For the past thirteen years, every nursing student to apply to PEI’s Bachelor of Nursing Sponsorship Program has been accepted. This year, out of a class of 54 new nursing grads, 42 opted for the Sponsorship Program. Next year, however, there won’t be an option for such a sweet deal for so many students. Not since PEI’s demand for nurses has dropped. The provincial government has decided to no longer guarantee jobs for new nursing graduates.

Next year, only 18 students will be offered a guaranteed position and the cash bonus. The Association of Registered Nurses is concerned that without this incentive, there will be fewer nurses choosing to stay in PEI.

Read more about this story here.

Have you considered a career in nursing because of the guarantee of finding work in PEI? Will this change or alter your decision?

While representatives of the government’s education department claim that this translates to less than one teacher per school, we can’t help but wonder if this will affect the plans of Island students wishing to pursue an education in education. According to the province, these cuts will be made through attrition.

attrition is defined as the gradual reduction of a workforce’s size by simply not replacing personnel lost through resignation or retirement

Next TV interviewed an elementary school music teacher earlier this year and when asked about opportunities for teachers in PEI, he gave quite a candid answer. Watch for yourself!

What do you think of this news? Does it affect your decision to pursue a degree in Education, or do you wish so much to be a teacher that you’re willing to move elsewhere to work?

That’s because there is already a shortage in the workforce with trades people moving west, and that shortage is predicted to become even worse since the workforce left here in PEI isn’t getting any younger.

Tracy Gormley of the Residential Construction Sector Council really hopes Island students will consider the trades. She says, “They [meaning you guys] can have a year-round career and make a good living and they don’t have to go off-island. We’d like to keep them here.”

So how are these folks fixin’ to get your attention?

They have developed what they believe to be a fun video outlining careers in the trades. The Sector Council hopes to have the video shown in high schools within the next month.

The Sector Council people are hoping this soon-to-be-available video will put the trades on the radar screen of more girls, especially.

PEI’s only female plumber is also hoping that this video might spark the interest of more girls:

If you don’t want to wait until this video is made available in your school, you might want to take a look at some of these segments of N3XT TV in the meantime:

• Welder
• Heavy Duty Mechanic
• Plumber
• Small Engine Mechanic

Are you planning on pursuing a career in the trades?

But on the flip side of all that, there is some good happening out there in the world of social media, too. Yes! Facebook can be used for good! Just ask any student at Penn State University because last month, Penn State University was added to a growing list of college and university campuses in the United States to launch a Facebook Compliments page.

Pennsylvania State University Compliments page

The Penn State Compliments page is a project in kindness. Aimed at spreading kindness around campus, students can inbox compliments for fellow students and the page administrators will post them so it can be done anonymously.

The person who created the page is also remaining anonymous but he or she does claim to have gotten the idea from a similar page from another university floating around on Facebook.

Check out the page to see some of the positive vibes spreading around there in Pennsylvania!

Canadian roots?

We Canucks are known for being nice people, so it’s no surprise that word on the street is this new trend in kindness has Canadian roots. Time magazine reports that on November 12, Queen’s University in Ontario started this viral phenomenon.

We think this is a trend that should spread. Preferably, like wildfire.

Would you like to see a Facebook Compliments Page created for your high school?

credit: Ecouterre

Ever have a call on your mobile phone drop because of a low battery?

An innovative company by the name of Telco Orange hopes to prevent that from happening.

Telco Orange has developed a sustainable technology that will charge your phone while you walk.

Rubber boots aren’t commonly worn  by teens, but this eco-friendly invention may change your mind.

The rubber boot phone charger

Mobile charging Wellington boots use a power-generating sole to take the heat from your feet  and convert it into electricity that charges your phone.

BRRRR-fricking-ILLIANT!

Mind you, you’d have to walk twelve hours in those boots to generate enough power to operate your phone for one hour, but still. If you did some dancing or running, that would reduce the amount of time you’d have to be moving your feet to charge your phone.

(Of course, you’d probably just make a bee-line for the nearest electrical outlet and plug the phone in before you’d dance in a pair of rubber boots for several hours.)

Anyway, this is more proof that science is cool.

Have you ever considered a career as an inventor?

St. Bernard heading to Dal!

Today, Dalhousie University in Halifax will become one of the only universities in Canada with a Puppy Room.

Yes. Puppy Room. And no, it’s not the only Canadian university with one. McGill in Montreal also has a dog therapy program and so does the University of Ottawa. The idea for Dal’s Puppy Room came from Michael Kean, a Dalhousie student who pitched the idea after hearing a friend rave about McGill’s program.

Dalhousie’s student union is setting up a special Puppy Room to help stressed-out students chill out about their upcoming exams.

The Puppy Room will open today with a St. Bernard, a Golden Retriever, and a Dalmatian. The animals will be coming with some volunteers from Therapeutic Paws of Canada. This organization brings dogs and cats to seniors homes and schools across the country.

Students will be able to sit down with the dogs and talk to them, pet them, and draw comfort from them. And, most importantly, to forget about all the stress for a few minutes.

According to Mark Grant, the owner of the St. Bernard, the hope is, “that the dogs will bring as much comfort to the individuals that we’re going to meet as the individuals will bring to the dogs.”

It’s expected that many of the students who visit with the animals will be missing their own dogs back home and that even a brief encounter with the pooches will make them feel better.

Would a Puppy Room sway your decision to attend one university over another?

(credit: Canada World Youth)

Canada World Youth (CWY for short) is a non-profit organization that was founded by the Honourable Jacques Hébert (1923–2007), way back in 1971.

Since then, CWY has become a leader in the development of international educational programming for youth aged 15–35.

If you’re in love with the idea of travelling the world, CWY might be the perfect option for you.

Canada World Youth Programs

Essentially, the way it works is that a young Canadian is matched with a “counterpart” from an exchange country. A host family agrees to put these people up for a month, during which time the participants soak up as much culture as they can in their temporary homes.

Experience the world! Learn about other cultures! Live in different diverse Canadian communities, volunteer your time, and develop all sorts of skills that will help you throughout your life.

CWY is looking for recruits

As of the time of this writing, Canada World Youth is looking for dozens and dozens of Canadian youth for 6-week Youth Leaders in Action programs in the following countries:

• Benin
• Nicaragua
• Peru
• Tanzania

The programs are running between February and March 2013 and the application deadline is January 18, 2013.

Click for more info

Celia hangs out with the Canada World Youth crew visiting Charlottetown

What do you think? Is Canada World Youth something you’d be interested in?

Toyota’s Human Support Robot (credit: medgadget.com)

If you thought Toyota was just about cars, you’d be wrong. Well, you’d sort of be right because Toyota is mostly about cars, but who knew that Toyota was also into building robots?

Yes. Robots.

Toyota’s Partner Robot program recently announced the development of a very cool and quite helpful Human Support Robot (HSR). The robot was created to assist disabled persons and senior citizens to complete daily tasks that young, able-bodied people tend to take for granted. You know, things like fetching the TV remote and picking up the phone.

Toyota’s Partner Robot Program

Since Toyota’s Partner Robot Program launched in 2007, the Japanese automobile manufacturer has developed special robots to help complete basic nursing tasks (dressing patients, adjusting curtains, picking up dropped items).

The Human Support Robot

The Human Support Robot can be controlled by the patient via a tablet computer, remotely by a caregiver or family member, or directly by the user using voice command. Another really cool feature of the robot? It has a little dock on its head where a tablet can be mounted, allowing the user to video chat with doctors, family, or friends. Or watch Netflix or episodes of N3XT TV on YouTube . . . whatever.

Toyota’s robot was developed with healthcare in mind, but clearly any lazy person who wanted their own slave robot could probably get one if they really wanted to.

Do you have any desire to pursue engineering so you can invent cool stuff like this?

Last week, dozens of Maritimers met in Charlottetown to learn more about getting started in the organic farming industry when The Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN) launched its Grow-a Farmer program, which helps match participants with apprenticeships.

Grow-a-Farmer coordinator, Lucia Stephen, says, “We will have the apprenticeship for people who want more formal training. We will have monthly activities, webinars, and gatherings for apprentices in different regions throughout the Maritimes.”

Stephen also noted that the program is much needed to lure young people to the career of farming because of the average age of farmers in the Maritime provinces being over 55.

For the seven-month apprenticeship through ACORN, the cost for participants is over $1,500.

See what Dylynn thought of her visit to Weedy Acres Organic Farm in Episode 17!

Have you ever considered a career in organic farming?

So, because we love hearing from you so much, we thought we’d give you yet another way to reach us.

You’ll notice there on the bottom left of your screen, there’s a black button that either says: “Contact us” or “Chat with us.” That option will change, depending on whether one of us on the N3XT crew is around to chat with you.

So, if you have a question about where to find something on the site or a random question about programs, careers, or anything you think we could help with, ask away. We’ll answer via chat if we’re there at the moment, and we’ll answer it later if we’re not!

What do you think? Give it a try and let us know what you think!