006 yteam students have plenty to say about life in york region a teenager writes a letter about a lack of hangouts in keswick another questions how the mayor of east gwillimbury is so sure its teenagers who are responsi ble for his towns vandalism problem a girl challenges the school boards dress code banning halter tops in class young york region residents are facing issues of which older genera tions may be only vaguely aware they are running events to support worthy causes or just to entertain themselves sometimes without a lot of support from the rest of the com munity they have their own voice and their own ideas and they dont always hear those voices in the media the york region newspaper group has always been concerned about covering news that matters to all of our residents including youth now we have our own group of young writers that will tell their peers 5tories in a way they can understand the yteam is made up of 12 high school college and university stu dents from across york region all with a passion for writing and com municating their work will be appearing in our newspapers and on yorkregioncom they represent a range of interests and youll find their work on our news sports entertainment and fea ture pages they already have stories planned n topics as diverse as finding work when you have just returned to town from college to backpacking to changes in young peoples eating habits to sitting in with an indie band as it cuts its first cd all of them are volunteering their time and in return we are hoping to jgive them experience and a chance to shine we hope you will keep an eye out for their stories p if you have any ideas about stories for the y- team email dteetzelymgcom meet the yteam chris cooper markham i am 17 years old graduating from markham district high school in september i will be pursuing a degree in journalism at carleton uni versity this summer i will be working as a counsellor for markham camps i am actively involved in the schools music program playing in a jazz band and a wind symphony i also play guitar with my garage band hybrid vinyl i also loves to write about music and am a selfprofessed hipster with an affinity for neil young my writing interchanges between hardhitting community issues and lighter lifesection fare but is usually centred around a youthful and down- toearth view of life in the suburbs courtneyyip markham it would be cliche to admit that ever since i was a little girl i have always wanted to be a writer i am going to embrace that unoriginal statement however and tell you all that ever since i was a little girl i have always wanted to be a writer i remember putting together my first book in elementary school and ever since then whether it was writing for newspapers like the economist and sun or my university paper the campus bishops university i have been unstoppable i write about every thing i see my family dinners become miniature movies my encounters with friends become the next line in a play every moment of my life another chapter in my living book my imagi nation is never dulled and my love for art and photography help bring what i see around me everyday out of my mind and into each word i write down or each photo i take writing and photography are a nat ural therapeutic outlet most of my childhood was spent in front of cam eras whether modeling for family pic tures or for small agencies finally now that i have found solace in being on the other side of the photographic eye i couldnt be happier or more certain of what i wish to do with my future with writing it is hard to develop an opinion you can back up entirely espe cially in the news the constant search for the truth is one that will most like ly never be found however we can embrace a more openminded approach to reading and writing in which creativity is accepted not dis credited i hope that soon instead of getting just the cold hard facts we can walk away from a story with a little more understanding while having a lot more fun payaldoshi markham i am currently majoring in sociolo gy at york university i am looking toward graduating and furthering my studies in broadcast journalism i will be attending niagara college in the fall i have a passion for writing as expressed through the work i have done with the york excalibur newspa per i had the opportunity to be a sports writer for the paper where i had the opportunity to discuss various varsity issues i am a sports enthusiast who enjoys playing as well as writing neil springer tfiornhill i have one year left in the journal ism program at centennial college afterwards im interested in the one- year postgraduate public relations course i hope to start as a journalist but eventually settle down in pr i will be 23 years old on may 11 1 have lived most of my life in canada but from january 1998 to june 1999 i resided in london england at some point i hope to live and work in japan but i would pursue opportunities in other countries as well i am a rabid action movie fanatic anything involving dolph lundgren jeanclaude van damme chuck nor- ris arnold schwarzenegger steve sea gal or gary daniels is cool with me but no vin diesel or sylvester stallone because they suck musically i worship the ground frank zappa walked on in terms of politics i fall just to the right of center but have a more leftist outlook on the environment some have said that makes me a walking contradiction for sorts but i say that i have a different sense of balance from others kelly foss aurora studying honours media information and technicul- ture at university of western ontario anita varone vaughan finishing grade 1 1 at vii- lanova college in king city i iff itj fllll h wtx jar 43 bjkfjfeh b v a ft k v mm pi 3 rra wk kaj1l iv w rcgsi samdunsiger thornhill completed first year of journalism at ryerson uni versity diana petrucci newmarket in fourth year of honours bachelor of arts program at university of toronto m 75wvsviy fit it mmmmd angelica blenich richmond hill studying political science and international develop ment at dalhousie university krishna baxter bradford in third year of english rhetoric and writing at uni versity of waterloo no photo adam mclean richmond hill studying journalism at humber college kristeneverson newmarket entering fourth year of journalism at carleton uni versity