What do Plato, former president George Bush and McGill grad Ken Dryden have in common? They're among the first 20 inductees into an unusual club - the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame. Plato? He made the cut for having promoted the ideal of combining philosophical training for the mind with physical training for the body.

Dryden, LLB'73, maintained both an impressive GPA and GAA (goals against average) as a law student moonlighting in nets for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. He made his debut in the 1971 playoffs and coolly handled the likes of Bruins stars Orr, Esposito and Bucyk, eventually leading the Habs to the Stanley Cup.

But perhaps more than any of his dazzling saves, it may be Dryden's "thinker's pose" that people remember most vividly. While play was at the other end of the ice, Dryden stood with arms crossed over his stick and appeared utterly relaxed. He retired from the Canadiens in 1979 to practice law, and in 1997 was named president of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Another McGill grad, James Naismith, BA1887, credited with inventing the game of basketball while teaching school in Massachusetts, was also among the honorees, along with Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, and Dr. Roger Bannister, a British neurologist who broke the four-minute mile.

Cindie Horst, BA'93, never dreamed that a sick dog would bring her international success. When Cody, her border collie/blue heeler mix, was diagnosed with a serious blood disorder and placed on a strict drug regimen, she began looking for nutritious treats for her ailing pooch. Finding nothing suitable, she decided to bake her own biscuits. She regularly packed up little bags of leftovers for friends' dogs who became as fond of them as Cody. "Then I began to think 'what if...,'" says Cindie. "I did research into what people spend money on and I discovered that pets are often the most pampered members of the family." So in 1997 she opened the Growlin' Gourmet, a health food bakery for dogs, and found she was definitely barking up the right tree. Last year, her business was nominated for the Achievement in new Retail Concept award given annually by Cadillac Fairview. Though she didn't win the $50,000 prize, the resulting publicity was priceless.

Because her shop is in the tourist town of Stratford, Ontario, Cindie now has a lot of international customers. They drop in, take goodies home to Britain, Germany or Japan, then keep mailing for more. Ever the savvy marketer, Cindie regularly consults a canine focus group. "We have all varieties and sizes of dogs. We just line up the biscuits and see what they go for first." The big seller is P-Mutt Butter, with Yappy Apple a close second. For the trendy hound there's Bow-Wow Biscotti, while the more traditional types might prefer Mailman Fingers. Cindie says she consumes her fair share of doggie treats. "We're always snacking on them in the back room. They're good for people, too, but you need a big glass of water handy - they are a bit dry."

Bernice Gold, BA'43, and Joanne Stanbridge, MLIS'88, did all the wrong things according to the rules of book publishing, but it came out just right. The two met at a group for authors of children's books, where Gold read a story she had written about a boy and some imaginary lions who quiet his fears about being home alone. A publisher was already interested. The reading inspired the artist in Stanbridge, a librarian by profession, who later contacted Bernice and shyly asked if she could show her "a few illustrations."

"I had no idea Joanne was also a painter, but I loved her work from the moment I saw it," says Gold. So did the publisher, and a collaboration was born. Unfortunately, after months of work, the publishing company went broke. Undeterred, the pair pressed on, despite warnings that children's books are invariably rejected when submitted as a finished package. "We just thought 'Nuts, we'll take the chance,'" says Gold. "We enjoyed the process so much, we decided neither of us really minded if we failed to find another publisher."

Against the odds, the book dummy they produced was snapped up and Annick Press has just released My Four Lions. Stanbridge, already a published author, is thrilled at branching out into illustration. "I came to this pretty late. I took some painting courses and it quickly became a passionate hobby. The whole experience of putting this book together has been sort of magical - just like a work of fiction."

What did you do on your summer vacation? Chances are it wasn't kayaking across three quarters of Canada. That's exactly what 21-year-old wildlife biology graduate Ilya Klvana is doing on his Kayak Canada 99 Expedition to raise awareness of the threats to the country's waterways, which he says are "all too often dammed, polluted, mismanaged and destroyed."

Klvana's self-proclaimed "crazy kayak trip" began in Prince Rupert, B.C., in May and he is still paddling, planning to end the 7,380-kilometre journey in Montreal in late October. Travelling along routes used by early fur traders in a 16.5 foot kayak he built himself, Klvana has had to contend with a multitude of hazards: merciless winds, tidal and arctic currents, landslides, grueling portages, forest fires, hailstorms, charging moose, angry bears - even incontinent bald eagles. In other words, he's having a great time. He has also seen some of the country's most beautiful sights, from wolves on the waterbanks to the rugged charm of the many-channeled Churchill River, and met scores of kind people who have let him camp on their land or invited him into their homes for a hot meal and a break from sleeping in a tent.

When he finishes, Klvana will be the first person to have crossed Canada by kayak from the Pacific Ocean to Montreal in one season. McGill is hosting a website documenting his trip, replete with maps, photos, and fascinating journal entries e-mailed by Klvana via satellite. You can follow the expedition and send him a message of encouragement at ww2.mcgill.ca/kayak/.

The name McConnell is a familiar one around McGill, attached as it is to a residence, an arena and an engineering building. Benefactor John W. McConnell, a Montreal businessman who served on the Board of Governors for 30 years (1928-58), also bought and donated to McGill the homes which became Purvis Hall and Chancellor Day Hall, as well as the first Presbyterian College, now Morrice Hall. After his death in 1963, McConnell's family expanded his support of local charitable and educational institutions, eventually funding community development projects throughout Canada.

The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation is now a partner with McGill's Faculty of Management in offering a unique graduate program aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of voluntary organizations by training their leaders. With governments taking resources out of community services, volunteers are having to be more active in areas like social justice, the arts, health care and the environment. Dr. Frances Westley, executive director of the new Master of Management for National Voluntary Sector Leaders, told the National Post that "more and more of the responsibility for a compassionate, healthy or sustainable society is in the hands of this sector."

Students in the 18-month, $33,000 program - the first of its kind in North America - must be full-time, senior employees of national non-profit organizations. The employer pays a quarter of the cost while the Foundation picks up the rest. Faculty members are drawn from universities across the country and "class" time is broken up into five one- or two-week modules, including one in Australia and India. Students return to their jobs between modules to complete field projects, collaborative ventures and papers aimed at linking what they're learning to the working life of their organizations.

Wallace Crowston, Dean of the Faculty of Management, was sold on the idea from the start and says the innovative program provides a "marvellous opportunity for two widely recognized institutions to work together." Adds Crowston, "From the day the Foundation approached us, we were convinced that we could make a worthwhile contribution to the non-profit sector through this partnership."