‘You don’t just become a McMaster student – you become a citizen of Hamilton’
Welcome to your new home. On Friday, August 9, incoming students and their families will descend upon campus for Welcome Day to learn about everything McMaster and the city of Hamilton has to offer.
You can feel the butterflies stirring in the pit of your stomach.
The days are getting a little shorter, and the evenings a little cooler. Class begins in less than a month, and there’s only one question on your mind: Am I ready for life at McMaster?
For incoming students, this feeling is both commonplace and understandable. The transition from high school to university can be overwhelming, with a new city, new surroundings and new friends all presenting themselves at once.
Thankfully, McMaster’s Student Success Centre can ease the transition, and this year’s Welcome Day is sure to make students and family members feel right at home on campus.
The focus of Welcome Day is twofold — getting familiar with campus, and engaging with the surrounding community. Incoming students and their families will learn about the support services and resources available at McMaster, and will be able to tour the athletic facilities, residences, libraries and the greater the city of Hamilton.
“It’s an opportunity to have a day in the life of a student on campus,” says Michele Corbeil, program coordinator with the Success Centre’s First-Year Transition Program. “It’s a chance for students to set their own goals, look at what the different offerings are and decide what is going to best suit their needs.”
One of the day’s events, “De-Bunking the Myths,” is designed to shatter common misconceptions about life at university — that you’re just a number, you’re completely on your own, the workload is unmanageable. According to Jennifer Meister, academic skills program coordinator with the Student Success Centre, all of these are simply untrue.
“The session introduces students to some of the ways they can get help, become involved in the community and work with parents and become partners with people on campus,” says Meister. “It’s presented by upper-year student leaders — those who have experience with the same problems, and maybe thought the same things when they started. The key is showing new students that they too can be successful.”
Other seminars include: Reboot Your Workflow: Time Management; Finances Matter! Financial Aid and Managing Your Student Account; Taking Effective Study Notes; From High School Student to Scholar; and Transition for Parents: Health, Safety and Security Panel. To better orient new students and their families, each session will be offered at a different location throughout campus.
Guests will also be able to tour several buildings at McMaster, including the David Braley Athletic Centre (DBAC), the McMaster Museum of Art, Innis Library and Mills Memorial Library, and join a unique off-site bus tour, “Pop the Bubble,” designed to highlight many of the arts, entertainment and cultural hot-spots in Hamilton.
Bob Bratina, mayor of Hamilton, will also be on campus to deliver an opening address and welcome the Class of 2017. He’ll be joined by McMaster’s new associate vice-president, Students and Learning, and dean of Students Sean Van Koughnett, and MSU vice-president Anna D’Angela.
“For us, it’s about showing that the University and the community work together,” says Corbeil. “You don’t just come to campus and become a McMaster student. You become a citizen of Hamilton.”
The opening ceremonies for Welcome Day begin at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 9. Click here for a PDF of the full event schedule.
