When he climbs up on the stage of Toronto’s Sound Academy on Thursday, a dream will come true for Michael Ure. The third-year nursing student will play and sing his country music as the opening act for the Toronto stop on singer-songwriter Tyler Ward’s North American tour.

Ure beat out thousands of competitors for the honour in an online contest judged by Ward’s management team, by TOPBLIP.com and by fans’ votes.

“It’s an amazing feeling to win this competition. I’ve been so lucky the past year with the opportunities and this takes number one,” Ure said. “Even in this competition everyone pulled together to vote and helped me get to the winner’s seat. It makes everything worth it to know that people believe in me and will help me reach my dreams.”

Ure said he can trace his love of music to time he spent in his parents’ Harrow business, Ure’s Country Kitchen.

“There was always music playing on the radio,” he said. “There was also one customer, Rob Oriet, who figured out that I wanted to learn how to play guitar, so that same day he brought in a Fender Telecaster and told me I could have it if I learned to play. He got me to where I am today.”

It’s the second time in a month that a UWindsor student musician has won big. In November, LaSalle’s Danielle Wade was chosen to play the lead role in the Toronto musical, The Wizard of Oz.

To hear some of Ure’s work, visit his video channel on YouTube.

— by Robert Agnew

Susan Holiga, administrative officer in the Faculty of Science, won this week’s DailyNews quiz. Her entry was drawn from those respondents who correctly answered all 10 questions on festive foods —with a little fudge thrown in for good measure.

Here are the answers we were looking for (and one we weren’t):

1. Hanukkah is celebrated with b) the potato pancakes latkes.
2. Winter solstice is marked with the consumption of d) the Yule log.
3. Nurnberg is the protected destination of origin of c) Lebkuchen.
4. The Land of Sweets is ruled by d) the Sugar Plum Fairy.
5. Dickens is credited with popularizing d) the turkey as a Christmas roast in England.
6. Soup made with peanuts or yams are served on a) Kwanzaa.
7. The Japanese celebrate the new year by eating b) toshikoshi noodles.
8. Hogmanay, like whisky and shortbread, hails from c) Scotland.
9. The Epiphany cake we were looking for was d) Three Kings Cake, but a number of sources cited fruitcake as a form of the dessert, so the quizmaster also accepted a) as correct.
10. Happy wanderers know that any Leutonian event should be concluded with coffee and b) cabbage rolls.

Holiga will receive the prize donated by Food Services, a $25 credit on her UwinCARD, usable at campus retail outlets.

Professor Karen Roland will begin a one-year term as acting dean of the Faculty of Education on January 1.

A four-time UWindsor grad (BA 1993, B.Ed. 1994, M.Ed. 2000, PhD 2009), Dr. Roland has worked at the University since 1994, first in the equity office and currently as an experiential learning specialist. Her ongoing research interests are restorative justice, equity and peer education.

Provost Leo Groarke invited faculty and staff to welcome Roland to her new role.

“I hope you will provide her with your assistance as she undertakes this leadership in the Faculty of Education and more broadly,” he said.