U1 orientation welcomes new students to the U of M
Two-day annual event involves over 4,000 staff and students
JENELLE PETRINCHUK STAFF
The University of Manitoba campus was bustling with thousands of students on September 5 and 6 this year as the University 1 faculty welcomed all of its new students with U1 orientation 2006.
University 1 orientation (U1O) is designed to “introduce new students to the academic, physical and cultural environment of the University of Manitoba in a welcoming, enthusiastic and informative manner,” according to their mission statement, and so far this year, feedback has been positive.
Amanda MacDonald, a University 1 student, said it was a fun event that proved valuable to those who attended. “It was a nice way to ease into university life,” she said. “It was good to have a tour . . . and it helps you get into the school spirit.”
This year, U1O involved more than 4,000 students and staff. More than 400 of those were volunteers.
Christine Blais, director of University 1, pointed out how important the volunteers were to the event. “[The volunteers] are having a good time and relating to the students and they’re showing them that this place is a good place,” she said.
Sherry Bilenki, a second-year science student and one of the 400 volunteers, agreed that it was a lot of fun to help out at the event.
“I would definitely suggest becoming an orienteer. I’m having more fun this year than I did at my own orientation!”
One problem noted by Bilenki was that students ended up leaving the initial homeroom groups they were assigned to, in order to be with their friends. She also said she noticed that early on in the day, some students got bored and wanted to stray from their set schedule.
“[The students] seem pretty excited to be here, the ones that stay,” said Bilenki at the Thursday lunch barbecue. “It’s good that they only made [the homeroom classes] an hour because by 9:45 [the students] were ready to get going . . . I think the free popcorn and cotton candy helped a lot.”
This year, orientation included a homeroom session at the beginning of each day — made up of 40-50 students and 2-3 student leaders — that focused on topics such as time management, resources on campus, financial issues and study/ learning tips.
Homeroom sessions were followed by two basic sessions, one being a tour of campus, that provided students with fundamental information about the university campus and the responsibilities that come with being a student at the U of M.
After the official welcoming ceremony on Wednesday, students had a choice to either participate in quad activities — a free barbecue or a rock-climbing wall were a couple of the activities available — or extend their campus learning by joining a “Beyond the Basics” session or tour. Beyond the Basics gave students a chance to choose topics that personally interested them, such as learning how to take notes in class and how to participate in intramurals, or tours in specific places such as the tunnels and University Centre.
Blais stated that she felt things went pretty well. “The feedback I got, verbally anyways, from the deans and students was pretty good but you never know until you see the numbers,” she said.
Official results from the evaluations that were taken during the event won’t be available until later this week.
University 1 will also be setting up focus groups in the very near future to get a good handle on what specific parts of orientation went well and what needs to be changed.
