Charlottetown dance troupe polishing its steps for a competition in Toronto
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
2 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
The Ivy Centre: Pioneering Ivy League Retreat Redefining Admissions Preparation for the World's Brightest High School Students
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - August 21, 2025) - For many high-achieving students, applying to top U.S. universities: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and beyond is more than just an academic milestone; it's often a high-pressure rite of passage. Between demanding coursework, extracurricular commitments, and looming deadlines, the process can quickly shift from dream to source of stress and anxiety. At The Ivy Centre, where mentors specialize exclusively in Ivy League admissions, that experience is being reimagined. With the launch of The Ivy League Retreat at Lake Como, The Ivy Centre is pioneering a new approach, one that transforms admissions preparation into a journey of confidence, creativity, self-discovery, and clarity. The Ivy Centre To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: The Ivy Centre's Vision Founded by mentor and entrepreneur Lara David, The Ivy Centre is dedicated to highly personalized, one-on-one mentorship for students with Ivy League ambitions. Lara's proprietary method is the result of years of lived experience navigating the admissions process - first as an international student from Brazil, later as a Master's graduate from Columbia University, and always as a mentor to hundreds of aspiring applicants around the globe. At the heart of The Ivy Centre's approach is a simple truth: academic excellence alone isn't enough. Students must also learn how to tell their story with authenticity, manage the emotional demands of the process, and unlock the creative clarity that turns strong applications into winning stories. The Ivy League Retreat at Lake Como Recognizing the creative block and anxiety many students face during application season, The Ivy Centre has designed a pioneering, first-of-its-kind immersive retreat. From November 26th to 30th, 2025, six carefully selected students who make it through a very competitive application process with The Ivy Centre will gather at Lake Como, Italy for a transformative experience with wellness, self-discovery, and Ivy League experts. More than just an application bootcamp, the Ivy League Retreat is an environment where well-being, strategy, and inspiration meets exclusive workshops and immersive activities. It was carefully designed in collaboration with psychologists, consultants, and admissions professionals, promising to focus on strengthening self-awareness, fostering collaboration and high quality networking, and unleashing creativity. Lara will personally mentor each participant, guiding them step by step as they build their strongest applications. By the end of the retreat, what is often a stressful ordeal will have been reshaped into a lighter, life-changing, and ultimately inspiring journey. The retreat's location is as intentional as its curriculum: Lake Como's serenity offers the ideal backdrop for reflection, creativity, and focus. The combination of academic rigor and a breathtaking natural setting creates a rare opportunity to approach college applications with both clarity and calm. Building a Legacy of Mentorship While this inaugural retreat is only limited to six students, its impact is designed to resonate far beyond. Lara envisions The Ivy Centre as a trusted voice in Ivy League mentorship for years to come - one that empowers thousands of students to reach universities they once believed out of reach. "As we grow," Lara explains, "we will expand thoughtfully, always protecting the standard of exclusivity, excellence, and personal attention that define us. We are not in this business for the numbers, but for building the next generation of empowered adults who will change the world. Success, to me, is when a student realizes their own potential and steps into a future they thought was beyond reach." Defining Success and Entrepreneurship For Lara, entrepreneurship has never been about building businesses for their own sake. Instead, it is about building legacies: creating pioneering programs, tools, and experiences that empower students to dream bigger and achieve more than they imagined possible. "Success is when impact is tangible," she says. "When a student not only submits their applications but does so with confidence, clarity, and the conviction that they belong." What's Next for The Ivy Centre This year marks two exciting launches. On August 26th, 2025, The Ivy Centre will publish its first book, a curated guide that distills essential admissions strategies into an accessible companion for students worldwide. Later, in November, the Ivy League Retreat at Lake Como will officially debut, opening the doors to an experience that blends mentorship, well-being, and academic strategy at the highest level. With these initiatives, Lara and The Ivy Centre are building more than pathways to Ivy League acceptance. They are cultivating the next generation of leaders - young people prepared not just to study at the world's most competitive universities, but to thrive in them. About The Ivy Centre The Ivy Centre is a mentorship-driven academic guidance firm specializing in Ivy League admissions, one-on-one coaching, and transformative student experiences. Founded by Lara, whose own journey took her from Brazil to Columbia University, The Ivy Centre is built on the belief that preparing for higher education should be more than a checklist of achievements. It should be a journey of self-discovery, confidence, and lasting impact. Whether through its accessible resources, such as the upcoming book, or its premium, invitation-only Ivy League Retreat at Lake Como, The Ivy Centre empowers ambitious students to unlock their potential and embrace the future with confidence.
National Post
32 minutes ago
- National Post
Up Close: Meet Roughriders defensive end Shane Ray
Article content 'Probably my injury in the NFL. It took me a really long time to get back healthy and to overcome that and even to fight back into football after that. I think that was the biggest challenge that I had to face.' Article content Article content 'Life. If somebody gave me the floor, it would be the moment to just encourage anybody who I felt like was going through something hard, that they felt like they couldn't get through. I feel like I got a lot of moments where, in my own personal life, where I thought like this was over, you know, it was done. But I just continued to work. And it always works out, even when it doesn't look like it.' Article content Favourite football memory? Article content 'Honestly, man, I would say it have to be winning the Super Bowl. That was just second to none. Having that experience, the team that I was on, the guys that were in that locker room — it was incredible.' Article content Article content Article content 'I make music in the off-season. I like to write. I like to make music. I write short stories. I was published in the 'Anthology of Young Americans' when I was like 10 years old. So, writing has always kind of been like something that I've done.' Article content 'I had a job in high school where I was working at an Indian restaurant. It was like an Indian Chipotle almost. So I was like making tikka masala and stuff like that. But my high school coach ended up telling me to quit that job.' Article content Article content 'I've got like three jobs I think I would want to do. One would be coach. Two, I would want to be some type of entrepreneur, as far as owning my own business or in the stock market. And (three), I would want to get into real estate.' Article content What else would you like people to know about you? Article content 'I'm just a guy. I just enjoy being around my guys. I enjoy coming to work every day in a good environment and just being myself. I like to have fun, joke around with the guys, talk a little stuff. I mean that's really just me. I try to stay even keel throughout my day.' Article content
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Foxy Knoxy no more: How Monica Lewinsky and Amanda Knox teamed up to reclaim Knox's narrative
Amanda Knox, from left, Grace Van Patten, and Monica Lewinsky pose for a portrait to promote "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox" on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP) Monica Lewinsky is keenly aware of what it feels like when your name is no longer your own and becomes attached to a character conjured by others. An affair that she had with former U.S. President Bill Clinton nearly 30 years ago as a White House intern made her an international headline. So, when Lewinsky read that Amanda Knox, another woman whose image precedes her, wanted to adapt her memoir for the screen, she felt she was in a unique position to help. Knox was on a study abroad program in Italy in 2007 when one of her housemates, Meredith Kercher, was killed. She and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito quickly became the prime suspects. The story was a tabloid sensation and Knox was branded Foxy Knoxy. After a lengthy trial, she and Sollecito were convicted of Kercher's murder and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison; they were later acquitted and exonerated. Knox has already told her story in two memoirs and it's been dramatized by others. There was a Lifetime movie about the case and she believes the 2021 movie 'Stillwater' starring Matt Damon was unfairly familiar. 'I have a story to tell because I have a mission, and my mission is to help people appreciate what really is going on when justice goes awry,' Knox said about why she entrusted Lewinsky to help tell her story through 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.' 'This woman, who has gone through her own version of hell where the world had diminished her to a punchline inspired me to feel like maybe there was a path forward in my life,' Knox said. The limited series is now streaming on Hulu. Grace Van Patten ('Tell Me Lies') stars and both Knox and Lewinsky are among its executive producers. Amanda Knox speaks after returning home in 2011 In this Oct. 4, 2011 photo Amanda Knox gestures at a news conference in Seattle, after returning home from Italy. (AP / Ted S. Warren) Shared but different trauma Lewinsky was not always in a place to help others reclaim their narrative because her own was too much to bear. She remembers vaguely hearing about Knox's case but didn't have the energy to give it attention. 'I was allergic to cases like this,' Lewinsky said. 'I had just come out of graduate school at the end of 2006. And 2007 was a very challenging year for me.' She believed graduate school would lead to a new beginning and desired to 'have a new identity and go get a job like a normal person.' She said the realization that wasn't going to happen 'was a pretty devastating moment.' In 2014, Lewinsky wrote a personal essay for Vanity Fair and became one of its contributors. She went on to produce a documentary and give a TedTalk called 'The Price of Shame,' addressing cyber-bullying and public-shaming. Educating others provided Lewinsky with a purpose she had been looking for. 'With most everything I do, it feels really important to me that it moves a conversation forward somehow,' said Lewinsky. She now hosts a podcast called 'Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky.' By the time they officially began working on 'Twisted Tale,' Lewinsky was in protective mode. The 52-year-old Lewinsky, 14 years older than Knox, wanted to shield her from painful moments. She recalled being particularly worried that Knox would be traumatized by reading the first script. 'It's someone else's interpretation. There's dramatic license,' explained Lewinsky, who said she can still 'have sensitivities' to reading something written about her. Instead, Knox was OK and Lewinsky learned they're 'triggered by different things.' She laughs about it now: 'Amanda's a lot more agreeable than me.' Monica Lewinsky in 1998 In this May 26, 1998 file photo, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky leaves the family home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) The interrogation was key Knox said a part of her story that she wanted to make sure the TV series got right was the interrogation scene. She still describes it as 'the worst experience of my life and a really defining moment in how this whole case went off the rails. 'I was interrogated for 53 hours over five days. We don't see that on screen,' she said. Now an advocate for criminal justice reform, Knox hopes viewers are moved by the condensed version and recognize 'the emotional truth and the psychological truth of that scenario.' Knox said she was coerced into signing a confession that she did not understand because of the language barrier. She was not fluent in Italian and did not have a lawyer with her at the time. In that document, Knox wrongly accused a local bar owner of the murder, and she still has a slander conviction because of it. Knox's lawyers recently filed paperwork to appeal that decision. She believes interrogations should have more transparency 'because what happens behind closed doors results in coerced confessions from innocent people to this day. I really wanted to shed a light on that.' Amanda Knox court hears appeal aquittal Amanda Knox is seen at the Perugia court in central Italy Oct. 3, 2011. (AP / Pier Paolo Cito) No villains in Knox's version Knox has returned to Italy three times since her release from prison. One of those times was to meet with the prosecutor of her case after years of correspondence. Showrunner-creator KJ Stenberg said she had to condense more than 400 pages of their writing back-and-forth for their reunion scene. That meeting ultimately became the framework for the series. 'The scope of this story isn't, 'Here's the bad thing that happened to Amanda, the end.' The scope of the story is Amanda's going back to Italy and to appreciate why she made that choice, we need to go back and revisit everything that leads up to it,' said Knox. Viewers will also see others' perspectives, including Sollecito's, a prison chaplain and confidante, and Knox's mother. It also shows how the investigators and prosecutor reached the conclusion at the time that Knox and Sollecito were guilty. 'We did not want mustache-twirling villains,' said Knox. 'We wanted the audience to come away from the story thinking, 'I can relate to every single person in this perfect storm.' That, to me, was so, so important because I did not want to do the harm that had been done to me in the past.' 'It's showing all of these people who are going through the same situation and all truly believing they were doing the right thing,' added Van Patten. Knox isn't presented as perfect either in the series. 'I wasn't interested in doing a hagiography of Amanda Knox, nor was Amanda,' said Steinberg. Amanda Knox in an Italian court Amanda Knox in an Italian court, on Dec. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) Knox's harsh return to life after prison Knox had a hard time adjusting to so-called 'real life' after she was acquitted and returned home to the United States. This is shown in 'Twisted Tale.' 'I couldn't interact like a normal person with other people,' said Knox. 'I went back to school and there were students who were taking pictures of me in class and posting them to social media with really unkind commentary.' She said the stigma has become 'a huge, like, life-defining problem for me to solve.' 'People don't think about the adjustments she had to go through to reinsert herself into normal life, which is still not normal,' said Van Patten. Knox said she's learned that there are positives and negatives to her unique situation. 'There are exoneree friends of mine who have been able to move on with a life and be around people who don't know about the worst experience of their life. That's kind of a blessing and a curse. You don't have to explain yourself all the time but it's a curse because then this thing that was so defining of who you are as a person is something that you maybe feel like you don't know if you should share.' 'In my case, I never had that choice.' Knox is now a married mother of two and grateful that her life did not turn out the way that she feared it would while in prison, particularly that she would never have children. 'I was 22 years old when I was given a 26-year prison sentence. I could do the math,' she said. 'So every single day when I am with my children, I am reminded that this might not have happened. I don't care if I'm exhausted and I'm overwhelmed, this is what life is all about.' Alicia Rancilio, The Associated Press
