Here you'll find their stories and reactions in miniature. Some are foreign students, some are from small cities in southern Ontario, and some grew up in the city core. We found a refreshing inconsistency in the reasons for coming to university, and an affirmation, by and large, that their first year at York was a good one. Some found new friends, others new knowledge, and almost all seem to have discovered that the answers about who they were and what they wanted were more complex than they had at first imagined.

JEREMY LEDBETTER takes a long meditative sip of his coffee and looks quietly out at the world from behind his wire frame spectacles. His long hair brushes the top of his jacket as he settles into the seat in the bagel shop.

    Ledbetter enrolled in York's Fine Arts program with the idea of "somehow" becoming involved in film -- either writing them, editing them, or making them.

    "Actually, when I got accepted at York I was really thinking about taking some time off and going to Australia," Ledbetter says. "But then my acceptance arrived in the mail.

    "So I came to campus and wrote a test which was kind of an admission process to the film program and got accepted. No one was more surprised than I." But perhaps it was not entirely unexpected. Ledbetter says his many years of being involved in theatre during high school in Kitchener may have led him in this direction. It didn't hurt either that his brother also makes films.

    "I helped him out one summer on a film he was making. It was the coolest experience," he recalls.

    After his first year at York, Ledbetter says his hunches about the way he likes to work have gelled somewhat. "I know that whatever I end up doing for a living, I will have to be working for myself. That's why I think film might be the way to go. But if I'm not making them, then I might like to explore screenwriting."

    Ledbetter says he likes Fine Arts because "it's self-directed." And along the way he's learned to be, what he calls, more focused and able to do a number of things at once. "In high school I'd get really involved in one project and lose touch with everything else. I'm learning to juggle better now."

    "For me," says Ledbetter, "York has been a way to taste so many things. University is a way people get to know themselves. It's a way to change your mind."

    What does Ledbetter see himself doing in 2000? "I don't even want to think about it," he says. "Success or money isn't important. Happiness is. If I'm able to be happy, then that's great. My biggest dream? Uh, playing centre field for the Boston Red Sox. I'm a big baseball fan."