[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/welcome_week05.jpg” caption=”McMaster was a picture of high energy this week. In these photos, clockwise from top left, MSU president Tommy Piribauer addresses students at the Air Bands production in Faculty Hollow; chanting and cheering engineering students ride a truck through campus; long lines form in the student centre to pick up GO Transit ID cards; and students gather outside the student centre for Clubs Day. Photos by Chantall Van Raay and Sandra Etherington. Click here for FULL Size“]Students returned to McMaster this week in full force, greeted by excited peers, and prepared faculty and staff, who welcomed them with open arms.

“Things are going really well,” says Michelle Corbeil, co-ordinator, First Year Transition, on the verge of preparing for another busy Welcome Week day. “The competition between groups has been really friendly and everyone's spirits have been really high. But it's been positive spirit.”

The fact that Welcome Week has so far been “smooth sailing” can be attributed in part to the seven months of planning leading up to this week. A Welcome Week Core Meeting, coordinated by the First Year Experience Office, and attended by representatives from faculties and residences, the McMaster Students Union, the Inter-Residence Council, the Society of Off-Campus Students, and occasionally other groups, such as Security Services and Risk Management, was held during February, March and April, biweekly during May, June and July and weekly during August.

The group formed a common theme for Welcome Week, “Make Mac Yours”, which has been incorporated into most campus events this week. The theme focuses on what new students are thinking about, what is going on at McMaster and the University's story, mission, vision and goals, says Corbeil.

Corbeil, who has worked at McMaster for about six years, has seen a dramatic improvement in the level of competitiveness between faculty and residence groups. “There's a real sense among student leaders that we're a team here to welcome the first-year class. There isn't a competitive feel to it at all.”

That's different from even three years ago, she says, when competition between faculties and residences was sometimes fierce. “I wouldn't say competition between groups isn't there, but the quality or the flavour of the competition has changed. It's definitely more friendly.”

There's also a sign that more students are participating in Welcome Week programming. So far, nearly all of the 3,000 Mac Passes have been sold. The $135 Mac Pass, is a large laundry bag that includes admission to all Welcome Week events and programs and Welcome Week “swag”, such as water bottles and t-shirts.

Among chants and cheers, McMaster President Peter George also welcomed students back to class. “The start of a new school year is a truly special time,” he said at the Faculty Welcome, “a special time for many distinctive reasons and one of those is that it encourages me to think about what an innovative McMaster education means to our newest students and how that education, in the hands and minds of bright and talented people, will influence our society. This is your week and your year and your time to Make Mac Yours.”