News briefs

Campus briefs:

New UVU ski instructor course offered – UVU Community Education has formed a partnership with Deer Valley in offering a non-credit ski instructor training.

Students will learn how to teach others to ski and how to improve their own skiing. This class will be hands on and taught on the snow at Deer Valley Ski Resort for 12 hours and only nine hours in a classroom. With the ski season coming soon, students will have a high probability for employment within the ski industry upon completing this course. Ski instructors receive competitive pay, ski privileges and a fun work environment.

The course will be held at the UVU Wasatch Campus Building, located at 3111 North College Way, in Heber, UT, each Thursday beginning Oct. 15 to Nov. 19 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Course cost is $349, which includes instruction, textbook and snow time at Deer Valley. For more information or to register for this class, visit ce.uvsc.edu/ski or call (801) 863-8012.

Paralympics gold medalist to speak at UVU –

In celebration of Disability Awareness Month, Mark Zupan, a paralympian who recently won a gold medal in Beijing, will speak on “Smashing Stereotypes One Hit at a Time,” Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. at the Ragan Theatre in the Sorensen Center.

The speech is free and open to the public. Zupan will discuss shattering disability stereotypes and explain how everyone is capable of accomplishing amazing feats.

Zupan was in a car accident in college: he flew out of the back of a pick-up truck, resulting in his becoming paralyzed. The accident did not stop him from leading an active life; he started playing wheelchair rugby in college. He was on the bronze-winning U.S. team in Athens 2004 and recently won the gold in Beijing. Zupan has been named Most Valuable Player four times and has been named U.S. Quad Rugby Association’s Athlete of the Year.

In addition to being an avid wheelchair rugby player, Zupan was also featured in the award-winning film “Murderball,” which won the 2005 Sundance Film Festival’s documentary audience award. He has written a book, “Gimp,” in which he shares his story and struggles in life. He graduated from Georgia Tech in civil engineering.

National briefs:

Johns Hopkins recommends that new labels appear on caffeinated energy drinks – The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has called for new regulations that require energy-drink manufacturers to list the caffeine content on their labels to warn of the potential for caffeine intoxication.

A warning from one of the authors of a research study by Johns Hopkins claims that teenagers who use the caffeine-filled drinks are more prone to use prescription drugs like Ritalin later on.

Millions of Facebook users boycott new design – A Facebook group named “1,000,000 against the new Facebook layout” is calling for a two-day boycott of Facebook, asking users to stay logged-off from the social networking site on Oct. 18 and Oct. 19. Currently, the group consists of nearly 2.7 million supporters.

Other groups have also appeared. The group titled “I hate the new Facebook” has 1.5 million supporters, and the group “Petition against the new Facebook” has nearly 1.6 million members. Facebook is attempting to be receptive to the comments and the groups’ complaints have been tracked.

Food labeling law began Sept. 30 – A new law, which took effect Sept. 30, requires that food labels and retailers disclose the origin of produce, meat and other food items.
Experts say that confusion is likely to arise over the new law because some processed food items are exempt from the law; examples include roasted peanuts, breaded chicken and certain foods that are not mixed together, such as bagged frozen peas and carrots.