Photo by Owen Egan
Catherine Bradley, left, costume
designer for McGill's theatrical
productions, shows one of her crowning
achievements to the discerning
Althea Douglas, who held the same job
in the 1950s. The occasion was an open
house in Moyse Hall's new and vastly
improved costume workshop.
(See Campaign Update).
Photo by Chandra Rice
Chandra Rice is considering dabbling in professional photography. The Concordia religious studies student, who's taking some of the courses for her master's degree at McGill, is off to a good start. Rice took top prize in two separate categories in the McGill Photographic Society's annual photo contest. The shot above--a close-up of an industrial fan snapped in a brick factory--was named best photo in the "Open" category. Architecture professor Ricardo Castro was one of the contest's judges. "The photo caught my attention. It took an everyday object and presented it in an interesting, abstract way."
Photo courtesy of the Department of Athletics
Three years ago, Vicky Tessier (left) suffered a seriously torn ligament that put her promising basketball future in doubt. It was the type of injury that some athletes never fully recover from. "I never questioned whether I would come back," says Tessier, a chemistry major from Chateauguay. "I love the sport so much, I was ready to do anything."
After nine months of physiotherapy and intense training, Tessier returned to the McGill Martlet basketball team. This year she led the squad to its best season ever. The Martlets went undefeated during the regular season, won the Quebec championship and finished third overall in the country. The high-scoring Tessier was named Quebec league MVP, McGill female athlete of the year and was a finalist for the Howard Mackie trophy for Canada's top female student athlete.
Martlet coach Lisen Moore isn't surprised by Tessier's accomplishments or by the grit she demonstrated in recovering from the ligament tear. "Vicky is a great leader. She isn't a ranter--she does it quietly. She has great mental strength and she has a calming influence on her teammates. She takes the weight of the team on her shoulders when it needs to be done.
"Vicky doesn't have brilliant speed or terrific jumping ability," adds Moore, "but she's a very smart player with unbelievable timing. She's always in the right place at the right time."
Tessier has a year left at McGill and she thinks her team has a legitimate shot at a Canadian championship next season. After that, maybe a tour of duty with a professional team in Europe before settling down for a career in a lab analyzing chemical components.
Photo by Jack Sullivan
Sara Mayo might officially be an undergraduate in geography, but she could probably teach her counterparts in the political science department a thing or two. Last month, the third-year student ran for Parliament, taking on political science professor turned federal cabinet minister Stéphane Dion in the St. Laurent/Cartierville by-election.
Mayo, a long-time campaign worker for the federal New Democratic Party, was asked to fight the good fight by Quebec NDP officials. "I didn't do it to become an MP," says Mayo, well aware of the NDP's poor record in Quebec elections. "I wanted to address the way the Liberals have been abandoning our social programs and the fact that they haven't kept their job creation promises. Also, I wasn't happy with the positions of either the Liberals or the Bloc Québécois on national unity." She adds that Dion's early encouragement of the partition movement in Quebec "upset me on a personal level."
As Mayo campaigned door to door, she heard a familiar refrain over and over. "People kept telling me, 'You're a nice girl, but this is a Liberal riding.'" Heading into the candidates debate against Dion, Mayo acknowledges that she was worried she might come off as a rank amateur. "After I heard the first speech though, all my nervousness went away. I realized I wasn't outclassed at all." Dion even praised her for expressing her ideas well.
On the electoral front, Mayo is one for two, having recently been reelected as a clubs representative on student council. Is she tucking away any campaign posters to show her grandchildren how she once ran for Parliament? "I've kept a few. I might run again one day, so maybe I'll have lots of campaign posters to show them."